All 206 of Taylor Swiftβs Songs, Ranked
From teen country tracks to synth-pop anthems and rare covers, a comprehensive assessment of her one-of-a-kind songbook through the Folklore and Evermore era

From teen country tracks to synth-pop anthems and rare covers, a comprehensive assessment of her one-of-a-kind songbook through the 'Folklore' and 'Evermore' era
Taylor Swift the celebrity is such a magnet for attention, she can distract from Taylor Swift the artist. But Swift was a songwriter before she was a star, and sheβll be a songwriter long after she graduates from that racket. Itβs in her music where sheβs made her mark on history β as a performer, record-crafter, guitar hero and all-around pop mastermind, with songs that can leave you breathless or with a nasty scar. She was soaring on the level of the all-time greats before she was old enough to rent a car, with the crafty guile of a Carole King and the reckless heart of a Paul Westerberg β and she hasnβt exactly slowed down since then.
So with all due respect to Taylor the myth, the icon, the red-carpet tabloid staple, letβs celebrate the real Taylor β the songwriter she was born to be. Letβs break it down: all 206 tunes, counted from the bottom to the top. The hits, the flops, the deep cuts, the covers, from her raw 2006 debut as a teen country ingenue right up to Folklore, Evermore, and her Taylorβs Version series.
Every fan would compile a different list β thatβs the beauty of it. Sheβs got at least 5 or 6 dozen songs that seem to belong in her Top Ten. But theyβre not ranked by popularity, sales or supposed celebrity quotient β just the level of Taylor genius on display, from the perspective of a fan who generally does not give a ratβs nads who the songs are βreallyβ about. All that matters is whether theyβre about you and me. (I guarantee you are a more fascinating human than the Twilight guy, though Iβm probably not.)
Since Taylor loves nothing more than causing chaos in our lives, sheβs re-recording her albums, including the outtakes she left in the vault before. So far, sheβs up to Fearless and Red. For the Taylorβs Version remakes, both versions count as the same song. Itβs a tribute to her fierce creative energy β in the past couple years sheβs released an avalanche of new music, with more on the way. God help us all.
Sister Tay may be the last true rock star on the planet, making brilliant moves (or catastrophic gaffes, because thatβs what rock stars do). These are the songs that sum up her wit, her empathy, her flair for emotional excess, her girls-to-the-front bravado, her urge to ransack every corner of pop history, her determination to turn any chorus into a ridiculous spectacle. So letβs step back from the image and pay homage to her one-of-a-kind songbook β because the weirdest and most fascinating thing about Taylor Swift will always be her music.
How to Watch Taylor Swiftβs Acoustic βFolkloreβ on Disney+
From Rolling Stone US