Alex and Jen’s Totally Serious, 100% Legit Rank of Taylor Swift's Music Videos
I can’t say I planned to drink an entire bottle of red wine and take a 4-hour tour through the time machine of Taylor Swift’s music videos on a Friday night, but hey — that’s exactly what happened! Together with Alex, from 9pm until after 1am (I don’t stay up late often, but for Tswift I do), we crushed 41 (yes 41!!) Taylor Swift music videos, starting with Tim McGraw (2006), ending with I Can See You (2023), and ranked them all! 10 eras, 41 music videos, and a whole lot of commitment later, we’re ready to share our rankings. And, we may have found our newest hobby in the process… lol!
Before we start, the golden question. Of the 41 ranked spots, how many exact matches do you think we had?
0?
1-3?
5-10?
All?
Alright, let’s jump in to Alex and Jen’s totally serious, 100% legit rank of Taylor Swift’s music videos!
(Disclaimer so I don’t get sued by my husband: thank you Alex for the title. His Google doc rankings that he sent me were on a doc titled “Totally serious, 100% legit Taylor Swift video rankings”… so wholesome.)
41
Alex — Fifteen (2009)
Jen — Tim McGraw (2006)
40
Alex — Tim McGraw (2006)
Jen — Fifteen (2009)
39
Alex — Teardrops On My Guitar (2007)
Jen — White Horse (2009)
38
Alex —White Horse (2009)
Jen — Teardrops On My Guitar (2007)
37
Alex — Our Song (2007)
Jen — Ours (2011)
36
Alex — Ours (2011)
Jen — Our Song (2007)
35
Alex — Everything Has Changed ft. Ed Sheeran (2013)
Jen — Picture To Burn (2008)
34
Alex — ME! (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco) ft. Brendon Urie (2019)
Jen — Everything Has Changed ft. Ed Sheeran (2013)
33
Alex — You Need To Calm Down (2019)
Jen — ME! (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco) ft. Brendon Urie (2019)
32
Alex — Love Story (2008)
Jen — You Need To Calm Down (2019)
31
Alex — Mine (2010)
Jen — Begin Again (2012)
30
Alex — Begin Again (2012)
Jen — Back To December (2011)
29
Alex — Delicate (2018)
Jen — Love Story (2008)
28
Alex — Picture To Burn (2008)
Jen — Mean (2011)
27
Alex — Bad Blood ft. Kendrick Lamar (2015)
Jen — Mine (2010)
26
Alex — The Story Of Us (2011)
Jen — The Story Of Us (2011)
First match!
25
Alex — Back To December (2011)
Jen — …Ready For It? (2017)
24
Alex — Lover (2019)
Jen — willow (2020)
23
Alex — Wildest Dreams (2015)
Jen — I Knew You Were Trouble (2012)
22
Alex — You Belong With Me (2009)
Jen — Style (2015)
21
Alex — Out Of The Woods (2015)
Jen — Out Of The Woods (2015)
Second match!
20
Alex — I Knew You Were Trouble (2012)
Jen — Shake It Off (2014)
19
Alex — End Game ft. Ed Sheeran, Future (2018)
Jen — You Belong With Me (2009)
18
Alex — willow (2020)
Jen — We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (2012)
17
Alex — Mean (2011)
Jen — Delicate (2018)
16
Alex — We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (2012)
Jen — Karma ft. @IceSpice (2023)
15
Alex — …Ready For It? (2017)
Jen — The Man (2020)
14
Alex — Bejeweled (2022)
Jen — Wildest Dreams (2015)
13
Alex — 22 (2013)
Jen — End Game ft. Ed Sheeran, Future (2018)
12
Alex — Shake It Off (2014)
Jen — Lover (2019)
11
Alex — Style (2015)
Jen — Lavender Haze (2023)
10
Alex — cardigan (2020)
Jen — cardigan (2020)
Third match!
9
Alex — All Too Well: The Short Film (2021)
Jen — 22 (2013)
8
Alex — The Man (2020)
Jen — Bad Blood ft. Kendrick Lamar (2015)
7
Alex — Lavender Haze (2023)
Jen — I Can See You (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault) (2023)
6
Alex — Anti-Hero (2022)
Jen — Bejeweled (2022)
5
Alex — Karma ft. @IceSpice (2023)
Jen — Anti-Hero (2022)
4
Alex — I Can See You (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault) (2023)
Jen — I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (2021)
3
Alex — I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (2021)
Jen — All Too Well: The Short Film (2021)
2
Alex — Blank Space (2014)
Jen — Look What You Made Me Do (2017)
1
Alex — Look What You Made Me Do (2017)
Jen — Blank Space (2014)
Although we only had three exact matches in our rankings, Alex and I had many similarities throughout the bottom and top of our lists. I will say, it’s DIFFICULT to rank 41 music videos based solely on the music video itself, especially when considering factors like recency bias, production quality, nostalgia, and overall likability of a song.
Talking number 1, Alex preferred Reputation-era’s Look What You Made Me Do over 1989-era’s Blank Space, while I was the exact opposite. Look What You Made Me Do is a perfect, well-executed video that has everything it needs to echo the lyrics and message of the song (killing off the old versions of yourself and incorporating them into a video about your reputation — genius), but for me, Blank Space takes the cake every time (there’s something about “crazy Taylor” mocking herself that gets me). As for a couple of our other notable favorites, first there’s my number 3, Alex’s number 5 All Too Well: The Short Film (cinematic, emotional, and beautifully written), then there’s Alex’s number 3, my number 4 I Bet You Think About Me (conceptually fantastic use of color and themes, wedding setting was 100% the right move).
No doubt Taylor Swift has an awesome archive of music videos. What’s your favorite? Leave a comment below and let me know! And because we had so much fun with this activity, help us decide whose music videos should we watch and rank next!
Enjoy!
JBW