"I was minding my business, sleeping in on PTO last Friday, when I received a text from one of my coworkers. It was just a link to Taylor Swift’s website, with no message attached. My sleep-addled brain immediately, of course, jumped to Reputation (Taylor’s Version). Finally! After years of dissecting what we thought were clues and hints at the highly anticipated release, we had it. No explanation. Just Reputation. Alas, I was wrong once again. But what we did get was even better.
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On May 30, 2025, Taylor Swift announced in a letter on her website that six long years after Scooter Braun bought her masters, she bought them back. For Taylor and fans, this was a huge day of celebration. “All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me,” she wrote. Knowing this news would lead to even more questions, Taylor also explained the fate of the final two Taylor’s Version albums that she has yet to release. Her debut album is finished, and fans speculate (will we ever learn?!?) that she may release it when the album turns 20 in 2026. Reputation, on the other hand, is barely a quarter finished, but according to Taylor, we may get those vault tracks at some point in the future (fingers crossed!).
For now, fans celebrated the news by listening to all of the “stolen” versions of Taylor Swift’s old albums, leading them to chart on iTunes, Spotify, and even Billboard. Never ones to miss out on anything Swift-related, The Everygirl’s resident fans were right there with them, but we also took it a step further. We re-listened to Taylor Swift’s entire catalog of music, including Taylor’s Versions, and ranked them. Our listeners scored each album’s music, lyrics, and overall cohesion out of 10 to land at these rankings. We fully expect some of these scores to be controversial, so read on to see where your fave landed.
15. Taylor Swift
This rating was pretty unanimous among our Swifties. This album is undoubtedly full of hits and underrated fan-favorites, but nostalgia can only carry it so far. We’ll never skip this album’s songs if they come up in our queue, but we also have to acknowledge that compared to the rest of Taylor’s work, her debut album just isn’t as strong. It’s simplistic and young, and that’s OK! I do think hearing Taylor’s version of this album, with her more mature voice, would change a lot of minds, though.
Score: 5.4
Favorite songs: “Our Song,” “Should’ve Said No,” “Mary’s Song,” “Stay Beautiful,” “Teardrops On My Guitar,” “I’m Only Me When I’m With You”
14. Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
Now that Taylor owns the original Fearless again, it’s unlikely the re-records make it back to our playlists. While the nostalgia of her debut album didn’t carry much weight, we can’t deny that this re-record suffered from not tapping into the same young, promising energy of the original. That said, “Mr. Perfectly Fine” is a vault track we’ll be keeping.
Score: 6.9
Favorite song: “Mr. Perfectly Fine”
13. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is the first album that divides our listeners. Some feel this album is “meh” overall, some love the vault tracks, and others think they should’ve stayed inside. At the end of the day, despite the TikTok virality of “Enchanted,” our love for this re-record only lasted as long as it took for 1989 (Taylor’s Version) to come out a couple of months later.
Score: 7.2
Favorite song: “When Emma Falls In Love”
12. Fearless
We all unanimously love Fearless. It takes us straight back to how old we were when it came out in the best way and is the first thing that comes to mind when we think “classic Taylor”—sorry, Debut. Fearless will always be quintessential Taylor, and is really the album that put her on the map. It’s still regarded as the most awarded country album of all time, and when most of the world clocked that Taylor Swift would be a force to be reckoned with in the industry. The thing about Taylor, though, is that after this album came out, she kept getting better and better, so while we love this album, it’s going to stay relatively low in our ranking.
Score: 7.26
Favorite songs: “The Way I Loved You,” “Fifteen,” “White Horse,” “The Other Side of the Door,” “Fearless”
11. Speak Now
When critics called Taylor out for her “lack of talent,” she fired back by writing Speak Now entirely by herself. And she’s kept that same “I will prove you wrong about me” fortitude throughout her entire career. That said, this album is a bit of a sleeper when it comes to her discography. It did not make as big of a splash as Fearless and doesn’t have the same staying power as Red, but it does have a ton of fan-favorite songs. This original recording gets an edge over Taylor’s Version because it feels complete on its own, whereas our listeners were divided over whether the vault tracks enhanced or hurt the album.
Score: 7.3
Favorite songs: “Long Live,” “Enchanted,” “Mine”
10. Lover
Listen, we like Lover, we do! But while the highs were so high (“Cruel Summer” and “Death By A Thousand Cuts” carry this album), the lows were deep ocean-level. We’re not denying there are some massive hits here, but this album also has a handful of skips. And we’re so sorry to say it, but we are “ME!” haters.
Score: 7.8
Favorite songs: “Death By A Thousand Cuts,” “The Archer,” “Daylight,” “Cruel Summer”
9. The Tortured Poets Department
We have a TTPD HATER in our ranks, but she makes some great points. The lyrics throughout this album are hit or miss. On the one hand, we have absolute masterpieces like “The Prophecy” and “So Long London,” but on the other hand, this album has so many songs that could’ve been left on the cutting room floor (looking at you “thanK you aIMee.” Like Lover, this album has great highs, but also a fair amount of skips. We’ll never say no to more music from Taylor, but let’s just say I have a playlist of this album that omits all of the songs I typically skip.
Score: 8
Favorite songs: “The Prophecy,” “Down Bad,” “So Long London,” “The Black Dog,” “loml”
8. 1989
Hello, pop perfection. There really is no time in my life that I look back on so vividly as the summer 1989 came out. I was in my last year of college, living in my first apartment in Los Angeles, feeling like I had finally made it. For many of us, this album perfectly encapsulates our early 20s, and for that, we will always love her. However, there’s a certain magic pixie dust in the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) vault tracks that took this album to even greater heights.
Score: 8.16
Favorite songs: “Clean,” “You Are In Love,” “Out of the Woods,” “Blank Space”
7. evermore
If you ask me, seven is too low for evermore. But this is not a dictatorship, and it seems all those jokes about evermore being folklore’s forgotten little sister ring true. I gave this album straight 10s in all categories, but our other listeners just didn’t have much to say. While I think evermore is criminally underrated, I also acknowledge that when your discography is as iconic as Taylor’s, not every album can be number one.
Score: 8.2
Favorite songs: “tolerate it,” “right where you left me,” “no body, no crime,” “champagne problems”
6. Reputation
One of our listeners said Reputation has a few skips, and let’s just say I will be banging her door down demanding to know what they are. Again, this album, to me, is perfect. I don’t need the re-recording, but I do need the vault tracks. Overall, our listeners generally enjoy this album, but it still falls into the middle of the pack when it comes to the full scope of Taylor’s work.
Score: 8.26
Favorite songs: “New Year’s Day,” “Don’t Blame Me,” “Getaway Car,” “Delicate,” “Call It What You Want”
5. Midnights
This was such a fun era. The first post-lockdown album came with a ton of anticipation. Would it be another quiet, contemplative, folksy collection a la folklore and evermore, or would she return to pop? The answer ended up being a little bit of both. We see Taylor really flex her writing chops in this one, with those lyrics backed by gorgeous synth pop beats. The result is an album that really captures what it’s like to stay up late with nothing but your overactive mind to keep you company. We love Midnights and will never forget what it was like to get that 3 a.m. drop.
Score: 8.3
Favorite songs: “The Great War,” “Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve,” “You’re On Your Own Kid”
4. Red
Oh, Red, we well and truly love you. This album served as Taylor’s official breakup letter to country music. There are some beautiful country sounds, but every song on this album hints at Taylor’s impending pop takeover. Not only did this album send a message about her career, but it’s also a near-perfect representation of what it’s like to be a young woman in your early 20s. Her songwriting and storytelling peaked here, and we’ll always look and listen back on this album fondly.
Score: 8.4
Favorite songs: “All Too Well,” “State of Grace,” “Holy Ground”
3. 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
We’ve got three words to explain why 1989 (Taylor’s Version) outscores the original by so much: From The Vault. We will never deny that the original 1989 is pop perfection, but we also unanimously agree that these vault tracks took it to new heights. How the hell wasn’t “Is It Over Now?” on the original album?
Score: 8.6
Favorite songs: “Now That We Don’t Talk,” “Is It Over Now?”
2. Red (Taylor’s Version)
Like 1989 (Taylor’s Version), this re-record truly is a step-up from the original album, and it has the vault tracks to thank for it. Of course, we’re talking about the 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” which had an undeniable cultural impact, but also tracks like “Nothing New” and “I Bet You Think About Me” were huge hits we’re not sure how we lived without.
Score: 8.7
Favorite songs: “All Too Well (10 minute version),” “Nothing New,” “I Bet You Think About Me”
1. folklore
Was there ever any doubt? folklore was a huge surprise, both in the timing of its release and the style of music. We all agree that this is where Taylor’s songwriting, from the soft, contemplative lyrics to the thoughtful, gorgeous music that complements them, really shines. This album truly was an instant classic and a massive cultural moment, while also being deeply personal for both Taylor and all of the fans who see pieces of themselves in each song. No notes.
Score: 9.13
Favorite songs: “exile,” “my tears ricochet,” “the 1,” “peace,” “mirrorball,” “august”
Garri Chaverst, Senior Managing Editor
As Senior Managing Editor of The Everygirl, Garri oversees the pitching, planning, and creation of all content. You might also find her name pop up as a contributor throughout the site, though she mostly works behind the scenes, leading the team in their creative efforts and ensuring they have everything they need to create top-quality content for our audience.
Feature graphic images credited to: Garri Chaverst for The Everygirl, Getty Images, and Wikimedia Commons (1, 2)