When Taylor Swift announced her re-recording project in 2019, fans braced themselves for updated versions of the albums they knew and loved, with each of Swift’s many hits re-interpreted with minor (and sometimes major) new flourishes. What few could have anticipated, however, is the amount of quality material residing in Swift’s musical vault — songs left on the cutting room floor during the recording of each of her first six albums that would finally be excavated and polished for her Taylor’s Version projects.
Plenty of artists have B-sides, but few have as many that can conjure a tangible cultural impact quite like the “From The Vault” songs that Swift has released so far as part of the four re-recorded albums (Fearless, Red, Speak Now and 1989) that have already been unveiled in her six-album endeavor. With 26 total “From The Vault” songs across the four released Taylor’s Version albums, Swift has scored multiple top 10 hits on the Hot 100, real traction at pop radio, and even an epic No. 1 single — these castoff tracks have earned more success for Swift than most artists achieve in their entire career.
Yet the commercial wins of the “From The Vault” songs thus far underline their high quality. Instead of propping up half-finished ideas, Swift has thoughtfully resurrected and carefully finished more than a full album’s worth of songwriting showcases, rounding out the stories of these respective albums when listened to as whole bodies of work. Or you can jam out to all of the “From The Vault” songs in a row — and see which ones stand as your favorites so far.
With four Taylor’s Version albums released, we’ve ranked all 26 “From The Vault” tracks — combining our previously released Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) rankings, with a few updated opinions — and will keep adding to the list as more re-recorded full-lengths are issued. While every “From The Vault” song is worth perusing, see below for our personal favorites.
