Taylor Swift’s 100 album tracks – ranked

As Miss Americana is released on Netflix, music correspondent Roisin O'Connor picks her favourite tracks from each of Swift’s seven albums

Taylor Swift's new documentary Miss Americana has been released on Netflix, offering an insight into her life and career to date.

2019 marked the release of Swift's seventh album Lover, two years after Reputation, the album where she announced her own death and embraced the characterisations in the media of her as a villain – or a “snake”.

On Lover, she sheds that skin and appears transformed, embracing a sun-drenched pop sound that returns to familiar themes – old-school romance and smart hooks – that often work to her greatest strengths.

Swift has never made the same album twice. While she might revisit certain styles or subjects, each record is immediately recognisable – whether it’s the wide-eyed country of her self-titled debut or the slick, smart pop of 1989.

Here is a ranking of every one of Swift’s original album songs (not including covers or bonus tracks):

100) “Picture to Burn”

In an early incarnation of this song, Swift threatened to tell her ex’s friends that he’s gay. While that was quickly changed, the song itself is still one of her weakest due to muddy production that drowns out her vocals, and a vindictive tone that lacks the maturity and wit Swift would go on to show on later songs.

99) “Tell Me Why”

On this country-fied track from Fearless, Swift has grown tired of her lover’s games and she wants to know what the deal is.

98) “Hey Stephen”

Asides from some excellent humming, this is a nice enough song where Swift shouts out a cute boy all the girls are obsessed with.

98) “A Place in This World“

This frustratingly vague song about not really knowing what’s waiting for you out there in the big wide world is at least backed by sweetly plodding guitars and percussion.

97) “The Last Time”

Swift and Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody’s vocals just don’t work together. It’s likely they were attempting to emulate “Broken Strings” by James Morrison and Nelly Furtado – unfortunately it’s not really a patch on the 2008 hit.

96) “The Outside”

This would have been a great song to open the reality series Laguna Beach, had Hilary Duff’s song “Come Clean” not been picked. That said, it’s virtually unrecognisable from the Swift we know and love.

95) “Everything Has Changed” (ft Ed Sheeran)

Is it a surprise to learn Swift and Sheeran wrote this on a trampoline in her garden? Not really. Both do the “trip down memory lane” song very well, and their voices actually go quite nicely together.

94) “Tied Together with a Smile”

Swift sings to a loved one with low self-esteem: “Seems the only one who doesn’t see your beauty /Is the face in the mirror looking back at you.

93) “Long Live”

Swift does nostalgia incredibly well, but this track from Speak Now comes off a little too cheesy – it makes a very big deal out of what is essentially a high school graduation.

92) “King of My Heart”

Of all the “late at night”, breathy love songs on Reputation, this is the least effective – although the juddery beat and Swift’s vocodered voice on the chorus have a certain je ne sais quoi.

91) “Bad Blood”

Taylor Swift unveils her new music video for Bad Blood

1989 was conspicuous upon release for its lack of “revenge” songs – previously a popular feature on Swift’s earlier albums. But “Bad Blood”, rumoured to be about the now-quashed feud with fellow pop star Katy Perry, is the only one it needs; it has Swift chanting a “nyah nyah, nyah nyah nyah” style chorus and delivering verses that drip with real venom.

90) “Don't Blame Me”

The instrumentation is big and brash with hints of gospel, recalling Hozier’s “Take Me To Church” or Rag’n’Bone Man. It doesn’t stack up to album-mate “I Did Something Bad”, though.

89) “Breathe” (ft Colbie Caillat)

A sweet duet where Caillat’s low murmur lifts Swift’s youthful vocals, about the pain of having to watch someone leave your life and wondering how you’ll manage without them.

88) “Better than Revenge”

Swift learnt pretty quickly after this song that you should never punch down, even if someone has run off with your boyfriend. The lyric “she’s not a saint and she’s not who you think, she’s an actress (woah)/ She’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress” makes you wince now. Swift has come up with far classier insults since.

87) “Stay Beautiful”

Listening back to these early songs is gratifying, if anything, because it shows how far Swift has come as a singer. She used to say she really only sang to deliver her art as a songwriter – hearing how often she veers off-key on this relaxed love song only makes it more endearing.

86) "It's Nice to Have a Friend"

Another of Swift’s songs that appears to have been influenced by this year’s Jonas Brothers album Happiness Begins, this time for the tin drums, which add a distinctly Caribbean vibe.

85) “Haunted”

This is a dramatic song, even for Swift, with its sweeping violins and thudding percussion – maybe she wrote it after bingeing on the Twilight saga.

84) “Speak Now”

Swift indulges in a small fantasy about interrupting a wedding to tell the groom he’s making a mistake. Goodness! There’s a gorgeous melody on the chorus of this one.

83) “Teardrops on My Guitar”

Swift absolutely nailed every one of her early songs about being a teenage girl mooning after a boy in love with someone else. “Teardrops on My Guitar” is the earliest example of that, and still one of the best.

82) “You're Not Sorry”

Fearless was all about amping up the drama, but it also showed Swift progressing as a singer after early criticism of her rather fragile vocals. On this sombre ballad, accompanied by a cello and piano, she shuts out an ex who betrayed her trust.

81) “The Best Day”

Swift’s gentle tribute to her mother on Fearless is sweet for its wide-eyed innocence, as she recounts the small things her mother did to brighten her day over soft acoustic guitar strumming.

80) “Cold as You”.

As with several of the songs on Swift’s debut, her vocals here can be a little pitchy, but on this occasion, it serves the song well as evidence of raw emotion.

79) “Never Grow Up”

While this song about childhood innocence would have fitted better on Swift’s debut, the tender acoustic picking and her husky delivery against a male backing vocal makes for a soothing listen.

78) “I Almost Do”

Swift wonders what her ex is up to on this slow-jam from Red, returning to one of her favourite themes: it’s easy to leave someone but harder to stay away.

77) “ME!”

Taylor Swift and Brendon Urie perform at the Billboard Music Awards (Getty)

I have a soft spot for this sugary sweet pop song featuring Panic! At the Disco frontman Brendon Urie. After Reputation, it was a joy to see Swift go back to being goofy again – even if she did eventually remove the (admittedly teeth-clenching) “hey kids, spelling is FUN!” line.

76) “Girl at Home”

Few songs ask the listener to consider what it’s like to be put in the position of “the other woman”. Swift can sound pious at times, but it’s a sweetly sincere song about infidelity.

75) “Innocent”

Remember when Kanye West ruined what was, at the time, the biggest moment of Swift’s career? This was her song of forgiveness. But, as she would go onto note after their feud flared back up, “I bury hatchets but I keep maps of where I put them”.

74) “The Way I Loved You”

As was the case in Katy Perry’s “Thinking of You”, Swift feels guilty because her new boyfriend is nice enough – but she misses the drama and passion of her previous relationship.

73) “Forever & Always”

It’s a surprise Swift doesn’t have a perpetual cold, for all that standing in the rain she does. “Oh, and it rains in your bedroom/ Everything is wrong/ It rains when you’re here and it rains when you’re gone.”

72) “Mary's Song (Oh My My My)”

One of Swift’s fond wanders down memory lane; she pulls off the “wiser than her years” tone very well.

71) “Change”

Powerhouse rock riff aside, Swift sounds uncomfortable at this pitch and tempo, and what should be a euphoric build falls kind of flat.

70) “Stay Stay Stay”

A chirpy pop track that borders on sickly, thanks to its twee ukulele strumming and Swift’s remaining country twang on the vocals.

69) “22”

There’s nothing particularly significant about turning 22, but Swift convinces you there is. She gives a big shrug to anyone who deems her “not cool enough” and embraces her inner-dork to sing about midnight snacks and being ridiculous with your friends.

68) “Mine”

Taylor Swift performs during the TIME 100 Gala dinner on 23 April, 2019 in New York City. ((Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for TIME))

Two people from different sides of the tracks fall in love on this “love conquers all” number, which features one of Swift’s best lyrics: “You made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter.”

67) “Fearless”

The title track from Swift’s second studio album was produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, and is about what she viewed at the time as the perfect first date. “Fearless doesn’t mean you’re completely unafraid and it doesn’t mean that you’re bulletproof,” she explained upon the song’s release. “It means that you have a lot of fears, but you jump anyway.”

66) “This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things”

Swift is a big fan of musicals, and the violin-plucking and “it’s a hard-knock life”-esque chorus on this buzzy Reputation track is evidence enough of that. The best moment is the cackle after “forgiveness is a nice thing to do” (“I can’t even say it with a straight face!”).

65) “Last Kiss”

A really stunning, fragile ballad that deals in sparse instrumentation and homes in on Swift’s stripped-back vocals, which detail the last moments of a broken relationship.

64) “Cruel Summer”

Taylor Swift on the cover of her new album, ‘Lover’

Co-written with Jack Antonoff and Annie Clark (St Vincent), “Cruel Summer” is a bolshy synth-pop track with distorted vocals – arguably there are stronger tracks on Lover Swift could have opened with, but it’s a good introduction to the overall pop sound she offers on the record.

63) “Enchanted”

“Please don’t be in love with someone else/ Please have somebody waiting on you,” Swift pleads on this five-minute 52-second epic about love at first sight. She starts off accompanied by a male vocalist, but builds to the song's climax – a duet with herself.

62) “I Wish You Would”

It’s not exactly filler, but “I Wish You Would” was possibly the only song on 1989 that wouldn’t be notable in its absence. Partly because it uses a similar riff to the superior “Out of the Woods”, and also because of the opacity of the lyrics in comparison to the sharp lines she delivers elsewhere.

61) “State of Grace”

This stadium-sized rock track opens with some U2-style power guitar and Swift matching Bono’s yearning calls from “With or Without You”.

60) “I Forgot That You Existed”

The opening track on Swift’s seventh album is a bouncy pop number of sharp piano notes and a thrumming bass, where she shrugs off an old grudge and moves on with her life.

59) “Starlight”

A noted F Scott Fitzgerald fan, Swift paints a picture of a Gatsby-esque party in the “summer of ’45” where she and her lover sneak into a glamorous yacht party.

58) “How You Get the Girl”

Swift takes a step back from her usual first-person narratives on the verses for this song encouraging a boy to tell a girl how he really feels in order to win her back. It’s a throwback to the cinematic romanticism Swift dealt in on her earliest albums – perhaps not as convincing, but just as catchy.

57) “The Archer”

Lover is a pure pop album, and “The Archer” is drenched in Eighties synths that hum around Swift’s ethereal vocals. It feels more like a scene-setter than a song of its own. Indeed, it was followed by the release of the title track “Lover” just before the full album dropped, which better conveys the love Swift feels in her current relationship.

56) “Should've Said No”

Where other songs on her self-titled debut were all dewy-eyed romance, Swift sounds really, really mad on this track about an ex who cheated on her: “You should’ve said no, baby and you might still have me.”

55) “...Ready for It?”

The artwork for Taylor Swift's new album has been unveiled by the artist on her Instagram page

Swift flips her favoured romantic theme on its head for the opening track of Reputation, emulating a more (unapologetically) lustful tone than anything from the days where her narrator leaned wistfully out of castle windows, waiting for a prince to appear. Instead, she is the instigator – “let the games begin,” she orders – full of a supreme kind of confidence that’s unlike anything heard on her previous albums.

54) “Begin Again”

Swift sounds blissfully happy on this track from Red, where she sings about learning to trust someone again and finding new love. All over the kind of tender guitar-picking that her idol James Taylor, whom she mentions in the lyrics, would approve of.

53) “White Horse”

While not as effective as “Love Story”, Swift’s twist on a classic scene from countless romances is moving for the way she chastises herself for believing in fairytales. “This ain’t Hollywood,” she sings. “This is a small town/ I was a dreamer before you went and let me down.”

52) “The Story of Us”

John Mayer is now the (likely reluctant) subject of songs about awkward post-breakup encounters by not one, but two major pop stars. Swift reportedly wrote this song after being forced to sit near him at the CMT awards: “We’re sitting six seats away from each other and just fighting this silent war of ‘I don’t care that you’re here,’” she recalled.

Swift’s former sparring partner and now-friend Perry, who dated Mayer after he and Swift split, has since released “Small Talk”, which points out how strange it is that he would be awkward after they were previously so intimate.

51) “You Belong with Me”

Swift was still on the precipice of a full-blown pop career when she released this song about a high school nerd comparing herself to her best friend/crush’s girlfriend: “She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts/ She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers.”

50) “Mean”

Swift’s biggest country-sounding song gets a bad rap by some critics because it’s believed to be a response to a journalist who wrote a scathing review of her 2010 Grammys performance with Stevie Nicks – interpreting it as a sign she couldn’t take criticism. But Swift, who has dealt with being belittled or underestimated her entire professional career, turns “Mean” into an anti-bullying anthem about pursuing your dreams, regardless of the haters.

49) “Welcome to New York”

The first track on 1989 gets an unfair rap from most critics, who felt it lacked substance compared to Swift’s previous album openers. But really it’s a blast of fresh air that captures Swift’s own excitement as she moved to the city; the track is propelled by a sharp electronic beat that darts along and has the listener thinking... maybe my dreams could come true here, too.

48) “Treacherous”

This slow-burning acoustic number has Swift revelling in a secret, perhaps forbidden romance: “Put your lips close to mine/ As long as they don’t touch.”

47) “End Game” (featuring Ed Sheeran and Future)

Definitely the most divisive Reputation track, but Swift impressively holds her own with Future while her loyal pal Sheeran tries to keep up. Bonus points for filming the video in my favourite Kentish Town pub.

46) “Death By a Thousand Cuts”

It’s not a bad song, but it’s one of the least memorable on an album (Lover) that could have done with a trim.

45) “Sad Beautiful Tragic”

Swift is graceful in her heartbreak here, as she pictures a former lover waking up in a different city, haunted by the memory of her: “Kiss me, try to fix it, could you just try to listen?/ Hang up, give up and for the life of us we can’t get back.”

44) "Daylight"

Continuing Swift’s tradition of ending albums on a positive, albeit reflective note, “Daylight” is yet another fruitful Swift/Antonoff collaboration that draws on their enigmatic track “Getaway Car”. Only this time, Swift doesn’t want to run away, she wants to stay and revel in the moment.

43) “The Lucky One”

It’s fascinating to listen back to Swift, who by the time Red was released was a certified pop star, singing about an artist who grows tired of the spotlight. It’s believed to be about English pop singer Kim Wilde, given how it references the main hook melody from “Four Letter Word” and talks about how the artist “chose the rose garden over Madison Square” (Wilde branched into a landscape gardening career).

42) “I Knew You Were Trouble”

Widely believed to be about former One Direction star Harry Styles (the music video featured a lookalike with matching tattoos), “I Knew You Were Trouble” is an example of Swift’s very brief flirtation with dubstep. It’s great because the chaotic structure of the song mimics Swift’s own sense of chaos in the lyrics. The massive belt she does at the song's climax seems like a defining moment, which proved all the hard work she’d put into vocal training was 100 per cent worth it.

41) “Sparks Fly”

Taylor Swift attends the 2019 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on 1 May, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Getty)

Taylor loves a good “in the rain” scene and “Sparks Fly” – a thundering rock-pop song – features the best one: “Drop everything now! Meet me in the pouring rain/ Kiss me on the sidewalk, take away the pain.”

40) “Holy Ground”

This is one of Swift’s best songs that glance back on a past relationship – here she sings about it as though it were sacred, despite the messy parts, and even throws in some croons that sound a lot like “hallelujah” for good measure.

39) “Dancing with Our Hands Tied”

Swift dips back into a garage/dubstep vibe on this Reputation track, something she hadn’t really done since 1989’s “I Knew You Were Trouble”. The beat is excellent, until you reach the chorus that feels clunky in a way that holds the song back.

38) “I Think He Knows”

The Jonas Brothers come to mind on this jittery, heavy-on-the-bass track that has Swift singing in her best falsetto on the chorus.

37) “London Boy”

Joe Alwyn (Getty Images)

Swift’s obsession with the UK reaches its peak with one of the most divisive songs on Lover (a lot of Brits are taking issue with the lyrics, as they’re essentially a tourist’s guide to where-not-to-visit in London – Shoreditch, Camden, the West End). But she’s entirely self-aware of her outsider status – if anything she revels in it. Plus, the idea of Taylor Swift sitting with Joe Alwyn’s mates from uni doing Jaeger Bombs is pretty great.

36) “All You Had to Do Was Stay”

“I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed,” Swift seems to sing on this track about a relationship that broke down when one person gave up too quickly, realising too late what they’re leaving behind. “People like you always want back the love they pushed aside/ But people like me are gone forever, when you say goodbye.”

35) “This Love”

A breathless song from 1989, where Swift revels in the secret midnight hours where she can dream about her lover. Full of yearning, it builds from an acoustic intro before blossoming into a bold, simmering Eighties synth track.

34) “I Know Places”

“I Know Places” suffers simply for being a weaker “getaway” song in comparison to its 1989 peer “Out of the Woods”. The beat she sings over is a little sluggish, although she sounds delightfully menacing on the line: “Loose links sink ships all the damn time/ Not this time.”

33) “Fifteen”

“In your life you'll do things/ Greater than dating the boy on the football team/ But I didn't know it at 15.” A gentle word of caution that, on Fearless, marked Swift’s remarkable growth as a songwriter.

32) “The Man”

Swift has a history of calling out the double standards she’s faced as a woman in the industry, but never so much in an actual song. “The Man”, from her most recent album Lover, changes that – she questions how differently she’d be treated were she a male artist. “I’m so sick of running as fast as I can,” she sings, weary of the constant fight just to justify her place in the music industry.

31) “Clean”

More rain. This time it’s a good thing, pouring down and washing away all the bad stuff. Swift often ends her albums with a positive outlook, so many of those final songs, like “Clean”, are about seeing the light and finding true happiness.

30) “So It Goes...”

This Swift-Max Martin-Shellback collaboration from Reputation has her lusting after a “magician”. Reputation felt a lot like a sexual awakening for Swift as an artist, who had previously spoken about never feeling “cool or sexy”. Here she’s unafraid to admit when she wants something – or someone.

29) “You Need to Calm Down”

Katy Perry and Taylor Swift in the 'You Need to Calm Down' video (YouTube/Taylor Swift)

One of Swift’s most controversial and divisive songs, “You Need to Calm Down” is a clear-cut pro-LGBT+ anthem that contains the line: “Why be mad, when you could be GLAAD?” referring to the LGBT+ charity. Some saw it as an attempt to appear “woke”, but Swift has been making more subtle statements in favour of same-sex relationships since at least 2014 (“Welcome to New York”). “You Need to Calm Down” has a bouncy beat and Swift and her eye-rolling best.

28) “Look What You Made Me Do”

Yes, it’s the weakest song on Reputation, but in retrospect this song is also genius. Interpolating Right Said Fred? Seriously? It’s like the ultimate dig at a celebrity couple infamous for their vanity, and as a single served as a major palette cleanser after 1989.

27) “Shake It Off”

Some might find Swift’s unshakeable chirpiness on this “haters gonna hate” song from 1989 annoying, but the infectiousness of the chorus is, well, hard to shake.

26) "Soon You'll Get Better" (feat Dixie Chicks)

Without a doubt the most emotional track on Lover, “Soon You’ll Get Better” is delivered in half-whispers as Swift addresses her mother’s cancer diagnosis. The Dixie Chicks, apparently one of her mother’s favourite artists, accompany on backing vocals as Swift sings as though she’s on the verge of tears.

25) "Gorgeous"

With a guest appearance from Ryan Reynold’s and Blake Lively’s baby daughter James, “Gorgeous” presents Swift as a gibbering mess after she spots a hot guy at a party then proceeds to embarrass herself by getting drunk and making fun of his accent. Presumably this is about the first time Swift met her now-boyfriend Joe Alwyn, whose English accent has been the subject of Swift’s affection in more than one song.

24) “Red”

Swift’s signature colour, at least until recently (things are more golden on Lover), signals passionate, wild abandon upon falling in love without warning on the title track from her hit 2012 album.

23) “Cornelia Street”

A throwback to “Dress” from Reputation in terms of vocal performance (big falsetto on the chorus), but with lyrics that are more about places that become haunted by the memory of another person.

22) “New Year's Day”

This is one of Swift’s boldest songs for the fact that it is her at her most stripped-back and intimate. There’s a warm resonance to her soft touch on the piano keys, and small but significant observations about the morning after a big New Year’s party. “Hold on to the memories,” she sings, “they will hold on to you.”

21) "False God"

It’s unclear what people were expecting from Lover, but surely not a song that would stand as a contender for one of Swift’s best – from the sax to the throbbing synth beat. Swift’s low murmurs are so full of longing, you feel a bit awkward eavesdropping on such an intimate moment.

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