Today starting at 10:45am ET / 7:45am PT, the 2025 Grammy nominations will be announced via a live stream on the Recording Academy’s website. As with last year, music’s biggest female names will likely dominate the nominations with Chappell Roan, Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Charli XCX, Ariana Grande, and Taylor Swift tipped to be front runners for Album of the Year. Last year, Swift received an Album of the Year win, her record-setting fourth, for 2022’s Midnights, and she’s back in contention this year with The Tortured Poets Department. That album, her 11th, benefitted from a relatively slow summer album season and held the number one spot for a non-consecutive 15 weeks — a record for Swift.
But does Tortured Poets deserve another win? Critics (and I) would say no. I do like the album, but after Midnights and the Eras Tour, it’s time for a little break, right?
Anyway, ahead of today’s Grammy nominations, here’s my ranking of her 11 albums. Since not all of her albums have received the “Taylor’s Version” treatment (missing Reputation and Taylor Swift), I’m basing these rankings on the original recordings.
11. Lover
Lover gave us a handful of really classic songs — “Cruel Summer,” “Lover,” and “Cornelia Street” are among them — but it’s her most inconsistent album. A collection of memorable high highs and extremely forgettable low lows. Best song: “Cruel Summer”
10. Evermore
The second surprise album of 2020, Evermore often feels like a full selection of B-sides. Granted, the first few songs on the album are very good, but it falls into a pattern of indie folk monotony that you couldn’t possibly listen to end-to-end while driving. Best song: “Ivy”
9. Taylor Swift
My daughter would not agree with this album’s ranking, but it’s a cute album. Taylor Swift, or “Debut” as Swifties call it, boasts several big hits from a budding artist. It’s astounding that some of these songs were written when she was in her early teens, and “Our Song,” “Teardrops On My Guitar,” and “Picture To Burn” rank among her best songs. This is the one I’m most excited to revisit as a “Taylor’s Version” album as I’m fascinated by how she will recast songs written and performed when she was 16 as a 30-something woman. Best song: “Our Song
8. Speak Now
This is where it gets hard. Speak Now offers much to recommend it, but coming off the heals of the Grammy-winning Fearless, you can’t help but look at it as a minor entry in her catalog. One thing I do really like about it is this odd mixture of playful (“Speak Now”), melodramatic (“Enchanted,” “Never Grow Up”), cunty (“Better Than Revenge”), and emotionally devastated (“Back To December,” “Dear John”). A truly bipolar album. Best song: “Mine”
7. Reputation
This will be a controversial pick because it’s not dead last or near the top. You either really love or really hate her experiment in hate pop. What people generally don’t know is that it’s an album about a woman falling in love all over again, and I love several songs on it, particularly its one-two witchy punch in “I Did Something Bad” and “Don’t Blame Me.” It also has one of her very worst songs in “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.” Best song: (tie) “Delicate,” “Getaway Car”
6. The Tortured Poets Department
If her latest album didn’t start with two regrettable songs in “Fortnight” and “The Tortured Poets Department,” then it would be widely hailed as one of her very, very best. Get through those two songs, and it’s all uphill from there until you hit a handful of mid songs toward the end. Does it deserve an Album of the Year nomination this year? Sure. Should it win? Absolutely not. Best song: “Guilty As Sin?”
5. Fearless
Her first Album of the Year win, Fearless still plays very well thanks to timeless songs like “Love Story,” “You Belong With Me,” “White Horse,” and the title track “Fearless.” Looking back, it’s surprising that this album won against Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, but it’s still one of Swift’s very best works and is still beloved by her youngest fans today. Best song: “Love Story”
4. Folklore
Folklore marks her entry into indie pop dreamed up during the 2020 pandemic when everyone else was making starter for sourdough bread. Swift won her third Album of the Year Grammy for this lovely, vaguely experimental (for her) work from which the casual listener would be challenged to name a song. The album shockingly worked wonders during the Eras Tour, however, with several songs popping through their visual translation onto the stage. Best song: “Exile”
3. Red
Red marked Swift’s first toe into pop music, and it was the first time I really ever listened to her music. I remember her Target commercials flooding the air and discovered her song through an early meme using baby goats bleating through the chorus of “I Knew You Were Trouble.” This album, though, boasts great song after great song and is one of the few of hers I listen to end-to-end. It’s one of her most fun and offers what will probably go down as her most important song, “All Too Well.” Best song: “All Too Well”
2. Midnights
Her fourth Grammy win for Album of the Year, Midnights simply fucks as an album. It’s dark. It’s nasty. It’s her most club-friendly work, and it has fantastic song after fantastic song. There was no way she was losing that Grammy with an album boasting “Lavender Haze” (check out the acoustic version), “Maroon,” “Bejeweled,” “You’re On Your Own Kid,” “Karma,” and yes “Anti-Hero.” Brilliant work that would be hard to top. Best song: “Maroon”
1. 1989
Taylor Swift entered the pop world with this smash hit album. If you hadn’t heard of her before, then this album marked the moment you couldn’t escape her music. It is an instant classic pop album packed with brilliant songs once you get through the slightly regrettable lead track “Welcome To New York.” You know it’s a great album when the bonus track “New Romantics” is just as good as anything that made the initial cut. Picking a “best song” out of this lineup is a true Sophie’s Choice. It’s all great, and it’s her most deserving Album of the Year win. Best song: “Style”
