Taylor Swift Albums Ranked: Fan Favorites (2025)
Ranking the albums of an artist like Taylor Swift is a monumental task.
Her discography is a vast and varied landscape, crossing genres and capturing distinct eras of her life and artistry.
Because every album means something different to each listener, we're exploring the Taylor Swift albums ranked primarily by the voices that matter most: the fans. This list is guided by community sentiment to determine what many consider the best Taylor Swift albums.
Later, we'll see how this compares to a ranking based purely on current popularity data. It's a fascinating look into a truly iconic body of work.
Ranking Taylor Swift's albums: The fan favorites
Here's how the albums stack up based on fan sentiment, community discussions, and overall buzz.
We're starting with the most beloved.
1. Taylor Swift (2006)
This is the album that started it all. Released in 2006, Taylor Swift's debut studio album is a pure country record inspired by her teenage perspective on life.
The lyrics touch on classic themes of young love, friendship, and insecurity. Swift wrote or co-wrote every track during her freshman year of high school after her family moved to Nashville.
The album was a massive success. It spent 24 weeks at number one on the Top Country Albums chart and became the longest-charting album of the 2000s on the Billboard 200.
Key tracks:
- Our Song
- Picture To Burn
It might be a surprise to see the debut album in the top spot, but it speaks volumes about the connection her earliest fans still have with this material.
For many, this album represents a pure, unfiltered beginning. Its raw country-pop honesty and youthful storytelling are a foundation that dedicated fans clearly hold in very high regard.
2. folklore (2020)
A surprise release in July 2020, folklore marked a significant artistic pivot for Swift.
Conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic, the album departs from her autobiographical style. It instead explores fictional narratives, escapism, and nostalgia through a cast of characters.
Its sound is a blend of indie folk, alternative, and chamber pop, created in collaboration with Aaron Dessner of The National and longtime partner Jack Antonoff.
folklore was a critical and commercial triumph, winning Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards and becoming the best-selling album of 2020 in the United States.
Key tracks:
- cardigan
- august
Landing at number two, folklore is seen by many as a modern masterpiece. Its quiet confidence and lyrical depth resonated profoundly during a global moment of introspection.
The album brought a new wave of listeners into the fold while giving longtime fans a stunning display of her evolution as a songwriter. Its high ranking is no surprise.
3. Red (2012)
Released in 2012, Red is often described by Swift as her "only true breakup album." It captures the messy, conflicting emotions of lost love.
This album saw Swift experimenting beyond her country-pop roots. She worked with new producers like Max Martin and Shellback to incorporate a wider range of styles, including pop, rock, and folk.
While some critics at the time found the sound inconsistent, its emotional songwriting was widely praised. Retrospectively, Red is viewed as a pivotal, career-defining work that bridged her country and pop eras.
Key tracks:
- I Knew You Were Trouble.
- We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
Red holds a powerful place in the hearts of fans, as its third-place ranking shows. It's the quintessential fall album, a perfect storm of heartbreak anthems and pop brilliance.
The album's emotional range, from devastating ballads to defiant pop hits, makes it an incredibly relatable and enduring fan favorite.
4. 1989 (2014)
With 1989, Swift officially announced her arrival as a pop superstar. Released in 2014, the album was a deliberate and complete departure from her country origins.
Inspired by 1980s synth-pop, the album is characterized by upbeat arrangements, heavy synthesizers, and percussion. It was a massive commercial success.
1989 earned Swift her second Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making her the first woman to win the prestigious award twice.
Key tracks:
- Style
- Blank Space
As a cultural phenomenon, 1989 cemented Swift's place in the pop pantheon. Its high fan ranking reflects its undeniable impact and collection of perfect, timeless pop songs.
For many, this album represents Swift at her most confident and commercially powerful, a victory lap of unforgettable hooks and clever songwriting.
5. reputation (2017)
Following a period of intense public scrutiny, Swift returned in 2017 with reputation. The album and its accompanying tour were defined by a darker, edgier aesthetic.
The sound is heavily electronic, incorporating elements of electropop, R&B, and trap. The themes revolve around fame, media perception, and finding love amidst chaos.
The Reputation Stadium Tour became the highest-grossing North American tour of all time upon its completion, showcasing the album's massive scale and visual identity.
Key tracks:
- Don’t Blame Me
- Delicate
reputation is fiercely loved by a large segment of the fan base. Its strong ranking demonstrates an appreciation for its bold defiance and thematic depth.
Fans connect deeply with the narrative of reclaiming one's story. The album's blend of aggressive production and vulnerable love songs makes it a unique and powerful entry in her catalog.
6. Lover (2019)
Emerging from the darkness of the reputation era, 2019's Lover is a bright, sprawling, and romantic album. Swift described it as a "love letter to love itself."
The title track, "Lover," was conceived as a timeless wedding song. Swift wrote the song by herself, aiming for a waltz-time country and indie folk ballad.
The album explores the many facets of love, from giddy infatuation to deep commitment, and it earned a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year for its title track.
Key tracks:
- Cruel Summer
- Lover
Lover's position reflects its status as a comforting and joyful record for fans. It represents a return to a more open and colorful persona.
While its sprawling tracklist is sometimes debated, its standout moments are some of the most beloved in her entire discography, securing its place as a solid fan favorite.
7. Midnights (2022)
Midnights is a concept album about "13 sleepless nights." Released in 2022, it sees Swift returning to a synth-pop sound, but with a more subdued and atmospheric tone.
The lyrics are confessional, exploring themes of regret, self-criticism, fantasies, and heartbreak. Swift and Jack Antonoff produced the standard edition.
The album was a historic success. It made Swift the first artist to monopolize the entire top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and won her a record-breaking fourth Grammy for Album of the Year.
Key tracks:
- Anti-Hero
- You're On Your Own, Kid
The success of Midnights is undeniable. Its ranking here suggests that while it is immensely popular and critically lauded, fans may still be forming their long-term emotional connection to it compared to older albums.
Its introspective themes and restrained production offer a different flavor of pop that continues to grow on listeners.
8. Fearless (2008)
Swift's second studio album, Fearless, catapulted her from a rising country star to a global superstar. Released in 2008, the album explores love and heartbreak with fairy tale imagery.
She wrote most of the album while touring, building on the country-pop sound of her debut with a wide variety of acoustic instruments.
Fearless became the most-awarded country album of all time. It won Album of the Year at both the CMAs and the Grammys, making a then 20-year-old Swift the youngest-ever recipient of the top Grammy honor.
Key tracks:
- Love Story
- You Belong With Me
Despite its historic success and iconic singles, Fearless lands in the latter half of the fan ranking. This may simply be due to the sheer strength and evolution of her later work.
It remains a foundational album for millions of fans, a perfect capsule of late-2000s country-pop, but her artistic risks on subsequent albums seem to resonate even more deeply today.
9. Speak Now (2010)
Released in 2010, Speak Now is a unique and monumental achievement in Swift's catalog for one key reason: she wrote the entire album by herself.
The album serves as a collection of unspoken confessions, blending country-pop with pop-rock and incorporating styles like emo and pop-punk.
It reflects on her transition from adolescence to adulthood, documenting feelings of affection, grievance, and heartbreak with unflinching honesty.
Key tracks:
- Back To December
- Enchanted
As a solely self-written project, Speak Now is a testament to Swift's raw songwriting talent. Its position here isn't a slight, but rather a reflection of an incredibly competitive discography.
Fans adore the album for its grand, theatrical storytelling and raw emotion. It's an essential chapter, even if other albums have since captured the broader fan consensus.
10. evermore (2020)
Arriving as another surprise just five months after its predecessor, evermore is the "sister record" to folklore.
It continues the indie folk and alternative sound, expanding on the fictional narratives and character studies. Swift described it as a wintry album, delving into the unhappy endings of stories.
The album features collaborations with Haim, The National, and Bon Iver, and was also nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys.
Key tracks:
- willow
- champagne problems
Often living in the shadow of its slightly older sibling, evermore's ranking reflects the challenge of following up a landmark album like folklore.
Many fans champion it as the more experimental and lyrically darker of the two. Its dedicated admirers consider it an underrated gem filled with some of her most intricate songwriting.
11. THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT (2024)
Swift's eleventh studio album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, was released in April 2024 as a surprise double album.
Described by Swift as her "lifeline" album, the record is a minimalist synth-pop and folk-pop effort that explores emotional tumult, mourning, and anger with a raw, introspective lens.
The album immediately broke numerous commercial records, including the highest single-week streams for an album in history. It also made Swift the only artist to ever occupy the entire top 14 spots of the Billboard Hot 100.
Key tracks:
- Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)
- I Can Do It With a Broken Heart
As the newest entry, the placement of THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT reflects an album that the fan base is still processing.
Its dense lyricism and emotionally heavy themes require time to fully digest. While its initial impact was immense, its long-term standing among the other classics in her discography is still being written.
Picked your top Taylor Swift classic? Check out Taylor Swift's discography on their Roll The Record Artist hub.
Taylor Swift albums: A look at popularity data
While fan sentiment paints a rich picture, current popularity data can offer another interesting angle.
This looks at an artist's discography through a different lens.
Below is a ranking of Taylor Swift's albums based on their popularity scores from available data. This reflects which releases are currently seeing significant engagement.
| Popularity Rank | Album Title | Release Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lover | 2019 |
| 2 | reputation | 2017 |
| 3 | folklore | 2020 |
| 4 | Midnights | 2022 |
| 5 | THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT | 2024 |
| 6 | 1989 | 2014 |
| 7 | evermore | 2020 |
| 8 | Speak Now | 2010 |
| 9 | Taylor Swift | 2006 |
| 10 | Red | 2012 |
| 11 | Fearless | 2008 |
Quick FAQs about Taylor Swift's albums
Q: What inspired Taylor Swift's debut album?
A: The album was inspired by her teenage outlook on life. The lyrics cover themes of love, friendships, and insecurity, with every track being written or co-written by Swift during her freshman year.
Q: Was the debut album successful?
A: Yes, it was incredibly successful. It spent 24 weeks at number one on the Top Country Albums chart and became the longest-charting album of the 2000s decade on the Billboard 200.
So there you have it – a look at Taylor Swift's albums ranked.
We've seen the rankings from the perspective of dedicated fans and also through the lens of current popularity.
Ultimately, the "best" Taylor Swift album is a personal choice. It's often the one that provided a soundtrack to a specific moment in your own life.
Each record is a distinct chapter in an unparalleled career. What does your personal ranking of Taylor Swift's albums look like? Which one holds the top spot for you?