Trending on Billboard
Taylor Swift’s diaristic writing lends itself to the poignant and emotive songs that run through her catalog. In particular, the tracks positioned in spot five on her albums have customarily been seen by fans as her most sensitive – something she later grabbed onto and ran with.
“Track five is kind of a tradition that really started with you guys,” Swift explained in a 2019 Instagram Live. “Because I didn’t realize I was doing this, but as I was making albums, I guess, I don’t know why, but instinctively I was just kind of putting a very vulnerable, personal, honest, emotional song as track five.”
“Because you noticed this,” she continued, “I kind of started to put the songs that were really honest, emotional and vulnerable and personal as track fives.” And during Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, Swift elaborated on the pressure she feels when choosing a number five. “Picking a track five is sort of a pressurized decision,” Swift told her frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff in the documentary.
On the 12 cuts, Swift employed a variety of co-writers, and penned two of them on her own (“Dear John” and “my tears ricochet”). Liz Rose and Max Martin each appear as writers on three songs (Rose with “Cold as You,” “White House,” and “All Too Well’; Martin with “All You Had to Do Was Stay,” “Delicate” and “Eldest Daughter”). Antonoff (“The Archer,” “You’re on Your Own, Kid”), Shellback (“Delicate” and “Eldest Daughter) and Aaron Dessner (“tolerate it” and So Long London”) each are credited on two. Dessner’s twin Bryce also joined for “tolerate it.”
Read below for all of Swift’s track fives ranked. (And while some count “How Did It End?” from The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology in the special club, it sits as number 21 on the second half of the double release – although the self-reflective cut certainly fits the theme.)
-
“The Archer”
Trending on Billboard
if ( !window.pmc.harmony?.isEventAdScheduledTime() ) {
pmcCnx.cmd.push(function() {
pmcCnx({
settings: {
plugins: {
pmcAtlasMG: {
iabPlcmt: 2,
}
}
},
playerId: ‘4057afa6-846b-4276-bc63-a9cf3a8aa1ed’,
playlistId: ‘190d23fd-88b6-41bd-92b4-50d96f566e9a’,
}).render(“connatix_contextual_player_div”);
});
} else {
// This should only be get called when page cache is not cleared and it’s event time.
window.pmc.harmony?.switchToHarmonyPlayer();
}
Album: Lover
Year: 2019
Hot 100 Peak: 38
Most Vulnerable Lyric: “All the king’s horses, all the king’s men / Couldn’t put me back together again / ‘Cause all of my enemies started out friends / Help me hold on to you.”
Swift echoes with an anxious request and an internal wariness of those around her: “Who could ever leave me darling / but who could stay?”
-
“White Horse”
Trending on Billboard
if ( !window.pmc.harmony?.isEventAdScheduledTime() ) {
pmcCnx.cmd.push(function() {
pmcCnx({
settings: {
plugins: {
pmcAtlasMG: {
iabPlcmt: 2,
}
}
},
playerId: ‘4057afa6-846b-4276-bc63-a9cf3a8aa1ed’,
playlistId: ‘190d23fd-88b6-41bd-92b4-50d96f566e9a’,
}).render(“connatix_contextual_player_div”);
});
} else {
// This should only be get called when page cache is not cleared and it’s event time.
window.pmc.harmony?.switchToHarmonyPlayer();
}
Album: Fearless and Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
Year: 2008, 2021
Hot 100 Peak: 13, N/A
Most Vulnerable Lyric: “Stupid girl, I shoulda known, I shoulda known / That I’m not a princess, this ain’t a fairytale / I’m not the one you’ll sweep off her feet, lead her up the stairwell / This ain’t Hollywood, this is a small town / I was a dreamer before you went and let me down / Now, it’s too late for you and your white horse / To come around.”
A sweet, winsome but world-weary Swift wreaks havoc with the devastating realization that not everything has a storybook ending.
-
“Eldest Daughter”
Trending on Billboard
if ( !window.pmc.harmony?.isEventAdScheduledTime() ) {
pmcCnx.cmd.push(function() {
pmcCnx({
settings: {
plugins: {
pmcAtlasMG: {
iabPlcmt: 2,
}
}
},
playerId: ‘4057afa6-846b-4276-bc63-a9cf3a8aa1ed’,
playlistId: ‘190d23fd-88b6-41bd-92b4-50d96f566e9a’,
}).render(“connatix_contextual_player_div”);
});
} else {
// This should only be get called when page cache is not cleared and it’s event time.
window.pmc.harmony?.switchToHarmonyPlayer();
}
Album: The Life of a Showgirl
Year: 2025
Hot 100 Peak: 9
Most Vulnerable Lyric: “We lie back / A beautiful, beautiful time-lapse / Ferris wheels, kisses and lilacs / And things I said were dumb / ‘Cause I thought that I’d never find that / Beautiful, beautiful life that / Shimmers that innocent light back / Like when we were young.”
The breathtaking and confessional bridge that swells among the graceful piano notes elevates the message of “Eldest Daughter.” “It’s a love song about kind of the roles we play in our public life because nowadays everyone has a public life. You have a life that you portray to other people or what you portray on social media,” she explained on her track-by-track of Showigirl. “And then you have the you that everyone gets to know who has earned the right to be closest to you. It’s really hard to be sincere publicly because that’s not what culture rewards.”
-
“Cold As You”
Trending on Billboard
if ( !window.pmc.harmony?.isEventAdScheduledTime() ) {
pmcCnx.cmd.push(function() {
pmcCnx({
settings: {
plugins: {
pmcAtlasMG: {
iabPlcmt: 2,
}
}
},
playerId: ‘4057afa6-846b-4276-bc63-a9cf3a8aa1ed’,
playlistId: ‘190d23fd-88b6-41bd-92b4-50d96f566e9a’,
}).render(“connatix_contextual_player_div”);
});
} else {
// This should only be get called when page cache is not cleared and it’s event time.
window.pmc.harmony?.switchToHarmonyPlayer();
}
Album: Taylor Swift
Year: 2006
Hot 100 Peak: N/A
Most Vulnerable Lyric: “You put up walls and paint them all a shade of gray / And I stood there loving you and wished them all away / And you come away with a great little story / Of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you.”
From a young age, Swift exhibited an uncanny ability to capture a mature sense of heartbreak and the sometimes uncaring thoughtlessness of those gifted hearts to break.
-
“Dear John”
Trending on Billboard
if ( !window.pmc.harmony?.isEventAdScheduledTime() ) {
pmcCnx.cmd.push(function() {
pmcCnx({
settings: {
plugins: {
pmcAtlasMG: {
iabPlcmt: 2,
}
}
},
playerId: ‘4057afa6-846b-4276-bc63-a9cf3a8aa1ed’,
playlistId: ‘190d23fd-88b6-41bd-92b4-50d96f566e9a’,
}).render(“connatix_contextual_player_div”);
});
} else {
// This should only be get called when page cache is not cleared and it’s event time.
window.pmc.harmony?.switchToHarmonyPlayer();
}
Album: Speak Now and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
Year: 2010, 2021
Hot 100 Peak: 54, 26
Most Vulnerable Lyric: “Dear John, I see it all now that you’re gone / Don’t you think I was too young to be messed with? / The girl in the dress cried the whole way home / I should’ve known.”
Muses aside, Swift lays her feelings bare and wonders what led to certain paths of devastation on the sing-songy, guitar-laden Speak Now number.
-
“All You Had to Do Was Stay”
Trending on Billboard
if ( !window.pmc.harmony?.isEventAdScheduledTime() ) {
pmcCnx.cmd.push(function() {
pmcCnx({
settings: {
plugins: {
pmcAtlasMG: {
iabPlcmt: 2,
}
}
},
playerId: ‘4057afa6-846b-4276-bc63-a9cf3a8aa1ed’,
playlistId: ‘190d23fd-88b6-41bd-92b4-50d96f566e9a’,
}).render(“connatix_contextual_player_div”);
});
} else {
// This should only be get called when page cache is not cleared and it’s event time.
window.pmc.harmony?.switchToHarmonyPlayer();
}
Album: 1989 and 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
Year: 2014, 2023
Hot 100 Peak: N/A, 20
Most Vulnerable Lyric: “Had me in the palm of your hand, then / Why’d you have to go and lock me out when I let you in? / (Stay) Hey, now you say you want it back / Now that it’s just too late, well, could’ve been easy.”
Despite her tormented cries of “stay” on the lively and energetic 1989 banger, Swift renders an emphatic statement: “People like me are gone forever / When you say goodbye.”
-
“my tears ricochet”
Trending on Billboard
if ( !window.pmc.harmony?.isEventAdScheduledTime() ) {
pmcCnx.cmd.push(function() {
pmcCnx({
settings: {
plugins: {
pmcAtlasMG: {
iabPlcmt: 2,
}
}
},
playerId: ‘4057afa6-846b-4276-bc63-a9cf3a8aa1ed’,
playlistId: ‘190d23fd-88b6-41bd-92b4-50d96f566e9a’,
}).render(“connatix_contextual_player_div”);
});
} else {
// This should only be get called when page cache is not cleared and it’s event time.
window.pmc.harmony?.switchToHarmonyPlayer();
}
Album: folklore
Year: 2020
Hot 100 Peak: 16
Most Vulnerable Lyric: “I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace / ‘Cause when I’d fight, you used to tell me I was brave / And if I’m dead to you, why are you at the wake?”
Haunting and cinematic, Swift offers a foreboding portrayal of people who can’t let go, even long after it’s over. “It’s definitely, I think, one of the saddest songs on the album,” she said in the Folklore doc.
-
“So Long London”
Trending on Billboard
if ( !window.pmc.harmony?.isEventAdScheduledTime() ) {
pmcCnx.cmd.push(function() {
pmcCnx({
settings: {
plugins: {
pmcAtlasMG: {
iabPlcmt: 2,
}
}
},
playerId: ‘4057afa6-846b-4276-bc63-a9cf3a8aa1ed’,
playlistId: ‘190d23fd-88b6-41bd-92b4-50d96f566e9a’,
}).render(“connatix_contextual_player_div”);
});
} else {
// This should only be get called when page cache is not cleared and it’s event time.
window.pmc.harmony?.switchToHarmonyPlayer();
}
Album: The Tortured Poets Department
Year: 2024
Hot 100 Peak: 5
Most Vulnerable Lyric: “I didn’t opt in to be your odd man out / I founded the club she’s heard great things about / I left all I knew, you left me at the house by the Heath / I stoppеd CPR, after all, it’s no use / The spirit was gonе, we would never come to / And I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free.”
Swift’s voice softly twinkles like tolling bells on the reflection of a devastating end to a relationship. Then, as she quickens the pace, her breathless lilt becomes both delicate and icy cold while recounting the sentiments that led to the lovers’ downfall.
-
“You’re on Your Own, Kid”
Trending on Billboard
if ( !window.pmc.harmony?.isEventAdScheduledTime() ) {
pmcCnx.cmd.push(function() {
pmcCnx({
settings: {
plugins: {
pmcAtlasMG: {
iabPlcmt: 2,
}
}
},
playerId: ‘4057afa6-846b-4276-bc63-a9cf3a8aa1ed’,
playlistId: ‘190d23fd-88b6-41bd-92b4-50d96f566e9a’,
}).render(“connatix_contextual_player_div”);
});
} else {
// This should only be get called when page cache is not cleared and it’s event time.
window.pmc.harmony?.switchToHarmonyPlayer();
}
Album: Midnights
Year: 2022
Hot 100 Peak: 8
Most Vulnerable Lyric: “I gave my blood, sweat and tears for this / I hosted parties and starved my body / Like I’d be saved by a perfect kiss.”
“You’re on Your Own, Kid” launched a thousand friendship bracelets, which also incidentally caught her a fiancé. (And it even has another very famous fan in Stevie Nicks, who used the song to grieve her longtime friend Christine McVie.) But more importantly, beyond the traditions and the ring, Swift taps into the self-reliance earned through years of disappointments and triumphs.
-
“tolerate it”
Trending on Billboard
if ( !window.pmc.harmony?.isEventAdScheduledTime() ) {
pmcCnx.cmd.push(function() {
pmcCnx({
settings: {
plugins: {
pmcAtlasMG: {
iabPlcmt: 2,
}
}
},
playerId: ‘4057afa6-846b-4276-bc63-a9cf3a8aa1ed’,
playlistId: ‘190d23fd-88b6-41bd-92b4-50d96f566e9a’,
}).render(“connatix_contextual_player_div”);
});
} else {
// This should only be get called when page cache is not cleared and it’s event time.
window.pmc.harmony?.switchToHarmonyPlayer();
}
Album: evermore
Year: 2020
Hot 100 Peak: 45
Most Vulnerable Lyric: “I made you my temple, my mural, my sky / Now I’m beggin’ for footnotes in the story of your life / Drawin’ hearts in the bylines / Always takin’ up too much space or time.”
Swift scrounges for the scraps of affection on “tolerate it” – and literally crawled on a table to try to force a confrontation during its Eras tour performance.
-
“All Too Well”
Trending on Billboard
if ( !window.pmc.harmony?.isEventAdScheduledTime() ) {
pmcCnx.cmd.push(function() {
pmcCnx({
settings: {
plugins: {
pmcAtlasMG: {
iabPlcmt: 2,
}
}
},
playerId: ‘4057afa6-846b-4276-bc63-a9cf3a8aa1ed’,
playlistId: ‘190d23fd-88b6-41bd-92b4-50d96f566e9a’,
}).render(“connatix_contextual_player_div”);
});
} else {
// This should only be get called when page cache is not cleared and it’s event time.
window.pmc.harmony?.switchToHarmonyPlayer();
}
Album: Red and Red (Taylor’s Version)
Year: 2012, 2021
Hot 100 Peak: 80, 1
Most Vulnerable Lyric: “And you call me up again / Just to break me like a promise / So casually cruel in the name of being honest / I’m a crumpled up piece of paper lying here / ‘Cause I remember it all, all, all / Too well.”
A fan favorite from its original release – and lifted into the Swift hall of fame by the “10 Minute Version” – Swift’s elegant and angsty “All Too Well” paints a gorgeous picture of a relationship gone wrong – and the passion, frenzy, and questioning that goes along with a painful dissolution of uncoupling. (It’s super-sized and superior Taylor’s Version, not a track 5, keeps it from the no. 1 spot.)
-
“Delicate”
Trending on Billboard
if ( !window.pmc.harmony?.isEventAdScheduledTime() ) {
pmcCnx.cmd.push(function() {
pmcCnx({
settings: {
plugins: {
pmcAtlasMG: {
iabPlcmt: 2,
}
}
},
playerId: ‘4057afa6-846b-4276-bc63-a9cf3a8aa1ed’,
playlistId: ‘190d23fd-88b6-41bd-92b4-50d96f566e9a’,
}).render(“connatix_contextual_player_div”);
});
} else {
// This should only be get called when page cache is not cleared and it’s event time.
window.pmc.harmony?.switchToHarmonyPlayer();
}
Album: Reputation
Year: 2017
Hot 100 Peak: 12
Most Vulnerable Lyric: “Sometimes, I wonder, when you sleep / Are you ever dreaming of me? / Sometimes, when I look into your eyes / I pretend you’re mine all the damn time.”
At the height of her cancelled era, Swift wrote a deeply anxious yet wildly romantic ballad about what happens behind closed doors when you start to open up again – perhaps with quieter expectations. Emotionally cathartic and effortlessly sexy, the synth-pop masterpiece expertly builds a sense of melancholia when wondering what’s on someone else’s mind. So, is it cool that we said all that?
State Champ Radio 
