All of the infamously devastating Taylor Swift track fives, ranked from worst to best

Get the tissues out it’s time to cry

6 months ago

To know Taylor Swift, to be a card-carrying Swiftie, is to know that every single track five on her 10 albums is famous for being the killer blow. It’s where she puts her devastator – the track that smacks you round the face, punches you in the gut and leaves you weeping on the floor. THAT one. 10 Taylor Swift albums, 10 track fives – here they all are, ranked from worst to best.

10. Cold As You (Taylor Swift)

In last place is Cold As You, from Taylor’s first record. Not a bad song by any means, but easily the least special in this list. To be fair to her, she hadn’t yet created her own lore of what it means to be a track five. It’s just a bit juvenile compared to what comes later.

9. White Horse (Fearless)

Love this song, just don’t think it quite has the emotional wallop needed for a track five. She was young at the time of course, but these lyrics are giving Disney Channel Original Movie ballad.

8. Dear John (Speak Now)

I’ve never been as into Speak Now as a lot of Taylor Swift fans, and I’m sure I will have pitchforks to my neck for this low placement of Dear John but so it shall be. My favourite thing about this song is that deliciously woozy guitar, the way it licks up and down is intoxicating, bluesy. The lyrics don’t quite hit good enough for me but I’m sure if you were a teenage girl when this came out you’d have a different relationship with it than I do.

7. All You Had To Do Was Stay (1989)

A very great pop song from a perfect pop album. I feel like with this one, as good as the song is, she forgot her track five assignment. She forgot her own lore. This is not the gut punch we need! Yeah, fair enough – 1989 is not really the gut punch album but Clean was right there! Still, this goes hard. The “stay” shouts in the chorus could raise me from the dead.

6. my tears ricochet (folklore)

I’m not being dramatic when I say with the release of Folklore, Taylor Swift literally changed my entire life. This album got inside my skin and became a part of my makeup. Every song on this album was worthy of track five placement. I love how My Tears Ricochet slowly uncurls, slowly builds into that unmistakable Jack Antonoff drum beat – a majestic tune.

5. The Archer (Lover)

Probably the weirdest song out of all the Taylor Swift track fives ranked here. It doesn’t really have a standard song structure, there’s no proper chorus – it’s all build. And that’s the beauty of it. I don’t think I got this song when I first heard it, but it’s honestly god tier for me now. That backing synth that just pulses quietly for the entire duration is pure cinema.

4. You’re On Your Own Kid (Midnights)

The first five tracks of Midnights are immaculate. A proper five-run wallop of amazing music, it’s only as it plods on the record earns its harsh-but-true name of MIDnights. There’s a real coming of age spirit to You’re On Your Own Kid, it feels like you’re stood at the end of the Taylor Swift biopic watching her look back over her legacy. How can you not wow at that?

3. tolerate it (evermore)

One of the best and saddest songs she’s ever written, and actually very underrated. I don’t hear enough conversation about how heartbreaking this song is. I’m going to let the final lyrics do the talking here as to why this is top three when it comes to Taylor Swift track fives ranked.

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
If it’s all in my head tell me now
Tell me I’ve got it wrong somehow
I know my love should be celebrated
But you tolerate it

2. Delicate (reputation)

Pure bliss. The vocoder intro? The introspective lyrics? Pop perfection of the highest order. The best song on Reputation and one of her best songs ever.

1. All T00 Well (Red)

Even from the opening guitar, you know you’re in trouble. It’s an instant devastator. One of the saddest songs ever written and the definitive track five of all the Taylor Swift track fives ranked here. It’s the blueprint, the benchmark – the pinnacle of Taylor Swift songwriting and whether it’s in its 10 minute complete version or the original five minute cut it would be at the top of any Taylor Swift list. Masterpiece.

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