Taylor Swift: Top 100 Songs

Taylor Swift Top 100 Songs

Taylor Alison Swift was born 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 had completely transformed to a pop star by 2014. And her 1989 album. She has sold more than 200 million records worldwide and won three Grammys for Album of the Year. Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists. Spotify Podcast: Check out the Dave’s Music Database podcast The Best of Taylor Swift, 2006-2022 based on this list. Debut: October 24, 2022, at 7pm CST. New episodes based on Dave’s Music Database lists are posted every Tuesday at 7pm CST.

Awards:

Top 100 Songs Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Songs which hit #1 on various charts are noted. (Click for codes to charts.) DMDB Top 1%: 1. Shake It Off (2014) US, BA, DG, ST, RR, AC, A40, CN, AU 2. Love Story (2008) RR, AC, CW, AU 3. Blank Space (2014) US, BA, DG, ST, RR, AC, A40, CN, AU 4. You Belong with Me (2008) BA, RR, AC, CW DMDB Top 2%: 5. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (2012) US, DG, CW, CN 6. Bad Blood (with Kendrick Lamar, 2014) US, BA, DG, RR, A40, CN, AU 7. Anti-Hero (2022) US, BA, DG, ST, UK, AU 8. I Knew You Were Trouble (2012) BA, DG, RR, A40 DMDB Top 5%: 9. Look What You Made Me Do (2017) US, DG, ST, RR, UK, CN, AU 10. Wildest Dreams (2014) BA, RR, A40 11. All Too Well (Taylor’s version) (2021) US, DG, ST, CW, CN, AU 12. Style (2014) RR, AC, A40 13. I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (with Zayn, 2016) DG 14. Cardigan (2020) US, DG, ST, AU 15. You Need to Calm Down (2019) DG 16. Delicate (2017) RR, AC, A40 17. Willow (2020) US, DG, A40, CN, AU 18. Mine (2010) DG, AC 19. Teardrops on My Guitar (2006) 20. Me! (with Brendan Urie, 2019) DG DMDB Top 10%: 21. 22 (2012) 22. Lover (2019) DG 23. Back to December (2010) DG 24. Ready for It? (2017) DG 25. Today Was a Fairytale (2010) DG, CN 26. Cruel Summer (2019) US, RR, A40, CN 27. Our Song (2006) CW 28. Mean (2010) 29. All Too Well (2012) 30. Everything Has Changed (with Ed Sheeran, 2012) DMDB Top 20%: 31. Fifteen (2008) 32. White Horse (2008) 33. Gorgeous (2017) DG 34. Love Story (Taylor’s version) (2021) DG, CW 35. The Man (2019) 36. Karma (2022) RR 37. Red (2012) 38. Eyes Open (2012) 39. Half of My Heart (with John Mayer, 2009) 40. Lavender Haze (2022) 41. Begin Again (2012) DG 42. Out of the Woods (2014) DG 43. Highway Don’t Care (with Tim McGraw, 2013) CW 44. Exile (with Bon Iver, 2020) 45. Renegade (with Big Red Machine, 2021) 46. Bejeweled (2022) 47. Snow on the Beach (with Lana Del Rey, 2022) 48. End Game (with Ed Sheeran, 2017) 49. Two Is Better Than One (with Boys Like Girls, 2009) 50. Safe & Sound (with Civil Wars, 2011) 51. Only the Young (2020) 52. Carolina (2022) 53. Both of Us (with B.o.B., 2012) 54. The Story of Us (2010) Beyond the DMDB Top 20%: 55. Ours (2011) CW 56. Picture to Burn (2006) 57. Midnight Rain (2022) 58. No Body, No Crime (with Haim, 2020) 59. Welcome to New York (2014) 60. Sweet Nothing (2022) 61. Fearless (2009) 62. Should’ve Said No (2006) CW 63. Tim McGraw (2006) 64. Sparks Fly (2010) CW 65. Jump Then Fall (2009) 66. You’re on Your Own Kid (2022) 67. Speak Now (2010) 68. State of Grace (2012) 69. Coney Island (with the National, (2020) 70. Crazier (2009) 71. I Bet You Think About Me (with Chris Stapleton, 2021) 72. Vigilante Shit (2022) 73. Mastermind (2022) 74. Question…? (2022) DG 75. Paper Rings (2019) 76. Sweeter Than Fiction (2013) 77. Maroon (2022) 78. I Forgot That You Existed (2019) 79. The Joker and the Queen (with Ed Sheeran, 2021) 80. Hits Different (2022) DG 81. Forever & Always (2008) 82. Labyrinth (2022) 83. The Archer (2019) 84. Corneila Street (2019) 85. You’re Not Sorry (2008) 86. London Boy (2019) 87. New Romantics (2015) 88. Enchanted (2010) 89. Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince (2019) 90. Death by a Thousand Cuts (2019) 91. I Think He Knows (2019) 92. Afterglow (2019) 93. I Almost Do (2012) 94. Christmas Tree Farm (2019) 95. Stay Stay Stay (2012) 96. Daylight (2019) 97. The Moment I Knew (2013) 98. Message in a Bottle (Taylor’s Version) (2021) 99. Call It What You Want (2017) DG 100. The 1 (2020) Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Taylor Swift Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” First posted 8/27/2017; last updated 10/25/2023.

Taylor Swift debuted at #1 with “Shake It Off”

Shake It Off Taylor Swift

Writer(s): Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback (see lyrics here) Released: August 18, 2014 First Charted: August 24, 2014 Peak: 14 US, 14 BA, 14 DG, 12 ST, 12 RR, 15 AC, 18 A40, 58a CW, 2 UK, 14 CN, 13 AU, 10 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 2.4 UK, 13.58 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 3448.6 video, 1103.55 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: In 2014, Taylor Swift made a conscious decision to embrace pop music completely and abandoned attempts to pigeon-hole her work into a country mold. The result was met with immediate approval in the pop world. Lead single “Shake It Off,” from 1989 – Swift’s fifth studio album – debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100. It was her second time atop the chart – the first being “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” the lead single from her previous album, 2012’s Red. The song also set up Swift for the biggest album debut in a decade with 1.29 million sales in its first week. She wrote the song with Max Martin and Shellback, who also collaborated with Swift on “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble.” SF It marked Martin’s 18th #1 as a songwriter, putting him only behind Paul McCartney (32) and John Lennon (26). SF The song is uptempo with a melody which Billboard magazine’s Jason Lipshutz compared to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Thrift Shop.” He called it a “surefire hit” which “proves why she belongs among pop’s queen bees.” WK A Music Times critic compared the song to Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” while Shirley Halperin, from The Hollywood Reporter, described it as an uptempo version of Idina Menzel’s “Let It Go” and called it “pop-tastic.” WK Lyrically, the song is Swift’s message to her haters. She said, “People can say whatever they want…at any time, and we cannot control that…You can either let it get to you… [or] you just shake it off.” SF She told the BBC “it honestly doesn’t matter if someone else doesn’t want to understand you.” SF. The song found some detractors; Kevin Fallon of The Daily Beast said it was “a great pop song,” but “the least musically interesting song” of her career, noting that “this new direction…is woefully depressing.” WK Mark Romanek, who was previous behind Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” and Michael and Janet Jackson’s “Scream,” directed the video. In it, Swift surrounded herself with what Music Times called “some of the world’s best dancers in the styles of hip hop, lyrical, ballet, jazz and even cheerleader” while Swift embraced “her inner dorky dancer.” WK The video received mixed reviews. Direct Lyrics called it a “fun one” but The Guardian’s Molly Fitzpatrick said the mix of different dance styles was “fun, but the conceit falls flat.” WK Jezebel called it a “cringe-worthy mess” WK while rapper Earl Sweatshirt criticized the video for playing on racial stereotypes. SF Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Taylor Swift DMDB encyclopedia entry for Max Martin SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: Last updated 7/23/2023.

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.