Taylor Swift: The #1’s

Taylor Swift The #1’s: 2006-2023

Overview: Singer born Taylor Alison Swift on 12/13/1989 in Reading, Pennyslvania. She released her first album in 2006 while still a teenager. She started out as a country artist but completely transformed to a pop star by 2014 with her 1989 album. She has spent more weeks atop the Billboard album chart (54) than any other woman in history. She has sold more than 200 million records worldwide and won three Grammys for Album of the Year. On the Web: TaylorSwift.com (official site) Facebook Wikipedia Lists: Taylor Swift: Top 100 Songs

Awards:

The Studio Albums: Hover over an album cover to see its title and year of release. Click on the album to go to its dedicated DMDB page. Compilations: While Swift has released multiple editions of her studio albums and even re-recorded versions of some of them, she has yet to release a proper career retrospective. This page offers a glimpse of each of her studio albums, highlighting those songs which have reached #1 on various charts, thus offering a sampling of what songs would be most likely to appear on a very overdue compilation. Dates indicate the songs first appearance at #1 on any of the noted charts. Click for codes to singles charts.

Taylor Swift (2006): Swift’s self-titled debut was released when she was sixteen years old. The album gave her five top-10 country hits, two of which went to #1. All five of those songs also reached the Billboard top 40. The album spent 24 weeks atop the country album chart and reached #5 on the overall Billboard album chart. It was certified as 7x platinum. 12/22/2007: “Our Song” (CW: 6) 8/23/2008: “Should’ve Said Now” (CW: 2) Fearless (2008): Like its predecessor, Swift’s second album gave her five top-10 country hits, two of which reached #1. However, this album made her a bona fide pop star, giving her five top-10 pop hits and winning the Grammy for Album of the Year. In addition, the two songs listed here rank amongst the DMDB’s top 1000 of all time. The album spent 11 weeks at #1 on the overall Billboard album chart and 35 weeks atop the country chart. It was certified for 10 million in sales in the United States. 11/22/2008: “Love Story” (CW: 2, AC: 6, RR: 1, AU: 2) 8/22/2009: “You Belong with Me” (BA: 2, CW: 2, AC: 14, RR: 1) Valentine’s Day (soundtrack, 2010): 2/6/2010: “Today Was a Fairytale” (DG: 1, CN: 1) Speak Now (2010): Once again, Swift kept one foot in pop and the other in country, spending 6 and 13 weeks atop those respective album charts. It was certified for 6 million in sales in the U.S. The album gave her five more top-10 country hits and four more top-10 pop hits. 8/21/2010: “Mine” (DG: 1, AC: 1) 10/30/2010: “Back to December” (DG: 1) 11/26/2011: “Sparks Fly” (CW: 1) 3/31/2012: “Ours” (CW: 1) Red (2012): Swift’s farewell to country saw her spend 16 weeks at #1 on the country album chart and 7 on the pop chart. It landed 7 million in sales in the United States. She got three more top-10 country hits and four top-10 pop hits, including her first pop chart-topper, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” 9/1/2012: “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” (BB: 3, DG: 5, CW: 10, CN: 4) 10/13/2012: “Begin Again” (DG: 1) 10/27/2012: “I Knew You Were Trouble” (BA: 4, DG: 3, RR: 6, A40: 1) 1989 (2014): Swift’s full-fledged pop coronation made her a superstar. She racked up three #1 pop hits and two more top-10’s. “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space” rank in the DMDB’s top 1000 of all time. The album logged 11 weeks atop the Billboard album chart. At more than 12 million sales worldwide, it is her biggest seller to date. It also garnered her a second Album of the Year Grammy. 9/6/2014: “Shake It Off” (BB: 4, BA: 4, DG: 4, ST: 2, RR: 2, AC: 5, A40: 8, CN: 4, AU: 3) 11/1/2014: “Out of the Woods” (DG: 1) 11/15/2014: “Blank Space” (BB: 7, BA: 6, DG: 7, ST: 7, RR: 5, AC: 4, A40: 6, CN: 6, AU: 3) 3/15/2015: “Style” (RR: 3, AC: 2, A40: 2) 6/6/2015: “Bad Blood” (with Kendrick Lamar, BB: 1, BA: 5, DG: 5, RR: 6, A40: 3, CN: 1, AU: 3) 10/25/2015: “Wildest Dreams” (BA: 2, RR: 2, A40: 4) Fifty Shades Darker (soundtrack, 2017): 12/31/2016: “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” (with Zayn, DG: 2) Reputation (2017): This one spent four weeks at #1 on the album chart and sold more than 4.5 million worldwide. It gave Swift another Billboard Hot 100 chart topper with “Look What You Made Me Do” and a top-5 hit with “Ready for It?” Three more songs reached the top 20. 9/16/2017: “Look What You Made Me Do” (BB: 3, DG: 1, ST: 2, RR: 1, UK: 2, CN: 3, AU: 2) 9/23/2017: “Ready for It?” (DG: 1) 11/11/2017: “Gorgeous” (DG: 1) 11/25/2017: “Call It What You Want” (DG: 1) 7/22/2018: “Delicate” (RR: 1, AC; 10, A40: 4) Lover (2019): Swift’s sixth consecutive chart-topper only spent one week atop the Billboard album chart but matched the 4.5+ million in sales of its predecessor. Swift barely missed the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking in the runner-up spot with “Me!” and “You Need to Calm Down.” The title cut was also a top-10 hit. The most interesting story, however, belongs to “Cruel Summer.” The fan favorite essentially served as the opening song on Swift’s record-breaking Eras tour and finally got its chart due, going all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 nearly five years after its initial release. 5/11/2019: “Me!” (with Brendon Urie, DG: 1) 6/29/2019: “You Need to Calm Down” (DG: 1) 8/31/2019: “Lover” (DG: 2) 7/31/2023: “Cruel Summer” (BB: 1, RR: 2) Miss Americana (documentary, 2020): 2/15/2020: “Only the Young” (DG: 1) Folklore (2020): For her eighth album, Swift racked up another eight weeks at #1 on the Billboard album chart, but saw a drop-off in sales. It still sold 2 million worldwide. “Cardigan” gave Swift another #1 hit and “Exile” and “The 1” reached the top 10. The album was her third to win the Grammy for Album of the Year. 8/8/2020: “Cardigan” (BB: 1, DG: 1, ST: 1) Evermore (2020): Swift’s ninth studio release gave her another 3 weeks atop the Billboard album chart. This was her first album to fail to sell a million copies. “Willow” became Swift’s seventh song to reach the pinnacle of the Billboard Hot 100. 12/26/2020: “Willow” (BB: 1, DG: 1, A40: 3) Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (2021): 2/27/2021: “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” (DG: 1) Red (Taylor’s Version) (2021): 11/15/2021: “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” (BB: 1, DG: 1, ST: 1, CW: 3, CN: 1, AU: 1) Midnights (2023): Swift made history with her Midnights album when she locked down the entire top ten slots on the Billboard Hot 100. The album’s lead single, “Anti-Hero,” became her biggest #1 on the chart, spending eight weeks on top. 11/5/2022: “Anti-Hero” (BB: 8, BA: 5, DG: 5, ST: 2, RR: 3, A40: 7, UK: 6, CN: 5, AU: 6) 11/5/2022: “Question…?” (DG: 1) 6/10/2023: “Hits Different” (DG: 1) 7/10/2023: “Karma” (RR: 2)

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Taylor Swift First posted 11/16/2021; last updated 10/24/2023.

Taylor Swift’s Red debuted at #1

Red Taylor Swift

Released: October 22, 2012 (Original Version) Released: November 12, 2011 (Taylor’s Version) Peak: 17 US, 116, 11 UK, 12 CN, 13 AU Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 0.6 UK, 8.78 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/country

Song Title (Writers) [Time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Tracks (Original Album): State of Grace [4:55] (10/27/12, 13 US, 36 UK, 9 CN, 44 AU) Red [3:43] (10/13/12, 6 US, 2 CW, 26 UK, 5 CN, 30, AU, worldwide sales: 1.44 million) Treacherous (Swift, Dan Wilson) [4:02] (11/10/12, 26 CW, 65 CN) I Knew You Were Trouble (Swift, Max Martin, Shellback) [3:39] (10/8/12, 2 US, 5 AC, 11 A40, 55a CW, 2 UK, 2 CN, 3 AU, worldwide sales: 7.75 million) All Too Well (Swift, Liz Rose) [5:29] (11/10/12, 80 US, 17 CW, 59 CN) 22 (Swift, Martin, Shellback) [3:52] (11/10/12, 20 US, 19 AC, 9 A40, 9 UK, 20 CN, 21 AU, worldwide sales: 2.92 million) I Almost Do [4:04] (11/10/12, 65 US, 13 CW, 50 CN) We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Swift, Martin, Shellback) [3:13] (8/13/12, 13 US, 10 AC, 7 A40, 110 CW, 4 UK, #14 CN, 3 AU, worldwide sales: 9.1 million) Stay Stay Stay [3:25] (11/10/12, 91 US, 24 CW, 70 CN) The Last Time (Swift, Gary Lightbody, Jacknife Lee) [4:59] (with Gary Lightbody, 11/4/13, 25 UK, 73 CN) Holy Ground [3:22] (11/10/12, 32 CW, 89 CN) Sad Beautiful Tragic [4:44] (11/10/12, 37 CW, 92 CN) The Lucky One [4:00] (11/10/12, 33 CW, 88 CN) Everything Has Changed (Swift, Sheeran) [4:05] (with Ed Sheeran, 11/10/12, 32 US, 11 AC, 8 A40, 7 UK, 28 CN, 28 AU, worldwide sales: 1.07 million) Starlight [3:40] (11/10/12, 28 CW, 80 CN) Begin Again [3:57] (9/25/12, 7 US, 10 CW, 30 UK, 4 CN, 20 AU, US sales: 1 million) Tracks (Deluxe Edition): The Moment I Knew [4:46] Come Back…Be Here (Swift, Wilson) [3:43] (1/26/13, 64 CN) Girl at Home [3:40] (1/26/13, 75 CN) Treacherous (original demo recording) (Swift, Wilson) [4:00] * Red (original demo recording) [3:47] * State of Grace (acoustic version) [5:23] Tracks (Taylor’s Version): Ronan (Swift, Maya Thompson) [4:24] (9/8/12, 16 US, 34 CW) Better Man [4:57] Nothing New (with Phoebe Bridgers) [4:18] Babe (Swift, Patrick Monahan) [3:44] Message in a Bottle (Swift, Martin, Shellback) [3:45] I Bet You Think About Me (with Chris Stapleton) (Swift, Lori McKenna) [4:45] (11/15/21, 22 US, 23a CW, 17 CN, 43 AU) Forever Winter (Swift, Mark Foster) [4:23] Run (with Ed Sheeran) (Swift, Sheeran) [4:00] The Very First Night (Swift, Amund Bjørklund, Espen Lind) [3:20] All Too Well (10 minute version) Swift, Rose [10:13] (11/15/21, 1 US, 1 CW, 3 UK, 1 CN, 1 AU) Songs written by Taylor Swift unless noted otherwise. Songs marked with an asterisk are not on Taylor’s Version. Total Running Time (Original Version): 65:11 Total Running Time (Taylor’s Version): 130:26

Rating: 3.820 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings) Quotable: Red establishes “Taylor Swift as perhaps the only genuine cross-platform superstar of her time.” AMG Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Taylor Swift shocked the world with her fourth album, breaking away from country music to make a record that recalled classics by the Beatles and Prince in the way it pulled from across the pop and rock landscape and transformed every sound it touched.” RS’20 Red seeks “to prove Taylor is a genuine superstar, the kind who transcends genre, the kind who can be referred to by a single name.” AMG It certainly accomplished that goal on a commercial level. It was her third consecutive chart-topper, debuting with first-week sales of 1.21 million, making it the fastest-selling album in the US in more than a decade. WK It was also her third consecutive top-selling album of the year WK and received Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Country Album of the Year. Red barely winks at country, and it’s a better album for it.” AMG It offers “every kind of sound or identity a Swift fan could possibly want.” AMG While the result is “uneven” and runs “just a shade too long as it sprints along in its quest to be everything to everyone,” AMG it establishes “Swift as perhaps the only genuine cross-platform superstar of her time.” AMG Billboard magazine said the album “transcends her country roots for a genre-spanning record” that is “her most interesting full-length to date.” WK Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times was impressed by her talent at incorporating different music styles. In Slant magazine, Jonathan Keefe gave the album a mixed review, but acknowledged that Swift “now sounds like the pop star she was destined to be all along.” She used the term “red emotions” to describe the “semi-toxic relationships” she experienced while making the album, hence the title of the album. WK “Tabloid types tied themselves in knots trying to figure out which song was about which ex, but the real news was Swift’s songwriting on high points like the astonishing All Too Well, as vivid a post-breakup remembrance as any artist has ever produced.” RS’20 When Swift re-recorded and re-released the album in 2021, the ten-minute version of the song soared to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 – and gave her yet another #1 country hit. In addition to exporing her “signature themes of love and heartbreak” WK she explores “fame and the pressure of being in the limelight.” WK She told MTV News “each song stands on its own. It’s this patchwork quilt of different sounds and different emotions.” WK Billboard magazine noted that “Red will likely be remembered for its sonic risks.” WK This includes the dance-pop lead single We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together with its “stomping, swaying electro twang.” RS’20 The song became Swift’s first chart-topper on the Billboard Hot 100. Also of note are the title cut, which “the title track was a swirl of banjos, dusty guitars, and talk-box elation,” RS’20 and I Know You Were Trouble. The latter, with its “dubstep groove,” RS’20 was released as an official single and became her eleventh song to debut in the top 10. “Back Together” was nominated for a Grammy for Record of the Year while Begin Again also received a Grammy nod – for Best Country Song. It was released as the official second single, debuting in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. It was also serviced to country radio, becoming her seventeenth consecutive top 10 on the Billboard country songs chart. WK 22 was the album’s official fourth single. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of All Music Guide called it a “ludicrous club-filler,” AMG pointing it out as one of the songs contributing to the album’s uneven buffet nature. In noting the variety of the album’s material, he also cited the “shimmering melancholy reminiscent of Mazzy Star” AMG on Sad Beautiful Tragic), the “chilly new wave pulse” AMG of The Lucky One and “the unabashed arena rock fanfare of State of Grace.” AMG “Although she can still seem a little gangly in her lyrical details – her relationship songs are too on the nose and she has an odd obsession about her perceived persecution by the cool kids – these details hardly undermine the pristine pop confections surrounding them. If anything, these ungainly, awkward phrasings humanizes this mammoth pop monolith: she’s constructed something so precise its success seems preordained, but underneath it all, Taylor is still twitchy, which makes Red not just catchy but compelling.” AMG Notes: A deluxe edition, which was released in January 2013, added bonus tracks. In 2021, Swift re-recorded the album with even more songs. See track listings above for full details.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Taylor Swift AMG All Music Guide RS’20 Rolling Stone (9/22/2020). “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time” WK Wikipedia page for original version TV Wikipedia page for Taylor’s version Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/4/2019; last updated 4/21/2022.

Taylor Swift “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” hit #1

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together Taylor Swift

Writer(s): Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback (see lyrics here) Released: August 13, 2012 First Charted: August 19, 2012 Peak: 13 BB, 15 DG, 10 AC, 7 A40, 110 CW, 4 UK, 14 CN, 3 AU, 9 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 6.0 US, 1.2 UK, 9.29 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 832.63 video, 971.57 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Taylor Swift’s fourth album, Red, saw her more fully embracing pop music. This was noticeable in the album’s lead single, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” which – despite topping the country charts – was a full-on pop song embracing “pulsing synthesizers, processed guitar riffs, [and] bass drums.” WK Writer Jonathan Keefe (Slant, Spin) even called it “bubblegum pop.” WK MTV’s James Montgomery called it “a turning point in her career.” WK After writing her previous album, 2010’s Speak Now, entirely on her own, she opted to collaborate with others on Red. She connected with production and songwriting gurus Max Martin and Shellback, who’d had #1 success with Pink (“So What,” “Raise Your Glass”), Britney Spears (“3”), and Maroon 5 (“One More Night”). They helped her write “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” after a friend of Swift’s ex-boyfriend (rumored to be actor Jake Gyllenhaal) came in the studio talking about rumors of a reunion. SF Afterward, they asked her for details and she described their relationship as “break up, get back together, break up, get back together, just, ugh, the worst.” WK According to Taylor, “Max says, ‘This is what we’re writing; we’re writing this song.’ And I picked up the guitar and just started singing ‘we are never ever.’ It just happened so fast. It was so much fun.” SF She said it became one of her most humorous experiences while recording. WK She said of the ex that he belittled her music, saying she “wasn’t as good or as relevant as these hipster bands he listened to…So I made a song that I knew would absolutely drive him crazy when he heard it on the radio.” SF She references it in the song, singing, “Hid away and find your peace of mind / With some indie record that’s much cooler than mine.” SF The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #72 and leapt to #1 the following week, making it one of the biggest jumps into the top slot in history. It was also her first #1 on the chart after 45 chart entries – a record. SF The song won the Billboard Music Award for Top Country Song and was nominated for a Grammy for Record of the Year. It also received a People’s Choice Award nomination for Favorite Song. It also set a Guinness World Record for fastest selling single in digital history WK with 623,000 units in its first week. SF Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Taylor Swift SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 2/19/2024; last updated 4/14/2024.