10 Most Popular Songs by Taylor Swift
10 Most Popular Songs by Taylor Swift
Are you looking to fill your Spotify playlist with some of the most popular Taylor Swift songs? She’s got a lot of good songs out there. In fact, it can be pretty difficult to decide which ones are her very best – Taylor Swift rocks! Thankfully, we’ve done the research and ranked them for you. Here are our top ten!
Look What You Made Me Do
You probably know that this song is Taylor Swift’s response to her feud with Kanye West. The two were involved in a very public quarrel over whether or not the rapper was ever allowed to interrupt Taylor during one of her acceptance speeches at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
Taylor’s lyrics are full of revenge, and that’s what she wanted to achieve with this song. She reveals in an interview how she was left feeling after Kanye interrupted her: “I was completely humiliated by it,” she says. “He really, really did hurt me.”
The music video for Look What You Made Me Do is also her most viewed on YouTube (more than 1 billion views). It shows Taylor as a zombie who rises from the grave after an accident and walks out of a forest wearing another costume for each scene.
Look What You Made Me Do reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and US Billboard Hot 100. It became the best-selling song of 2017 in the US and prompted criticism from fans who thought Taylor had turned “dark.”
Blank Space
Released in 2014, Blank Space is a song about the media and people’s perceptions of Swift. She has been known to date many famous people (e.g., John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal, Taylor Lautner, Conor Kennedy, Harry Styles, Calvin Harris, and Tom Hiddleston), so the lyrics are sardonic and cleverly poke fun at her reputation as a serial-dater.
In the song, she sings: “Got a long list of ex-lovers, They’ll tell you I’m insane …” before she continues: “So it’s gonna be forever, Or it’s gonna go down in flames …” These lyrics are much more ambiguous than they initially seem because they could either represent Swift as an obsessive girlfriend or they could represent someone else as an obsessive ex-girlfriend.
The chorus gives us even more insight into this juxtaposition between Swift’s perspective and other people’s perceptions of her: “Darling I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydream.” The song ends with her singing, “boys only want love if it’s torture,” which we may interpret as referring to how being in love with her can be torturous for some men (I’m looking at you, Tom Hiddleston!).
Shake It Off
For many people, Shake It Off is that song you hear in the elevator or at the dentist’s office, and you can’t help but sing along. There’s no deep symbolism or political message here; Taylor Swift’s just letting her haters know she doesn’t care anymore, and she’s going to dance until they fade into the background! It’s an upbeat, unpretentious love letter to self-empowerment, which is why it remains one of Taylor Swift’s most popular songs today.
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together is the first single from Taylor’s fourth studio album Red (2012). The song was written by Taylor Swift and her producer Max Martin.
The song received mixed to positive reviews from music critics, with many praising the catchy beats but criticizing the lyrics as less than great.
The song broke multiple records, including becoming the fastest-selling single in digital history!
Bad Blood
Bad Blood is a song Taylor wrote about her feud with another pop star, Katy Perry. The video for the track features a mix of celebrities, including model Cara Delevingne, actress Jessica Alba and Mariska Hargitay from Law and Order: SVU. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2016 for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and the video won the Best Music Video award at the same ceremony.
Style
Another example of Swift incorporating pop into her music is this hit song from her album 1989. The song was written along with producers Max Martin and Shellback, who have also worked with other big names in the music industry, such as Adele and Justin Timberlake. Some people believe the song is about singer Harry Styles, who Swift dated in 2012.
Wildest Dreams
Released in 2015, this song became a bit of a part of pop culture history, as it featured on the soundtrack for the film 50 Shades of Grey. This song is one that’s stayed popular with fans over time, so if you’re thinking about making your own list of favourite Taylor Swift songs, this could be a good choice.
Out of the Woods
This song was popular in late 2016, peaking at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. Jack Antonoff produced it, and it remains one of Swift’s most highly-regarded singles. The music video for this song was filmed in New Zealand and is one of Swift’s most expensive videos to date. This song is rumoured to have been written about Harry Styles, whom she dated in 2012.
Ready For It?
Ready For It? is the second single from Taylor Swift’s sixth studio album, Reputation, and it’s also the opening track. This song seems to be about a secret romance, but fans remain unsure who the lyrics are referring to. This song was released on September 3, 2017, and it reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
I Knew You Were Trouble
I Knew You Were Trouble is a song about a bad relationship. It is a fan favourite and perhaps not the best song in Taylor Swift’s catalogue in terms of lyrics, but it’s a good song to dance to, sing to, or play at a party.
The song is catchy, and fans love it – the video has almost half a billion views on YouTube!
