The Best Little Taylor Swift Album Ranking in New York
Two Girls, One Excel Sheet
A few months ago, I saw a TikTok by a woman who designed her own Excel sheet to figure out her favorite Taylor Swift album. Of course, I immediately asked some of my fellow Swiftie friends to fill out their own so we could compare our rankings, lest any of you were worried I wasn’t nosy enough outside this newsletter space.
Frequent E4P flyer Blair Baker and I found ourselves editing, discussing, or generally referring back to our spreadsheets which were color-coded by album, featuring almost—ALMOST—every released song. We would update them with each new Taylor’s Version re-release (and when she dropped The Tourtured Poet’s Department) and I would use my scoring as a point of moral superiority regarding taste in countless conversations.
Somewhere along the way, Blair and I thought it would be entertaining to turn our casual exercise into a full-fledged analytical study of our Taylor Swift tastes, which is why we’ve all gathered here today. For the past three months (!!!!), Blair and I have attempted to listen to one Taylor album every week and ranked them along a set rubric.
At a time when everything has started to feel a little oversaturated with Tayla Swiff content, we wanted to join in, too. Over my years as a fan, I’ve heard and read so many different insults lobbed at us—things about how we’re brainless followers with bad taste who are just like other girls. If you’re not a fan of Swift’s by now, nothing or no one is likely to convince you otherwise and that’s okay.
But I take umbridge with claims that any one Swiftie has the same listening habits as another. Fans are people when they leave sold out arenas, so it’s reductive to think that shared interest in one artist equals identical tastes. If you don’t believe me, all you need to do is put Blair’s and my rankings side by side:
This has been such a weird and niche and illuminating project, and I’m so excited to share the fruits of our labors with you.
(Ps. We’ve updated the original spreadsheet and made it available for anyone reading to copy and fill out on their own. Feel free to change the rubric or add any songs we may have missed like “All Of The Girls You Loved Before” or “Carolina,” as well as any unreleased tracks you feel called to rank. I just hope you have as much fun doing so with your friends as I have had filling this out with Blair.)
Originally from Idaho (gasp!), Blair is a New York-based girlboss who is actually just an 80 year old in a 26 year old’s body. She loves getting in bed before 10 pm, drinking sleepytime tea, reading her little books, and being the first to leave any event. When she isn’t showing you pictures of her dog, you can find her finding impossible reservations on Resy or probably on the phone with her mom.
She is, unsurprisingly, a huge Swiftie and only sometimes believes the obscure fan theories. After this E4P, she is proud to announce she can officially say she’s a freak in the spreadsheets.
Sidebar: I made playlists of both Blair and my top songs, in case anyone wanted to see them compiled. Because we ranked so differently, my playlist only features songs that were ranked 8-10 with enough 10s to make up their own distinct section at the top, and Blair’s playlist features songs that were ranked 7-10.
I thought it was fun to see all of our favorites compiled in one place, and who knows? Maybe I was wrong above and someone reading does have our exact tastes…
Were you able to keep up with the timeline?
Blair: More or less. When you approached me with this idea, my thought was that it would be super easy and a week for each album was egregious. That lasted long…I started off strong because I already have occasions where I am listening to something on my phone without distractions–morning walks with my dog. I used to listen to a news podcast, but traded it out for TS accompanied by my handy-dandy spreadsheet.
I quickly fell behind and realized that I was a few weeks and albums behind. It was easy for it to fall to the wayside and it was super easy to fall wayyyy behind. The good news is it was actually pretty easy to catch up because I actually always want to listen to my girl. I did finish TTPD seconds before writing these answers, but as my dad says, “If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done.”
Emily: I absolutely did not. I think I was on time for Debut and MAYBE Fearless, if I’m being kind to myself, and then I went on vacation and was unfortunately not exclusively blasting Speak Now the entire time. That set me back a bit, to the point where I binged Midnights and TTPD in a 24-hour span.
How did our ranking system feel while you were listening?
Blair: Your added descriptions made life so much easier. Believe it or not, this is our SECOND time doing this completely pointless and mildly crazy exercise and understanding what a 1 vs a 10 meant was helpful.
Emily: I think it felt much more restrictive when I started (as in, for the first four albums) because I was really trying to adhere to the rubric without any wiggle room, but then I think I got much more lax about it all, especially because I listened to the last two albums in the car while driving through—and I wish I was making this up—two near-tornadoes.
I think life felt a little more living and TTPD sounded a little better after surviving extreme weather experiences, so I was a bit kinder with my scoring on those 31 songs.
Did you have any methodologies when it came to your rankings or did you strictly follow the rubric?
Blair: There definitely was an aspect of comparison of songs and how they rank in relation to each other, but largely I’m a rubric gal (type A, who?!).
Emily: I noticed as I started ranking Red that I was constantly checking the average with every new song I scored, and candidly I think I was looking to see if any album after Speak Now was going to top it via the ranking system. After I clocked my own shit, I deleted the average feature under every album and ranked them all blindly, only seeing the final scores once at the end of every album.
I only retroactively changed two songs’ rankings (“The Way I Loved You” and “imgonnagetyouback”) when I reflected on listening to them after the fact, but I feel like I still could change others. I’m trying to respect the sanctity of the exercise, though, and leave them all as they are. (Just between us, though, “Last Kiss” and “Untouchable” should both be 10s.)
Has your relationship with Swift changed as a result of this exercise?
Blair: I thought a lot about liking a song vs. thinking it's a good song. She is a master lyricist, but some songs, while beautiful, aren’t my vibe and so appreciating them while also giving myself permission to not rank it high just because I love Taylor.
Emily: No but it has made me that much more infuriated with Ticketmaster for only ever resigning my sister and I to the presale queue because we haven’t been able to afford any tickets without that access and I’m still bitter I haven’t gotten to see the Eras Tour in person.
I’m 26 years old and I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan since I was nine after hearing “Teardrops on my Guitar” on WEBE108 but what does that all matter if I can’t fight with AI scalper bots?????
Has your relationship with how you listen to Swift’s music changed as a result of this exercise?
Blair: I think I'm more likely to put the whole discography on shuffle and see what I re-discover.
Emily: I couldn’t keep up with the timeline. I’m sorry but I listen to Taylor enough—a singular album was so much to preoccupy myself with for a full week. I needed to listen to other things, and fall back in with my favorite songs from other albums.
So I don’t think this changes anything about how I listen to her because I actually think it’s reflective of how I naturally listen to her.
We’ve tried this once before—did having a set rubric make it easier?
Blair: YES!!!!
Emily: Yes and no. It did when I first started the exercise but then I think I got a lot more casual which what constituted as each number later on. Like Midnights is its own beast to me, but I think a TTPD 10 means something different than a Fearless 10 does. Like I feel like a Fearless 7 or 8 is a TTPD 10, but I don’t want to cause too many problems by going back and redoing everything.
What album was your favorite based on the ranking, and were you surprised by that?
Blair: I have a tie between Lover and Reputation. Lover is not shocking. No matter what I’m listening to at the moment, I’m a Lover girl through and through. Reputation was a more interesting one…I have, in the past few years, had a newfound appreciation and understanding of Rep. The Rep set is my favorite part of the Eras tour. I, also, have felt like I was taken to church, and I felt like I had my own Reputation era in the past few years.
Regardless, Reputation isn’t consistently my favorite, it just has more disparity meaning some low lows but really high highs. “New Years Day” is in my top 5 songs of hers. All of this to say: it was kind of surprising, but when I examine it, maybe not so much. Get you a girl who can do both.
Emily: It was Speak Now by a mile and I’m definitely not surprised by that. I went on a whole soul searching journey a while ago and while I used to believe I was a Red girl (don’t laugh), I realized not only do I just love Speak Now, I have such a deep connection to it. It was the first Taylor album I pre-ordered and I have this bracelet I got from the package with the title written in her handwriting on the outside and a line from “Mine” on the inside. It means a lot that I still have that in my big girl apartment, like a little talisman connecting my younger self to now.
I will say that I knew I had a moderate trauma bond with Midnights given the season of life I was in when it was released (It’s me, hi! / I’m the problem, it’s me1) but I didn’t realize I loved it that much. The fact that it’s ranked higher than 1989 on my list was the second biggest upset after Lover beating Fearless by 0.01 points, but I’m going to have to agree with Matt Rogers and justify Midnights placement by saying it feels like a concept album about a period of my life. That kind of soundtrackiness, the feeling that it was written with me in mind—I think can be said about songs from other albums but can really only be said about Midnights as a whole for me.
That said, you cut me open and I bleed purple. JUSTICE FOR SPEAK NOW ON THE ERAS TOUR!!!!!! BUT ALSO ALL THE TIME!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!
What song was your favorite after listening to all of them, and were you surprised by that?
Blair: I definitely re-discovered some songs and realized there were some songs I thought I loved, but maybe didn’t as much anymore.
Looking through my 10s, I feel like “The Archer” is my top right now. I remember seeing it in concert and finally getting the song and feeling so deeply connected to it. It’s so beautiful, but just captures the complexities of anxiety. Sometimes you feel like you are the best, sometimes you don’t understand how anyone could even bear to be around you and sometimes you feel both of those emotions at the same time.
Emily: It’s “Mine” and I actually couldn’t be less surprised. I have heard the single first note of that song and guessed what it was correctly. I would know it if I lived in the Quiet Place world. I think I would find a way to hear it in a vacuum.
I have no idea why I’m like this either—like I have no deep emotional connection to Cory Monteith outside of being a Gleek growing up, but it’s just my song, you know?2
What is your favorite fifth song and was it also your top-rated one?
Blair: “The Archer” :’) The 9s were: “Delicate” and “All to Well.”
My 10s across the albums were: “All to Well 10 Minute Version,” “Nothing New,” “Is it Over Now?,” “New Year’s Day,” “Cruel Summer,” “Lover,” and “The Archer.”
Emily: It’s “Dear John” and that makes a lot of sense, especially since I’ve had my own John Mayer. All of the later Song Five’s consistently got 9’s and seeing them laid out, I retroactively want to give them all 10s.
Looking at how our rankings compare, does anything jump out to you?
Blair: How different they are. We are both Taylor girlies and will sing at the top of our lungs when a song comes on but clearly have some vastly different taste when it comes to her discography. I’ve also been thinking alot about how different humans are. We are all the same species, all came from the same roots, but a flavor, color, or song that is incredible to me can be repulsive to you. When I really think about that, it blows my mind.
This is a great example of this. We are both humans, female-identifying, 26, living in NYC, Taylor fans, but a song you rate a 10, I can rate a 3. Also Rep being your second to lowest…
Emily: You had a lot of higher album scores overall but I was definitely a lot more liberal with my 10s. I found I had at least one favorite song on each album that warranted a 10 so it was interesting to see how that played out completely differently in your chart.
I also don’t know how I can forgive you for some of your rankings on Fearless. “Forever & Always” GETTING A 4?????? Get well soon babes <3
Anything else you’d like to add?
Blair: It's obvious with the data, but some albums were just more consistent overall—like Midnights or TTPD—while others had high-highs and low-lows, like Red, which I feel like is interesting. I’m thinking there is something to do with time. With music in general it takes me a while to figure out what I like. During my first listen of TTPD, I had very different faves than what I have now and I also feel like having some of her albums out for so many years has allowed me to concrete some favorites and also solidify what I don’t actually like.
I know this is a goofy, silly exercise, but another thing I'll add is that her discography is impressive. She has released a ton of music for someone still relatively young. On top of that, so many of her songs are so deeply ingrained in culture. She is so talented while maintaining and growing for such a long time. This is especially impressive considering her music has stayed so relatable while increasing in fame so drastically. Her real life is so out of reach, nobody can relate to her level of fame and power, but despite all of that she still writes music that makes us feel so seen and heard.
From Debut to TTPD, she captures so beautifully what it means to be a human—to fall in love, to have your heart broken, to struggle and to thrive. She is a master at taking raw, human emotions and transforming it into catchy choruses, beautiful bridges, and lyrics that take your breath away. I’m clearly a massive fan, but even if you’re not, you have to acknowledge that her talent is incredible and her skill to connect and grow with so many people is a gift.
Emily: This is going to sound a little cringe but bear with me—I didn’t realize how deeply I loved Taylor’s discography as a whole until this. I have told someone in the last year that I thought I probably only really liked about half of her songs, and that was a bold-faced lie. I think with a catalogue as big as hers, it’s easy to forget certain songs of hers that aren’t the marquee hits performed at the Eras Tour or the surprise songs she’s willing to repeat or the ones everyone bops to, like anything off of 1989.
I’m not trying to brag but I knew the words to most of these songs and genuinely enjoyed re-discovering a number of songs that I forgot I loved. I think that speaks now to the longevity of her music, that I can still enjoy songs I loved in high school as much or if not more now as an adult. I don’t listen to the song that defined my freshman year of college—“Closer” by The Chainsmokers—without a sense of irony anymore, but I will bop to “How You Get the Girl” today the exact way I did to it on the bus to Walden Pond during my junior year of high school.
Does that make sense?
Thank you so much to Blair for being game to work on a piece with me for three months and being a good sounding board for Taylor Swift TikTok theories!!!! And you know what?? Thank you to Taylor Swift!!! I’m really rooting for you girl—I hope you make it big one day!
No joke—”Anti-Hero” started playing on shuffle as I wrote this section.
Also I’m going to use this space to speak truth to power: justice for “Girl At Home.” I don’t know what Super PAC lobbied you all to hate her but she is spiteful and vengeful and fun!!!!!
Emily we will be fighting this weekend about these DEPLORABLE and UNTRUE Evermore rankings