Taylor Swift (2006)
Although Swift’s 2006 album cover for debut screams nostalgia, most people can agree there is a lot happening here. From the busy background to the heavy makeup on Swift, this isn’t one of our faves.
All Of Taylor Swift’s Albums Covers, Ranked, from Debut to Tortured Poets Department
Find out where your favorite artwork lands on our list.
Image: Getty Images; Universal Music Group. Design: Sasha Purdy / StyleCaster.
Taylor Swift is one of the biggest musicians in the world. With almost a dozen albums and hundreds of songs, the pop star has been releasing music since 2006. In honor of her brand-new record, The Tortured Poets Department, check out our list of Taylor Swift’s album covers, ranked, from debut to Midnights.
One of the best parts of Swift’s albums is the artwork. An album cover sets the tone for the entire record, and Swift has utilized different colors, styles, and themes to define each era. For example, she chose a black-and-white cover with news headlines for Reputation, gave an outdoorsy escape-to-the-woods feel for folklore, or showcased her signature red lip in Red. The artwork is thoughtfully crafted by Swift and her team, which makes the songs and lyrics inside that much more meaningful.
The singer admitted that she likes dropping Easter Eggs in songs, music videos, and album art to give fans puzzles to work through. In her latest release, The Tortured Poets Department, Swift is photographed in a luxe black intimate set in a sepia-toned photograph for the album art. “I needed to make it. It was really a lifeline for me,” Swift said about TTPD during a Feburary 2023 concert in Melbourne, Australia. “It sort of reminded me of why songwriting is something that actually gets me through life and I’ve never had an album where I’ve needed songwriting more than I needed it on Tortured Poets.”
Sometimes, the artist’s album covers aren’t meticulously crafted and can happen by accident. When T-Swift dropped the album cover for 1989 in August 2014, she revealed that the artwork wasn’t intentional. The cover features a Polaroid of herself (only the bottom of her face showing), with T.S. at the bottom left and “1989” (her birth year) at the bottom right. She’s also wearing a shirt with flying seagulls, which could allude to her summers in Rhode Island. “That photo you are seeing is a Polaroid we took, we took the album photos on Polaroids,” she explained on a live stream on Yahoo and ABC News. “It was kind of an accident, so I figured why not make that photo the album cover?”
With the release of her re-records starting in April 2021, fans have enjoyed comparing the original album covers to the new versions, and pointing out what changes Swift made to make them her own. (Her masters were purchased in 2019 by Scooter Braun, without the singer’s knowledge, and eventually sold to Shamrock Capital for $300 million in 2020.) Since then, Swift has been signed with Universal Music Group’s Republic Records, giving her full ownership over songwriting and the recordings.
Taylor Swift’s Album Covers Ranked
Ranking all of Taylor Swift’s album covers, including her 11 original studio albums and four Taylor’s Version re-records, is no easy feat. To clarify, we’re not ranking the albums themselves but the artwork on the covers. Keep scrolling to see all of Taylor Swift album cover’s ranked, from worst to best.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of Big Machine Records -
Fearless (2008)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Big Machine Records Swift’s windblown hair is downright iconic. However, compared to the other album covers, her sophomore cover art looks over-touched in the studio.
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Speak Now (2010)
On the album cover for Speak Now, T-Swift looks like a literal princess. The purple hue on the dress defines this Era, but something feels a bit off. Maybe it’s how the cover merges a painting and a digital photo.
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Red (2012)
The red lip in the album art for Red is *chef’s kiss.* We just really wish we could see the singer’s face more. It’s also giving Taylor’s favorite Instagram filter, which was iconic during this time.
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Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (2021)
Image Credit: Courtesy of UMG Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) cover art is oh-so dreamy. While parts of her hair could be improved (like the awkward flat part in the front), this version is a mature and elegant take on the 2010 cover.
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Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (2021)
Image Credit: Courtesy of UMG Taylor’s album cover for Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is a major improvement from the original. This one feels down to earth and in the moment while still honoring the record’s coming-of-age feel.
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Evermore (2020)
Image Credit: Courtesy of UMG Although the album cover for Evermore isn’t in our top 8, it’s genuine and outdoorsy. We love how her braid isn’t perfect, and it looks like Swift could have taken this photo herself.
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1989 (2014)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Big Machine Records The 1989 album cover is nostalgic thanks to the Polaroid-style and Swift’s signature red lip. Although it was perfect for the time, we’re glad she switched things up with the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) artwork, which feels more freeing than the original.
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Lover (2019)
Image Credit: Courtesy of UMG The cover art for Lover perfectly portrays the album’s theme of love. With pastel hues, sparkly pink lettering, and a glittery heart drawn around Swift’s eye, I couldn’t imagine anything else for this fun record.
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The Tortured Poets Department (2024)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Taylor Swift Instagram We’re obsessed with the art from Swift’s recent 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. The black-and-white photo shows the singer lying on a bed wearing a black tank top and high-rise briefs. It’s simple yet alluring, and it drew us into the gut-wrenching and emotional ballads showcased in TTPD.
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Red (Taylor’s Version) (2021)
Image Credit: Courtesy of UMG Red channels all the fall vibes, and this Taylor’s Version artwork represents Autumn. The warm filter and bold lip nod to the original cover, but this one reminds us more of “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)”— which is a masterpiece within itself.
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Midnights (2022)
Image Credit: Courtesy of UMG Although Swift included the tracklist on the album cover for Midnights, it doesn’t take away from the gorgeous artwork. The flickering flame close to her face and the jewel-toned makeup follow the album’s theme of “a journey through terrors and sweet dreams.”
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1989 (Taylor’s Version) (2023)
Image Credit: Courtesy of UMG We love how happy Taylor looks on the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) album cover. It throws back to her youthful 1989 era: summers in her Rhode Island mansion, hanging out with her BFFs, and finding her pop sound.
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Reputation (2017)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Big Machine Records The cover art for Reputation (Taylor’s Version) is layered with symbolism, from her slicked-back hair and black lipstick to the snippets of news articles and headlines. It sent the media and haters a powerful message: she’s not to be messed with.
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Folklore (2020)
Image Credit: Courtesy of UMG Folklore easily tops our list of the best Taylor Swift album covers. This record was exactly what the world needed during the pandemic, and the album artwork beautifully captures the feeling of escaping into a cabin in the woods.
The cover art specifically reminds us of the lyrics in “seven,” where she sings: “In the trees / I hit my peak at seven feet / In the swing / Over the creek / I was too scared to jump in / But I, I was high in the sky / With Pennsylvania under me / Are there still beautiful things?”
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