The most popular Taylor Swift albums in the U.S.: a ranking, based on her fans
Pop artist Taylor Swift will soon begin her “Eras Tour” with concerts that celebrate her 10 albums, including the most recently released “Midnights” soundtrack.
Before her tour begins, a new YouGov survey sought to create a definitive ranking of Swift’s existing albums among fans of her music in the United States. YouGov asked people who are familiar with Swift’s music whether they love, like, dislike, or hate each album (with each of Swift’s re-recorded albums being grouped with its original counterpart). Swift fans — ones who say they are fans or big fans of hers —who say they love more than one of her albums were asked to choose their favorite from the ones they love. Fans who don’t love any Swift albums and like more than one chose their favorite from among the ones they like.
When forced to choose just one, more fans with a favorite album put “Lover” at the top of their list than any other of Swift’s 10 albums — with 14% calling “Lover” their favorite album. It’s followed by “1989” (13% call it their favorite) and “Red” (12%). Those are closely followed by “Taylor Swift” (11%), her debut album, and “Fearless” (10%)
While Swift’s fans have a net positive view of each of her albums, there are a few different ways to rank her music. Calculating net scores — how many more of her fans “love” or “like” an album than “dislike” or “hate” it — produces an alternative ranking. By net scores, “Red” (+52) and “Fearless” (+52) are essentially tied for the top spot. The “Taylor Swift (Debut)” album comes next (+49), then “1989” (+49) and “Lover” (+48).
The top five albums remain the same regardless of which ranking is used — albeit in different orders, with little separating them — suggesting that while there is not a clear favorite for fans, there is a clear grouping of favorites. Her newest album, “Midnights,” lands in sixth place by both the share of fans who say it’s their favorite and by its net score.
What do Taylor Swift’s fans think of her 10 albums?
For each of the following Taylor Swift albums, please indicate whether you love, like, dislike, or hate it. If you have not heard of the album or listened to it before, please indicate so using the answer option. (% of U.S. adult citizens who are fans of Taylor Swift)
In addition to her newest album, Swift is re-recording many of her earlier albums with the parenthetical “(Taylor’s Version)” in their тιтles. Her release of re-recordings came after the masters for six of Swift’s albums that were produced by Big Machine Records were sold to someone other than Swift. Half of Swift fans (50%) — including 73% of people who call themselves “big fans” of the artist — say they try “a great deal” or “a fair amount” to make a conscious effort to listen to Swift’s re-recorded versions of her albums.
Fans are divided on which re-recording they want Swift to release next: 26% say “Taylor Swift” (Debut)”, 25% say “1989”, 16% prefer “Speak Now” , and 14% say “Reputation”.
YouGov also asked Americans who are familiar with Swift songs an open-ended question about their favorites. Among her fans with an opinion (those who did not say “don’t know” or “none”), many mention “Love Story” (19% of fans with an opinion list it), the lead single off “Fearless.” Others name “Shake it Off” (16%) — the lead single from “1989” — while many others pick “Lover,” the тιтle track from the “Lover” album. Other songs that are among many Swift fans’ favorites are Anti-Hero (9%), Blank Space (9%), Bad Blood (8%), I Knew You Were Trouble (7%), and You Belong With Me (5%).
