If you’re looking to know more about each of Taylor Swift's “Eras”, we can help.
With each “Era” corresponding to one of Taylor Swift’s albums, there are now eleven to know about - from her self-titled 2006 debut all the way up to her most recent album, The Tortured Poets Department. (Though this is without mentioning “Taylor’s Version” of her first six albums.)
The American singer-songwriter will soon kick off the UK leg of her tour in Edinburgh, taking British fans on a three-hour journey through each Era of her extensive musical career.
Here, we break down each of Taylor Swift's eras in album release order.
Another surprise release in 2020 – less than five months after folklore – this is another of Swift’s indie albums, which earned a Guinness World Record for Shortest Gap Between New No.1 Albums on the U.S. Billboard 200 (Female). Unlike her previous albums, which she described as “one-off eras”, evermore is the sister album to folklore which includes songs Gold Rush, Champagne Problems, Willow and No Body, No Crime featuring Haim. On Twitter, Swift said: “It feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in.”
Swift’s Midnights moves away from the more ethereal atmosphere of folklore and evermore, instead introducing the darker 70s inspired Midnights. Described as a concept album of 13 sleepless nights in her life, upon its release it captured 10 top-ten songs on the Billboard charts, the most for any album. Midnights saw Swift become the first artist to win four Album of the Year awards at the Grammys and features tracks including Anti-Hero, Karma and Bejewelled.
The Tortured Poets Department is Swift's most recent album, which was released on April 19, 2024. Following its initial launch, Swift then released an additional 15 tracks making it a surprise double album titled The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. Featuring artists such as Post Malone and Florence + the Machine, it includes songs such as Fortnight, Florida!!! and So Long, London.
After a dispute with her former record label over the rights of her first six album masters, Swift announced that she would re-record the albums to gain total ownership. While not an era in itself, there have been four "Taylor’s Version" albums released so far. Each feature a number of “From the Vault” tracks which were withheld from the original albums. This includes songs such as All Too Well, the ten minute version, and collaborations with artists including Hayley Williams from Paramore.