ENTERTAINMENT
How many albums has Taylor Swift released and which one has been the best seller?
Ahead of the release of ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, we take a look back over Taylor Swift’s growing catalogue of studio albums.
Taylor Swift’s latest studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, is due to be released on Friday 19 April.
Swift announced the 16-song record at February’s Grammy Awards, and later revealed that the experience of writing the new album offered her an emotional “lifeline”.
“Tortured Poets is an album that I think, more than any of my albums I’ve ever made, I needed to make,” she told audience members in Melbourne, during a concert in her ongoing Eras Tour. “It was really a lifeline for me. Just the things I was going through, the things I was writing about. It kind of reminded me of why songwriting is something that actually gets me through my life.”
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How to listen to The Tortured Poets Department
The album can be pre-added/pre-saved on music streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify. It is also available to pre-order in cassette, CD and vinyl format.
How many Swift albums have there been?
The Tortured Poets Department will be the 11th studio album of Swift’s career. What’s more, the singer-songwriter has also brought out a series of rerecorded editions of her albums, which she calls “Taylor’s Version”. So far, Swift has rerecorded four albums: Fearless, Red, Speak Now and 1989.
Swift’s albums so far - a timeline:
Taylor Swift, 2006
Swift released her debut album at just 16. The singer wrote or co-wrote all 11 of the songs on the record, and it was promoted through the go-to social media platform at the time: MySpace. The album was recorded while she was in high school in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
“Teardrops on My Guitar”, a song Swift performed at her high school talent show, gave her entry into the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. The record spent 24 weeks in the top spot on the Billboard country chart and earned Swift a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.
The album contains memorable singles such as “Tim McGraw”, “Our Song”, “Picture to Burn” and “Should’ve Said No”.
Fearless, 2008
Fearless had three singles in the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, including “You Belong with Me”, which was certified seven times platinum, and the album spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s album chart. Popular songs from the album include “Fearless”, “Love Story”, “White Horse”, “You Belong with Me” and ‘Fifteen”.
Speak Now, 2010
Speak Now includes singles “Mean”, “Mine”, “Back to December”, “Sparks Fly” and “Ours”.
The album was nominated for Best Country Album at the 54th Grammy Awards in 2012, while “Mean” won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. It’s since been named as one of the best country albums of the 2010s.
Red, 2012
This emotional album is on the Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. Key tracks from the album include “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”, “Begin Again”, “I Knew You Were Trouble”, “22″, “Red”, and “Everything Has Changed”.
1989, 2014
The title is a reference to Swift’s birth year, and has chart-topping tunes like “Shake It Off”, “Blank Space” and “Bad Blood”, a hip-hop remix with guest rapper Kendrick Lamar. The record won Grammy awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, with Swift becoming the first woman to win Album of the Year twice.
Reputation, 2017
Written during a period of self-seclusion from public appearances, the album Reputation boasts songs such as “Look What You Made Me Do”, “Ready for It?”, “End Game”, and “Delicate”.
Lover, 2019
This album went triple platinum. Billboard, People, Rolling Stone and USA Today placed Lover in their Top 10. Songs include “Cruel Summer”, “Me!”, “You Need to Calm Down”, and “The Man”.
Folklore, 2020
The pandemic-era surprise album features “a collection of songs and stories that flowed like a stream of consciousness”, according to Swift’s description.
It broke Spotify and Billboard chart records and won the Grammy for Album of the Year, making her the only woman to win three times. The album includes songs like “Cardigan” and “Exile”.
Evermore, 2020
Another surprise pandemic-era album, with indie-folk vibes. Favourite songs from this album include “Willow”, and “No Body, No Crime”.
Fearless (Taylor’s Version), 2021
The first of Swift’s rerecorded albums, the 2021 version of Fearless includes all 19 songs from the ‘platinum edition’ of the 2009 record. Colbie Caillat, Maren Morris and Keith Urban all provide guest vocals.
Red (Taylor’s Version), 2021
This album has new versions of 20 of Swift’s hit songs, with Gary Lightbody and Ed Sheeran providing guest vocals, along with Phoebe Bridgers and Chris Stapleton.
Midnights, 2022
Midnights is about Swift’s struggle with insomnia and contains songs such as “Anti-Hero” and “Lavender Haze”. The concept album explores topics such as anxiety, insecurity, self-awareness and self-confidence.
It has received critical acclaim, earning Swift a record fourth Album of the Year accolade at this year’s Grammy Awards.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), 2023
Brought out in July last year, Swift’s third rerecorded album includes all 16 songs from Speak Now’s ‘deluxe edition’, plus six previously unreleased tracks. The record features collaborations with guests Fall Out Boy and Hayley Williams.
1989 (Taylor’s Version), 2023
Released in October, the 34-year-old’s most recent “Taylor’s Version” features the 16 tracks in 1989′s ‘deluxe edition’, in addition to five “from the vaults” songs.
What is Taylor Swift’s bestselling album?
According to figures from Billboard, Swift’s top seller is Fearless, which was released in 2008. It sold 592k in the first week and shot to 7.3 million in total, beating her second most popular release, 1989, which has sold 6.5m records.
Curiously, the “Taylor’s Version” of Fearless is the record that has sold the least, with ‘just’ 737k units moved. In terms of her most successful rerecorded album, that accolade goes to her 2023 edition of 1989, which has sold 2 million units.