Ranked: Track Fives by Taylor Swift

Ranked: Taylor Swift’s Track 5:  With Taylor’s 11th studio album – The Tortured Poet’s Department – released on April 19, 2024, I decided it’s time to update my ranking of her track five songs!

Feel free to comment below and let me know your own rankings!

11. Cold As You (Self-Titled)

The first of them all… while Cold As You is not a bad song (it’s Taylor’s favorite from her debut), it’s just not as good as the others. It’s still a heartfelt message, though, falling for someone who mistreated you no matter how much you tried to love them. Ah, life.

Best Lyrics: You put up walls and paint them all a shade of gray // And I stood there loving you and wished them all away.

10. White Horse (Fearless)

Romeo save me, I’ve been feelin’ so alone… Just kidding. White Horse is the complete opposite of Love Story, also found on Fearless. White Horse is about wanting the fairy tale but realizing it’ll never be. Taylor is growing up and moving on.

Best Lyrics: This is a big world, that was a small town // There in my rear view mirror disappearing now. 

09. All You Had to Do Was Stay (1989)

Definitely one of Taylor’s more upbeat sounding track five songs but it’s still about a relationship that’s ending because her lover can’t seem to make up his mind. I hate to say it’s a fun song but it’s definitely fun to sing!

Best Lyrics: Hey, all you had to do was stay // Had me in the palm of your hand, then why’d you have to go and lock me out when I let you in?

08. Delicate (Reputation)

This was the album where we began to get small windows into Taylor’s new relationship. After the Kimye drama and being “canceled”, she withdrew from the spotlight and found love. But of course, there’s a lot of insecurity there, and Taylor’s not really sure if she can say what’s on her mind without scaring off her new love. She’s no longer on the pop pedestal, so if this guy wants her, he’s got to want her and not what she could do for him – fame and exposure. It’s a vulnerable song and has one of my favorite TS videos.

Best Lyrics: This ain’t for the best // My reputation’s never been worse, so you must like me for me

07. The Archer (Lover)

The Archer is not the first song Taylor has written about her anxiety about being in a new relationship (Out of the Woods, Delicate), but The Archer may be her best yet.

She acknowledges her own faults, the things she’s done in the past to lose friends and push them away, while asking her lover what it will take to hold onto him. The genius of The Archer is that it feels like there should be a beat drop… you can sense it coming, but it never does… instead, the song ends… and Taylor said that’s what anxiety feels like for her… always waiting for relief and never getting it.

Best Lyrics: I’ve been the archer, I’ve been the prey // Screaming, who could ever leave me, darling? // But who could stay?

06. Dear John (Speak Now)

Hey John Mayer, why do you gotta be such a jerk? 

Best Lyrics: But I took your matches before fire could catch me // So don’t look now //I’m shining like fireworks over your sad empty town

05. my tears ricochet (folklore)

While Taylor has never said it outright, it’s wildly believed that this song is about Taylor’s relationship with Scott Borchetta and how he sold her masters to Scooter Braun after Taylor left Big Machine for Republic. Borchetta was a father figure to Swift from the beginning and had a close relationship with her family, which made the betrayal feel personal.

Swift uses the imagery of someone showing up to the funeral of a person they had tormented for years. She also mentions the “stolen lullabies” which allude to her masters. This feels like a highly personal song for Swift, and she reveals it’s the first one she wrote (alone) for folklore.

Best Lyrics: And I still talk to you (When I’m screaming at the sky) // And when you can’t sleep at night (You hear my stolen lullabies)

04. So Long London (The Tortured Poet’s Department)

It’s always difficult when a long-term relationship ends, whether it is amicable or not. Sometimes, what looks perfect on the surface is anything but, and I think Taylor beautifully portrays the difficulties of her relationship with Joe Alwyn in this song. So many people can relate to trying desperately to save a relationship that may have run its course, but eventually, one must accept when it’s over, especially if the other person isn’t willing to put in the same kind of effort you are. So Long, London isn’t full of bitterness or resentment… just a melancholy that comes with separating from the person you once thought was The One.

Best Lyrics: You swore that you loved me, but where were the clues? I died on the altar waiting for the proof. You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days.

03. tolerate it (evemore)

Whether a romantic relationship or not, haven’t we all had that one person in our life who we loved and gave everything to and got nothing in return? Friends of convenience, neglectful family, someone who has fallen out of love… tolerate it hits hard, told from the point of view of someone who has given everything only to receive nothing more than indifference. It may not have been written from real-life inspiration, but Taylor certainly knows how to write lyrics that aim straight for the heart.

Best lyric: But what would you do if I, I break free and leave us in ruins // Took this dagger in me and removed it. // Gain the weight of you then lose it. // Believe me, I could do it.

02. You’re On Your Own, Kid (Midnights)

Who would have thought that the newest track five would skip its way up to #2 on my list? You’re on You’re Own, Kid had to grow on me, but once it did, it became one of my favorite songs on Midnights. A song about growing up and how, at the end of the day, the only person you can truly trust is yourself.

Best Lyric: ‘Cause there were pages turned with the bridges burned // Everything you lose is a step you take.

01. All Too Well  (10 Minute Version) (Red)

I mean, duh. I always liked All Too Well, but as soon as Taylor released the 10-minute (10:13 to be exact) version, it sent the entire song into another stratosphere. Anyone who went through a passionate love affair only to see it end can probably relate to this song. Even if you can’t, you cannot deny how lovely it is, lyrically and musically. The vocal layering is gorgeous, and I adore the outro. By far, Taylor’s best track five, and many fans will argue it’s her best song, period.

Best Lyric: You call me up again just to break me like a promise // So casually cruel in the name of being honest…