An Unhinged Ranking of All Taylor Swift's 107 Surprise Songs on the U.S. Leg of The Eras Tour

Swifties wondered whether she’d actually play this during her Metlife weekend. And she did. And that’s OK!

Nice song. Solid performance. But “We could be a beautiful, miracle, unbelievable/Instead of just invisible” just never did it for my tear ducts.

What I’ll say about this song is: I’m happy it didn’t end up on reputation.

I breathed a sigh of relief when this wasn’t any of my surprise songs! (Just kidding, this is a good song, just not in my top 150!)

Taylor’s second Cincinnati show had some Weather, so she started an hour early, which meant Gracie’s opening set was canceled. So Taylor brought her out during her acoustic portion to sing this song. Which was really nice! And it was a nice performance! But I have zero connection to this song.

This is a cute bop that people used to think was about Stephen Colletti (since he was in her “White Horse” music video in 2008.) But it wasn’t. It would have been fun to sing along to this but unless she brought Colletti out on stage, I’m not mad to have missed it.

This is an important song for a lot of Swifties and I’m very happy for them. I have always been the “Back to December” subject and not the “Back to December” singer, if you get what I mean. Therefore, I simply can’t relate.

“This is a song about the universal fact that you will act stupid around someone you think is hot,” she said. I love that introduction. Still doesn’t make me love the song.

I definitely would have paid extra just to see Mumford and hear his accent for five minutes. But, unfortunately (though I guess not really since I wasn’t there) this is my least favorite song from Evermore. (Please don’t come for me.)

I like this vault track but she has seriously played every fucking vault song from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) except for “Electric Touch.” Why even bother continuing your career if you’re not gonna play that one live, you know?

This was a vault track off Lover and it’s a nice sentiment. But firstly, no, I’m not grateful to my boyfriend’s exes and never have been, and secondly, if you are a Taylor Swift unreleased song fanatic, you know there’s a demo of another Lover song that is just fucking eons better than this one. It’s called “Need” and I just don’t understand why Taylor does what she does sometimes. (Like not releasing this song??) Low ranking because I need “Need” and not this.

“I’m not sure if you guys love this one or not, or just like it, or if you’re obsessed with it,” she said while introducing this song. “It could be anything really, because I love this one and when I love something I don’t really care what the feedback is, so I didn’t check.” Fair enough! I won’t reveal whether I love, like or am obsessed, but you can probably guess by the ranking.

I stayed :) (and I will always stay!!!!!<3)

If you gave me 230 guesses for what song she would have played this night or any night of the tour, I would not have ever guessed this. (It wasn’t even on an album, it was from the Valentine’s Day soundtrack.) “I wanna play this song because you make every day on this tour feel like a fairytale,” Swift said. Cute!

“My beautiful, red-headed, high school best friend Abigail is here tonight,” she said to introduce the song. “What song am I gonna’ play?!” And the whole stadium shouted “FIFTEEN.” I didn’t need for this to be my surprise song, but I’m happy it got to be 70,698 people’s surprise song.

This is a gorgeous song from a stunning album that (I know, I know, I know) never quite struck a nerve with me the way it has for other Swifties. It’s also technically part of the permanent setlist—it’s played as a spoken word poem between the Fearless and folklore eras. So, I don’t know! Would I have felt a little screwed if this was one of my surprise songs? Maybe!

I don’t love this song, OK?? I said it. I think it’s one of the weakest on 1989 (literally, the only weak one). “New Romantics” should have been played as a surprise song earlier in the tour and “Out of the Woods” should have been the surprise song after she announced 1989 Taylor’s version. I won’t be releasing any further statements at this time.

The only failure of Taylor Swift’s career is that she hasn’t actually been able to stop us from all growing up :(

Fucking Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) vault track that isn’t “Electric Touch” bullshit. It’s fine. Whatever.

Did Taylor purposely replay “Maroon” on August 3 because it was Karlie Kloss’s birthday? We’ll probably never know! And if they’re not going to tell us what happened to them, then it’s not our fault for speculating…it’s their fault for not being clear. (Perfect song though, 100/10.) ((Her first performance of “Maroon” at MetLife is ranked much, much higher, I only ranked this one so low because, by the first LA show, I just wanted to know when we were getting 1989!))

Solid! Enjoyed! She looked like she enjoyed performing it, too!

This was such a great performance on the Red tour in 2014—I’m happy I saw it then! Totally fine that I didn’t get to see it now.

This song has only recently started to grow on me. (I know, I’m sorry.) And I don’t think it had really grown on me yet in April.

A lot of this ranking is based on whether or not the surprise would have made me cry. So while I would have had a blast bopping along to this surprise song, I would not have cried.

This was such a bright pink, cotton-candy-coated performance on the 1989 tour, so I love that we got to hear this stripped-down piano version. But again, would not have shed a tear!

I probably would have teared up a little bit for this one. But only a little bit!

I don’t really have a personal connection to this song, as I’ve never experienced a love coming back to me (lmao) (it’s fine—my past loves are trash!). But this is a gorgeous song, and if it speaks to you, I’m happy for you.

Any show that got Aaron Dessner as a guest performer was a night full of winners. The feelings I would have felt getting to growl “What did you think I’d say to that?/Does a scorpion sting when fighting back?/They strike to kill and you know I will.” UGH.

This would have been a deeply cathartic surprise song if it came out when I was 16. I would have 1000 percent put “I can’t say ‘Hello’ to you/And risk another goodbye” in my AIM profile.

I do love this song, but I just can’t hear it without remembering Lena Dunham saying that this was about her and Jack Antanoff’s relationship and it was going to be their wedding song.

What the fuck does “Every time you shine, I’ll shine for you” mean? I have no idea, but that’s never stopped me from screaming “I’VE NEVER BEEN SO WRAPPED UP, HONEY/I LIKE THE WAY YOU’RE EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED” in 15-year-old girl every time I hear this song. This is ranked low but truly, a 10 out of 10 surprise song.

A very underrated song on Red—and this piano version is exactly the kind of treatment it deserves.

This is a beautiful song and a beautiful performance and a beautiful Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) vault track. Unfortunately, it is not the best vault track from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)–that honor goes to “Electric Touch,” which—if you haven’t heard—has not been performed yet as a surprise song. So I am bitter.

This NOTE CHANGE?! Would have ripped my ears off. (In a good way!)

A song off Midnights? A rain show?! A rare mid-song fuck-up?! This performance should be hung in a museum.

In the intro for Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Taylor wrote that she believes this is the saddest song she ever wrote. Agree! Which is why I hardly ever listen to it. She appeared to tear up while singing, which made everyone go, “omg her breakup with Joe.” And yeah, sure, but I don’t know how you sing “All that I know is I don’t know/How to be something you miss” without tearing up. This was gorgeous, and my tears and I loved it.

Fans have been commenting that she really looks like she’s fully dissociating whenever she sings a surprise song that’s rumored to be about Joe—and this performance did nothing to put those comments to rest.

Oh my god, I always tear up at this song, I don’t know who doesn’t. This was an appropriate Mother’s Day surprise song and I saw a fair amount of Swifties on social say they picked this date to go with their mom because they were pretty sure she’d play this. We love that<3

I enjoy this song!

I saw a therapist for the first time when I was 25 (she retired one month later, incidentally). She was very old school and told me—while I was trying to work through a past relationship that had no closure—that of course I’d always be upset, my knight rode off on his white horse. Which, no. That was definitely not it. But if Taylor Swift were to tell me that that’s what happened, then fuck yes it was, and let’s scream, “I was a dreamer before you went and let me down” until we lose our hearing.

A year after this album (Red) came out, I had a friend/situationship forget my birthday, and it bummed me out! But I said, “I know exactly what song I need.” And it was this one<3

I am feeling sorry that I didn’t get to witness this :(

My body, brain, heart, soul, bones, spirit, veins etc., would not have been able to survive her bringing out The National for this song. So it’s probably best she didn’t.

I LOVE Maren Morris, so that alone makes me rank this somewhat high. I very much enjoy this song, but as far as having a devastating personal connection, it’s on the lower end of Swift’s catalog for me.

This song is a blast to sing, even if I (respectfully) don’t get why our only option to contact our crush is to send them a message in a bottle. Where are they? Why is there seemingly no service and/or technology? Are they lost? Are they OK? Should we be calling search and rescue instead of stuffing a love note inside an empty Corona bottle? I think she missed an opportunity here to further explain this.

Cool! Another Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) vault track that isn’t “Electric Touch.” Whatever. (But I loved this vault track and this performance!)

People don’t talk about this song enough! Listening to it is like finding a perfect little pearl at the bottom of a stormy, dark ocean. I let out a “No!” when I learned it was the surprise song in Texas.

I love this song and am fine that I didn’t get to see it live.

See previous slide! (This is also the first time she’s repeated a surprise song.)

I probably sound like a broken record, but her vocals, during the whole show but really, noticeably, on the surprise songs have been absolutely insane. Only a 15-year-old could have written this song, but only a 33-year-old who’s gone through some shit could sing it like that.

One of my top three favorite songs off evermore (bullshit it wasn’t included in the evermore era of the show.) I am only ranking this song this low because it DESERVED a set, graphics, choreography, a fun little skit like “tolerate it” got, and someone literally walking up to me in the audience and punching me in the face.

The third-best song on evermore. Insane that—just like “ivy”—it doesn’t have a permanent spot during the evermore set. Sometimes Taylor doesn’t make any sense!!!!!!

Light me on fire and launch me into the sky! My soul would have absolutely combusted getting to sing this bridge.

This is my least favorite song off Lover but I know like, 65 percent of Swifties are rabid for it. I understand the song but I never got the song, you know? Regardless, if I hadn’t seen this live Saturday night, it would have been much lower on the list. But her piano version did something to me. I know a lot of Swifties are devastated that their show’s surprise song wasn’t “False God,” and I want them to know that, despite my initial opinion of it going in, I absolutely did not take this performance for granted.

Did you know she wrote this song about Ethel and Bobby Kennedy? Despite the drama that surrounded Swift’s brief fling with Conor Kennedy, Ethel described her as “spectacular” and “sensational, inside and out.” I can’t think of another career where Ethel Kennedy describing you as “spectacular” is barely a footnote.

Stunning. Haunting. Soul-stirring. Makes me wish I was a jilted woman in a 19th-century novel sitting quietly inside a forest cottage surrounded by fog and regrets.

There’s a lyric in “High Infidelity” that goes “Do you really wanna’ know where I was April 29th” and she played this at the show on...April 29th. So, surprise song? Not really. A fantastic song? Yes. A song I wish I got to see live? Yes :(

This would have been special because when else in your life would you ever get to scream, “While I bathe in cliffside pools/With my calamitous love and insurmountable grief” with 61,500 other people?

God, the storytelling of this song...it’s like watching a whole damn movie in three minutes. If you’ve ever wanted to catch me in the middle of a Taylor Swift cry (weird but I don’t judge), find me July 7th when “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)“ is released.

I love this song, and I love the new remix with more Lana Del Rey so much more. If she had brought Lana out to perform this with, this would probably have been ranked like number 5.

The random key changes she’s thrown out on this tour have been spine-tingling. I’ve watched this performance of “Begin Again” no less than 400 times just for the key change in the second verse—begging the universe for this version of the song to be released.

I, I, I LIKE IT!!

God Bless Joe Jonas for giving us Forever & Always.

Would have thrown up.

“I had so much fun performing this one when I was like on my first album,” Taylor said before revealing the song. “I just used to just like, thrash until my head would nearly come off of my body.” I have similar memories of being 16 and losing my voice while driving and singing to this song—despite not yet having a boyfriend, let alone a boyfriend who cheated on me. I would have thrashed my head right off if this had been one of my surprise songs.

A stadium full of Swifties clapping along to “But some👏day👏I’ll 👏be👏 living 👏in a👏 big ole’ 👏city” is what I’d like to walk down the aisle to.

Sure, no one writes breakup songs better than Taylor, BUT we don’t talk enough about the fact that no one writes a better “the very first moments of a crush when you feel like everything in your life is about to fall into place because this person feels so perfect” songs than Taylor, either.

This is one of her most underrated of all time. (“Your eyes look like coming home”?! Let’s fucking GO!) I don’t even mind that Ed Sheeran sings it with her, but I loved hearing it without him. That’s all.

Sorry, but again, the VOCALS! This is my second-to-last favorite song on 1989 and this version made me love it SO much more.

I got ghosted HARD about a month before 1989 came out in October 2014, and I scream-cried to this song for weeks. Then when he attempted to contact me back again that January, I screamed-angry-cried it ever louder! Honestly, the whole situation was worth it for me to have this deep of an emotional connection to this song. Would have screamed-danced to it at this show.

Top five on Folklore, for sure. I got to see this live. It was perfect. (By which I mean, yes I cried.)

I won’t reveal who or when or what this song reminds me of—but I can say this song was there for me when I needed it, and for weeks now, I’ve been listening to that former version of myself yell at me about the fact that we weren’t at this Detroit show. You could say I’m “haunted” ;) by her…but no, I’m just annoyed. I remember what she’s feeling but, get over it girl, you still got “Holy Ground.” (13 out of 10 surprise song though!)

This is a DEEP cut from Fearless and I don’t think she ever performed it live until this first show in Atlanta. If my voice wasn’t already gone by this point in the night, I would have thrown it in the trash while singing along to this bridge.

Without a doubt, one of her top 10 bridges—and it is a damn tongue twister. “I had so much fun doing the bridge, do you wanna’ do the bridge again?” she said when the song was almost over. So they SUNG THE BRIDGE AGAIN. And then she messed up! Because it’s such a hard bridge. SO THEY SUNG IT A THIRD TIME. I would have just been rolling around the floor happy as a pig in shit.

I would attend a Taylor Swift concert of her singing just this bridge for three and a half hours.

This is my favorite song from reputation and I never would have expected to hear it on piano. I loved, I teared up, I felt joy.

This 1989 gem should have gotten the attention and fandom that “New Romantics” got. “Oh my god you know it, you all know it!” Taylor said after the first chorus. Yes, Taylor. We know every single word to every single fucking song.

When I wrote my dream Eras Tour setlist back in November, I said I hoped this would be the second song she plays since it’s like...all her songs are our songs now, you know? Very much wish I got to scream this with her.

She filmed the first three nights of her LA shows—and I one million percent agree that “Our Song” deserves to be immortalized in whatever tour movie she’s making. #excited

Another rare performance of a bonus track—this is only the second time Swift has ever played this. (And it’s one that Phoebe Bridgers requested!) Skip to 2:37 for the best part—“This is when the feeling sinks in, I DON’T WANT TO MISS YOU LIKE THIIIIISSSSSSSSS.”

“This is a song I wrote when I was like 13 years old,” she said. “I’m sure I related to it when I wrote it when I was 13, but I think I relate to it more now 20 years later.” I heard that! After see this performance, I closed my eyes and reached back to my 16-year-old self to whisper, “You won’t be at that show, but she plays this live in 20 years.”

I was crazy lucky to get to see her the first night of the tour in Glendale—but this was the one song from folklore that I was kind of bummed she didn’t play during the folklore-era set. So when she announced it as the first surprise song, I gasped! Then cried.

This is a DEEP, definitely her DEEPEST cut from the whole tour so far: “No shade to the other songs on the album, but I do think “Cold As You” is the best song on the first album, so we’re doing that.” And honestly, she’s not wrong. “And you come away with a great little story/Of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you.” She wrote this when she was like, 14, are you fucking kidding me?

I really love this song, yes, but I’m also ranking it this high because I believe this is maybe the only time in Swiftie history where the fandom all collectively predicted and agreed that she was going to announce 1989 Taylor’s Version on August 9; play “New Romantics” as the first surprise song; and then play “New Year’s Day” as the second surprise song. And that was beautiful to see.

This has been one of the most-anticipated surprise songs (one of the others being “Long Live” which she’s yet to play) so the audience this night will long be remembered as some of the winners of the The Eras Tour Surprise Song Marathon. But the best part of this surprise song was the little five-minute speech she gave before it where she said asked us all to stop cyberbullying her exes.

“I’m 33 years old, I don’t care about anything that happened to me when I was 19 except for the songs I wrote, and the memories we made together,” she told the crowd. “So what I’m trying to tell you is that I’m not putting this album out so you can go, you should feel the need to defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about 14 million years ago. I do not care, we’ve all grown up, we’re good.” Fine, mom.

It depends on the day, but this could easily be my second favorite song off Lover (my favorite is “Cruel Summer” in case you’ve never heard me scream about it before!!!!!!!!!!)

As a person who flirts and says “I’m into you” by ignoring someone while imagining our entire fated, enchanted relationship in my head—this song has always really spoken to me: “Now I’m standing alone In a crowded room/And we’re not speaking.” It is a perfect song. I would say my top 3 from Speak Now.

I love this song, yes, but the fact that this song came after her Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) announcement?! I’m big enough to admit that Nashville night one will go down in Taylor Swift history as being the night that won the Eras tour.

Same with “Our Song,” please put this in the goddamn tour doc so I can get an HD performance of this and am not condemned to a lifetime of watching grainy TikTok videos of it. God, I fucking love this song. (Keep scrolling to see where her first performance of this song is ranked!)

This, insanely, was an evermore bonus track, and not the first song on the album. “If you can get all the words right to this song, you get to pat yourself on the back because you’re the best,” is how Taylor introduced it because it gets so wordy. (She loves her wordy songs! So silly!) For how often I listen to this song, and often how I scream it, I think I’ve only gotten the bridge right once. So I don’t think I am the best, but Taylor messed up, too! Which makes us best friends.

Just like “I Bet You Think About Me” wasn’t on the original Red album, I remain LIVID that this was not on Fearless when it was released in 2008. I also remain upset that this song didn’t get a permanent spot during the Fearless era of the setlist. All of which is to say, God, I would have fucking loved getting to sing this along live with Taylor.

Ugh, this one stung a little. “Getaway Car” is in my top 3 from reputation, and had she not brought Antonoff out on stage, I would have been satisfied with only having seen the reputation tour performance of it—but she did bring Antonoff out, and it looked damn fucking delightful.

I had the cutest, shortest, briefest little summer fling at the end of summer 2010 right as this song came out—and I pranced around for months screaming, “Do you remember, we were sittin’ there, by the water?” (We walked by water at one point, so it felt like this song was ~ for me ~ obviously.) This is a surprise song that I am truly upset I missed.

My second favorite song on reputation, fourth favorite performance from the Reputation tour, and 15th favorite of all the surprise songs. This paired with “exile” makes the fourth Los Angeles show one of my top five shows when it comes to surprise songs.

A true story: On May 26th (the first night of her three MetLife shows), I went on Twitter to see what the surprise songs were and was very bummed to see “Maroon” was one of them. The first live performance of one of the most gorgeous, underrated songs from Midnights being played the night before I was going to see her? Goddamnit. I said this aloud and my boyfriend said, “Yeah, but what if you get like ‘Holy Ground?’” And I scoffed and said, “But what are the chances?”

One of the top performances of the Reputation tour—but it was a blast getting to hear the acoustic version. Her vocals were so good, her cackle was so riotous, and her dissociation while singing “Here’s to my baby” was so obvious (which was about Joe) that even though this didn’t have any of the fanfare of the Rep tour, it was just as incredible.

Most songs are better when they’re performed live, but something about this song live is really just so much better than the recorded version—probably because it’s not drowning in production. (Her live version from Live From Paris, specifically, is one of my all-time favorite Swift songs.) Which is why it’s in my top 10 surprise songs.

Also, Taylor never explained why she chose “Daylight,” but a woman on Twitter went viral after posting she was going to tonight’s show, and it was also the five-year anniversary of the day she lost her brother in a car crash. “it would mean EVERYTHING to me if you could please sing daylight as one of the surprise songs,” she tweeted. “i love you soo much and youre going to make this hard day better.” She tagged Taylor, and people in the comments tagged Taylor Nation. It might have been a crazy coincidence, but the tweet was viewed over 2 million times, so it’s nice to think Taylor saw this and that’s why she chose “Daylight.” <3

This was definitely her deepest cut of the tour. This song still slaps as hard as it did when I was blaring it out the window of my 1996 Buick Regal (named Ed), driving around my hometown with my friends in the summer of 2007. It is still just so fucking good, top 30 of her entire discography.

I will never forget the ROAR of the stadium when she started playing this on the second night of the tour. This song is just an absolute fucking masterpiece.

I became a Swiftie when, in high school, one of my best friends ran into the locker room before track practice playing this song. I still remember her saying, “You have to listen to this!” I did and that was it! I was hooked! Getting to see her perform this on the first night of the Eras Tour is probably one of the top 10 moments of my life.

Apart from my No.1 Surprise Song, this is my most-watched surprise song video. I’ve enjoyed 17 years of loving the fuck out of this song and still feel as excited to hear, “State the obvious, I didn’t get my perfect fantasy” as I did the first time I ever heard it. “Tim McGraw” made me a fan but “Picture to Burn” made me a Swiftie and I hate that I didn’t get to see this live.

I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out why Taylor isn’t performing “Out of the Woods” during the 1989 era of her setlist—and the only answer I can imagine is that there’s no way she could have topped the performance of it during her 1989 tour...and she’d be right. Except for this one-time-only acoustic version.

Getting to scream “God rest my soul, I miss who I used to be/The tomb won’t close, stained glass windows in my mind/I regret you all the time” with Taylor and Aaron at 12:30 in the morning, in the RAIN no less, would have saved me at least two month’s worth of therapy bills.

I think this is one of the few songs that would have made me feel as out-of-body as “Holy Ground.” I spent eight months listening to secret bootleg recordings of this Midnights Target exclusive bonus track on Spotify, YouTube, and TikTok, so dare I say, it would…hit different…to get to hear it live for the first time. And by hit different, I mean I would have torn my face off in excitement.

This performance, without a doubt, will go down in history as one of her best live performances of all time. I have permanent chills and have been left forever speechless at her note changes in this bridge. Her vocals? Un-fucking-believable.

This is one of her best-ever songs, and I am still so angry that it was a vault track from Red (released in 2021) and not a regular track from Red (released in 2012). I could have been screaming this for nine years. But I didn’t get to. And I also didn’t get to scream it along with her live.

I have HUGE issues with the fact that she doesn’t perform this during the Midnights-era set. But it is what it is. I still tear up a tiny little bit watching these videos and would have gone full-feral-breakdown if I had been in the Raymond James Stadium that night. This is the best song off Midnights, and I am not open to debating that at this time.

Listen. Are Taylor Swift fans delusional? Yes. Am I definitely delusional? Absolutely yes. “I’m going to do one that’s one of my favorites, and hopefully you like it too,” she said. “Yeah, I think I, I feel like this is a pretty good choice for tonight, I’m pretty confident about it.”

Do I actually believe that Taylor Swift knew I was in the third row of this show and that I’ve previously written about this being my favorite-ever Taylor song that just fucking lifts my soul to the heavens? No!

*whispers* But...do I kind of believe that she maybe, a little bit, in some sense, on some level, knew I was there? Yes. I will never get over the fact that of the hundred or so surprise songs I could have seen, I got to see this one.