All of Taylor Swift’s Bonus Tracks, Ranked (Staff Picks)

When Taylor Swift announced that her record-shattering album The Life of a Showgirl was getting four companion songs in the form of The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, her explanation was simple. “I took a trip to Sweden to celebrate with Max [Martin] and Shellback, my two collaborators on this album,” she revealed in September 2026. “But there was a studio there and we did what we do when we feel anything at all: We wrote more songs.”

One thing that can inarguably be said of Swift: She has no trouble finding songwriting inspirations. She’s not only one of today’s biggest, most awarded stars — she’s one of our most prolific, fascinating songwriters, constantly adding to a catalog that charts her evolution as an artist and human being.

Since Swift gave us The Encore to celebrate, we decided to celebrate these four new Swift bonus songs by ranking all of the singer-songwriter’s bonus tracks.

What constitutes a bonus track? Well, we set a few parameters, which you may or may not agree with (and if you don’t, let us know). Obviously, there are songs clearly designated as bonus tracks — songs on deluxe editions are easy shoo-ins — but other releases were murkier. After some debate among the staff, we decided that the second half of The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology does not constitute a full disc of bonus tracks; after all, Swift herself called it a “secret double album,” indicating it is one cohesive piece of art. The songs added to Midnights via Midnights (3am Edition) and Midnights (Til Dawn Edition) and Midnights (Late Night Edition), however, do count as bonus songs.

We are not including “deluxe edition” tracks that are alternate versions of songs on her studio albums, either. That means anything that’s a “piano version,” “acoustic version,” “international version” or remix isn’t included here. And for the purposes of this list, we’re only rounding up bonus tracks to Swift’s first-edition studio albums — meaning that we’re not looking at songs released on her (Taylor’s Version) re-recordings. (A project for another time, perhaps.) Plus, it probably goes without saying: This doesn’t include soundtrack songs or one-offs — after all, bonus songs have to be bonus to something.

Without further ado, here’s our ranking of Taylor Swift’s bonus songs, from worst to best.

• “SuperStar”

  Found On: Fearless: Platinum Edition (2009)
  Parent Album: Fearless (2008)

  Impossible as it may seem now, there was a point in pop culture history when Swift could sing a line like “I’m no one special, just another wide-eyed girl” and mean it. This midtempo country ballad (one of six tracks added to Fearless before it became her first Grammy album of the year winner) isn’t bad-bad, but it’s unmemorable, a critique you’d be hard-pressed to levy against most of the bonus tracks on this list. – Joe Lynch

• “Invisible”

  Found On: Taylor Swift (Deluxe Edition) (2007)
  Parent Album: Taylor Swift (2006)

  A sister song to “Teardrops on My Guitar,” “Invisible” is one of many laments in Swift’s early catalog that explores the agony of having feelings for someone who’s all eyes for somebody else. It’s clear that she was still finding her footing in the vocal booth as she recorded this one, but even as a young teenager, Swift – destined to become arguably the most un-invisible woman on the planet – was able to infuse audible yearning and angst into her delivery like a seasoned performer, assisted by melancholy piano and violin. – Hannah Dailey

• “Superman”

  Found On: Speak Now (Deluxe Edition) (2011)
  Parent Album: Speak Now (2010)

  Released with the deluxe edition of Speak Now in 2010, “Superman” is one of Swift’s earliest tales of infatuation with larger-than-life lovers, using the comic-book superhero as imagery for this long-distance romance. She casts her subject as impossibly busy, impossibly important and, naturally, worth waiting for. It’s an undeniably sweet but simple song, an interesting snapshot of Swift’s storytelling at the time. – Alicia Urrea

• “Paris”

  Found On: Midnights (3am Edition) (2022)
  Parent Album: Midnights (2022)

  With its high-energy production and earworm of a pre-chorus, “Paris” serves to wake up the insomniac on Midnights. The track romanticizes the act of disappearing into a relationship, where the real world can’t compete with the private universe two people create together. Its dreamy production and playful references make it one of Midnights’ much lighter songs, even if the lyrics occasionally drift into cliché. – A. Urrea

• “Cleveland!”

  Found On: The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore (2026)
  Parent Album: The Life of a Showgirl (2025)

  One of the more divisive songs from The Encore, “Cleveland!” finds Swift leaning into that all-exclamation point sass for a cheeky song about her then-budding romance to future husband Travis Kelce. With a twinkling piano vaguely reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen’s “Candy’s Room,” Swift runs down the five-letter slurs people toss at her like unwanted footballs while celebrating the fact she’s found “one person in the world who doesn’t find [her] completely insufferable.” If you don’t overthink it, “Cleveland!” rocks. – J. Lynch

• “Untouchable”

  Found On: Fearless: Platinum Edition (2009)
  Parent Album: Fearless (2008)

  Even the biggest of Swifties may not know “Untouchable” is a cover of a song first released by Nashville-based rock band Luna Halo. Swift reimagines the track completely for her sophomore album’s Platinum Edition — transforming a snare-heavy anthem into a country-pop ballad steadily building upon a simple guitar riff. – Danielle Pascual

• “All of the Girls You Loved Before”

  Found On: The More Lover Chapter (2023)
  Parent Album: Lover (2019)

  Taylor has written a lot of love songs over the years, but this might be her only love letter to the women who molded the man she fell for, whether it’s his mom, his school crushes, his female friends or the exes that lie in his wake. Over a dreamy, waltzing production, Swift sings all the other women’s praises — but she makes sure her man understands that in the end, “I love you more.” Four years after Lover‘s release, it came out as a single and hit No. 12 on the Hot 100. – Katie Atkinson

• “Dear Reader”

  Found On: Midnights (3am Edition) (2022)
  Parent Album: Midnights (2022)

  As track 20 of 20 on Midnights (3am Edition), even Taylor would understand if you turned your focus during “Dear Reader” back to trying to catch those last precious hours of sleep before daylight. Far as it may be from being one of the set’s most attention-grabbing tracks, it’s still a nice little postscript on the whole chapter, even outing her sleep-deprived self as having been a most unreliable narrator for the past hour-plus: “Never take advice from someone who’s falling apart.” — Andrew Unterberger

• “Come Back…Be Here”

  Found On: Red (Deluxe Edition) (2012)
  Parent Album: Red (2012)

  The national anthem for all in long-distance situationships, “Come Back…Be Here” finds Swift preoccupied with the whereabouts of her jet-set crush, who never seems to be in the same place as she is. In lyrics rumored to be about her whirlwind romance with one of the only stars whose schedule might’ve been as busy as hers was at the time, Swift plays with physical distance versus emotional closeness, fatefully name-checking the two cities in which she would eventually primarily live in the years that followed Red: New York and London. – H. Dailey

• “Patient Zero”

  Found On: The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore (2026)
  Parent Album: The Life of a Showgirl (2025)

  Of her 2026 releases, no one would refer to “Patient Zero” as Taylor’s most obvious return to country, but the song sees her doing what the genre does at its best — identifying situations that should have had songs written about them by now, and capturing them as identifiably as possible. In this case, it’s Swift capturing being the girlfriend-before-the-girlfriend, and not just offering advice to her successor, but actively being sought out by her to do so, leading to such believable OK fine since you asked warnings as “I know it seems like he shines so bright/ But he’s bathing in your reflected light” over a sympathetically wailing violin. This one should have Nashville beaming. — A. Unterberger

• “Come In With the Rain”

  Found On: Fearless: Platinum Edition (2009)
  Parent Album: Fearless (2008)

  “Come In With the Rain” could easily be taken as a typical “we broke up but I still love you” ballad. But by the end of verse two, listeners come to realize that’s not the case at all: “I’ve got you down, I know you by heart/ And you don’t even know where I start,” she croons. Too scared to make the first move, a key change at the bridge emphasizes a delusion all teenagers can relate to: my crush may not yet know I exist, but eventually they’ll come to their senses and realize I’ve been here all along. – D. Pascual

• “Jump Then Fall”

  Found On: Fearless: Platinum Edition (2009)
  Parent Album: Fearless (2008)

  This euphoric track is one of the most loved-up cuts to emerge from the Fearless era, and that’s saying something. But what makes this one extra special is how Swift characterizes falling in love as an active choice – a purposeful jump rather than a surprise plunge – while jubilantly beckoning for her crush to join her in the deep end. Plus, that three-syllable hook is ultra catchy, even by Swift standards; you can’t help but sing it in your head whenever you happen to see the title spelled out. – H. Dailey

• “Babylon”

  Found On: The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore (2026)
  Parent Album: The Life of a Showgirl (2025)

  Stepping outside of her usual first-person frame, the closer to The Encore delivers the vivid lyricism that Swift is renowned for. “Babylon” is vaguely reminiscent of “The Lucky One,” narrating a tale about ambition, regret and the life someone realizes they left behind, with alluring acoustic guitars and a gentle production driving the story along. Cinematic, old-fashioned and intriguing. – A. Urrea

• “A Perfectly Good Heart”

  Found On: Taylor Swift (Deluxe Edition) (2007)
  Parent Album: Taylor Swift (2006)

  Since Swift was just 13 when she co-wrote “A Perfectly Good Heart,” we can safely assume it documents her inaugural heartbreak in real time. She even asks in the chorus: “Why would you wanna make the very first scar?” We now know it was far from Swift’s last broken heart, and this bonus track forever captures the yearning twang that minted the singer-songwriter as the voice of lovelorn teens worldwide. – K. Atkinson

• “Girl At Home”

  Found On: Red (Deluxe Edition) (2012)
  Parent Album: Red (2012)

  “Girl At Home” feels like a transitional slice of country-pop from Red that points to the territory Swift would soon explore on 1989. Warm acoustic strumming sits comfortably alongside bubbling synths and a head-bobbing pop hook; it’s bright and energetic but laid back in a way. It also finds Swift playing around with song structure, starting the song with its chorus — a bold move, but so is telling a guy to get his ass home to his girlfriend and stop looking at you.– J. Lynch

• “High Infidelity”

  Found On: Midnights (3am Edition) (2022)
  Parent Album: Midnights (2022)

  As one of the most vulnerable tracks on any version of Midnights, “High Infidelity” finds Swift at her most deliciously complicated. She pens a burning betrayal into something less black-and-white than the title suggests. Over a restless, monotonous beat, Swift traces the emotional breadcrumbs that led her somewhere she shouldn’t have gone, pondering whether cheating can be understood without being excused. Its slippery morality makes it one of Midnights’ most intriguing detours. – A. Urrea

• “Glitch”

  Found On: Midnights (3am Edition) (2022)
  Parent Album: Midnights (2022)

  Swift, after dark. An underrated shoo-in for sexiest song, “Glitch” slinks down the street high on the “blood moonlit” night (and whatever’s in our narrator’s system). The sound, helmed by co-producers Sounwave and Jack Antonoff in the same creative session as “Lavender Haze,” is a little bit unexpected and weird for Swift. The drop after “…Let’s dance” is a sultry moment she hasn’t hit before or since. A glitch usually isn’t a good thing, but she turns it into one. – Ashley Iasimone

• “If This Was A Movie”

  Found On: Speak Now (Deluxe Edition) (2011)
  Parent Album: Speak Now (2010)

  Who the heck is Eli? Although Swift was the sole writer on every Speak Now track, the deluxe edition featured exactly one cowrite: “If This Was A Movie,” which she penned alongside Martin Johnson of Boys Like Girls. A twangy, yearning pop-rocker that expertly crests and troughs, this gem features Swift’s most famously misheard lyric prior to “lonely Starbucks lovers.” No, it’s not “come back to me Eli,” just Swift deploying an unusual two-syllable delivery of “me” in the lyric “come back to me like.” – J. Lynch

• “It’s Time to Go”

  Found On: Evermore (Deluxe Edition) (2021)
  Parent Album: Evermore (2020)

  It’s often said that relationships take hard work, but Swift suggests in this indie-folk ballad that maybe you should quit working at it and just walk away. “Sometimes givin’ up is the strong thing/ Sometimes to run is the brave thing,” she sings after listing a series of red flags that make it obvious there’s no reason to stick around any longer. Is this song about romance? Or is it about business? When it comes to Swift (and Evermore), the answer is: yes. – K. Atkinson

• “The Great War”

  Found On: Midnights (3am Edition) (2022)
  Parent Album: Midnights (2022)

  Blowing the dust off the quill pen for “The Great War,” Swift vows to wave a white flag in words on a song rife with battleground imagery and a folksy “uh huh” hook. Trusted ally Aaron Dessner’s instrumentals trigger some of Swift’s finest in-the-3am-trenches writing. Amid somber verses of quiet resentment in a relationship, she’ll have you humming along. “Maybe it’s the past that’s talking, screaming from the crypt/ Telling me to punish you for things you never did,” she sings from the front line. – A. Iasimone

• “The Other Side of the Door”

  Found On: Fearless: Platinum Edition (2009)
  Parent Album: Fearless (2008)

  This is a peak Fearless era banger, the banger levels of which are rivaled only by “The Way I Loved You.” Much has rightfully been said about Swift’s talent for writing a great bridge, but “The Other Side of the Door” – about a relationship that’s not exactly the healthiest, though certainly filled with passion – is a rare moment where she waits all the way until the song’s (immaculate) outro to absolutely hammer down on the gas pedal. – H. Dailey

• “Wonderland”

  Found On: 1989 (Deluxe Edition) (2015)
  Parent Album: 1989 (2014)

  Backdropped by twinkling bells that eventually give way to pounding drums and dense, searing synths, “Wonderland” takes listeners through a topsy-turvy, thrilling roller coaster ride. With subtle references to Alice in Wonderland – plus one direct nod in the lyric “Didn’t you call my fears with a Cheshire Cat smile?” – Swift finds a new, fantastical way to process the difficult reality of being under constant surveillance when starting a new relationship in the public eye. – H. Dailey

• “Pink Clouding”

  Found On: The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore (2026)
  Parent Album: The Life of a Showgirl (2025)

  “Pink Clouding” is a chameleon in Swift’s discography. One of the best of all of the Showgirl songs, the song sounds like it could be a long-lost post-1989 track, or in a mashup with “Afterglow” at what would’ve been Lover Fest or straight out of a sleepless Midnights session (“Years later, I still wonder how to tell you sorry”). Flushed with euphoria, its airy chorus is made for singing aloud on late-night drives. – A. Iasimone

• “Bigger Than The Whole Sky”

  Found On: Midnights (3am Edition) (2022)
  Parent Album: Midnights (2022)

  While Swift reunited with main Folklore/Evermore collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner for 2022’s Midnights, her pop-forward 10th studio album was obviously a sonic pivot from her 2020 folk-leaning twofer — although standout bonus cut “Bigger Than The Whole Sky” does recall the understated majesty of the Long Pond cuts. The song’s opening 75 seconds feature minimal percussion, a muted synth bed and Swift grasping at memories of a romance that burned bright but quickly: “You were more than just a short time,” she asserts, “and I’ve got a lot to pine about.” – Jason Lipshutz

• “The Moment I Knew”

  Found On: Red (Deluxe Edition) (2012)
  Parent Album: Red (2012)

  The “Moment” was indeed a canonical one in Taylor Swift lore, serving not just as the inciting event for this cinematic Red bonus cut but for a crucial scene in “All Too Well (10-Minute Version).” Spoiler for both: It wasn’t fun turning 21 for Swift, as the night of her party was spent staring at the door, hoping in vain for a never-to-arrive Jake Gyllenhaal to materialize. The betrayal is palpable in every string-soaked second of “Moment,” but never more so than in the song’s devastating spoken-word breakdown: “You should’ve been there. And I would’ve been. SO. HAPPY.” No other current, former or future 21-year-old could have possibly made it hurt so good. — A. Unterberger

• “I’m Only Me When I’m With You”

  Found On: Taylor Swift (Deluxe Edition) (2007)
  Parent Album: Taylor Swift (2006)

  Country and pop songs readily agree on one thing: We all love a love song about a partner we can’t do without even though they drive us crazy. But what elevates “I’m Only Me When I’m With You” far above the other bonus tracks on her self-titled debut is this ass-kicking recording. From her band’s pounding honky-tonk energy to the youthful exuberance in her voice (that “yeah!” at the end!), this is a prime slice of early Swift where she uses her teenage naivety as a strength. – J. Lynch

• “You’re Losing Me”

  Found On: Midnights (Late Night Edition) (2023)
  Parent Album: Midnights (2022)

  Crooning “I can’t find a pulse,” a heartbeat is the literal beat to the vulnerable ballad titled “You’re Losing Me (From the Vault)” on streaming. Originally released as a bonus track on Midnights (Late Night Edition), a special physical edition unveiled at a May 2023 Eras Tour concert, Swift cautiously lays out the warning signs that a longtime romance is doomed. Despite her pleas to make it work, the end of its heart-wrenching bridge, which features some of Swift’s best alliteration yet with “pathological people pleaser,” is when she finally comes to terms with pulling the plug. – D. Pascual

• “You Are In Love”

  Found On: 1989 (Deluxe Edition) (2015)
  Parent Album: 1989 (2014)

  Inspired by the then-romance of friends Jack Antonoff and Lena Dunham, “You Are In Love” is arguably one of Swift’s most romantic songs of all time in that it scrapbooks the quietest parts of a relationship, rather than the loudest. Where a younger Swift would’ve dreamed of grand gestures and Shakespearean professions of love, she understood that what she was truly looking for was something you could hear even “in the silence” and see even “with the lights out.” Also, this line in the bridge has to be up there on the all-time list of great Swift lyrics: “You understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars/ And why I’ve spent my whole life trying to put it into words.” – H. Dailey

• “Hits Different”

  Found On: Midnights (Til Dawn Edition) (2023)
  Parent Album: Midnights (2022)

  “You were the one that I loved/ Don’t need another metaphor, it’s simple enough,” Swift blurts “Semi-Charmed Life”-style on the bridge of “Hits Different,” then proceeds to toss out a string of memorable metaphors regardless. With manic pop melodies and massively sad feelings, the song bridges Midnights (“Have they come to take me away?”) and The Tortured Poets Department (“They forgot to come and get me”). – A. Iasimone

• “The Lakes”

  Found On: Folklore (Deluxe Edition) (2020)
  Parent Album: Folklore (2020)

  Opening with strings that seem to squeak out through an old-timey Victrola, Folklore’s sole bonus track oozes with lush romantic fatalism – and sure enough, the first lyric is “Is it romantic how all my elegies eulogize me?” On “the lakes,” Swift imagines a capital R Romantic (“what are my words worth”) escape from stardom, civilization and “hunters with cellphones.” It’s lovely, semimythic folk augmented by strings that never overpower – almost like Swift through the lens of Bill Fay. For the one-year anniversary of the album, the orchestral “original version” was released as a promo single – but the first publicly available version remains the better listen. – J. Lynch

• “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve”

  Found On: Midnights (3am Edition) (2022)
  Parent Album: Midnights (2022)

  On the deluxe 3am Edition, Swift continues down a darker path of Midnights’ late-night ruminations, and “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” is its magnum opus. Eerie synthesizers and a low acoustic guitar are the backdrop to Swift’s reckoning with a past age-gap relationship, reopening old scars to get a clearer understanding of the power imbalance. That pent-up frustration leads us to utter release by the bridge’s close: “Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first,” she unleashes, a painful yet satisfying acknowledgment of what was lost. – D. Pascual

• “Ours”

  Found On: Speak Now (Deluxe Edition) (2011)
  Parent Album: Speak Now (2010)

  The first Taylor bonus cut to get a full single push (it hit No. 13 on the Hot 100 in 2011) was as deserving as any of the hits from Speak Now proper. Beginning with a couplet that captures soul-punishing office awkwardness (“Elevator buttons and morning air/ Strangers’ silence makes me wanna take the stairs”) better than anyone who’s never held a full-time job besides “pop star” should be able to, “Ours” beautifully sells the feeling of how a good relationship can make you feel right during a day when everything and everyone else makes you feel wrong. And while a chorus lyric like “people throw rocks at things that shine” might have felt defensive or sour later in her career, here it still sounds like Swift at her sweetest, truly believing — despite mounting early evidence to the contrary — that love conquers all.  — A. Unterberger

• “New Romantics”

  Found On: 1989 (Deluxe Edition) (2015)
  Parent Album: 1989 (2014)

  One of the best lines of “New Romantics” — “Heartbreak is the national anthem, we sing it proudly” — might also be the most emblematic Swift lyric of all time. After all, it speaks directly to her decades of diaristic love songs and to the ever-building legion of fans who’ve adopted her sentimental songwriting along the way. And no wonder, because so many Taylor touchstones are sprinkled throughout the Max Martin & Shellback-produced stadium-worthy pop anthem, from pithy lines directed at her haters (“Baby I could build a castle out of all the bricks they threw at me”) to fresh turns of phrase that play on well-worn idioms (“The best people in life are free”) to wordless melodies that won’t leave your head for days (“Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-AH!”). When a bonus track could have easily been a lead single, you know you have a no-skips album on your hands. – K. Atkinson

• “Right Where You Left Me”

  Found On: Evermore (Deluxe Edition) (2021)
  Parent Album: Evermore (2020)

  On paper, a bonus track from 2020’s Evermore — itself a 15-song bonus of sorts, as a surprise second helping from the Folklore sessions — should scan as more indulgent than essential. Yet “Right Where You Left Me” stands as a crystallized high within a particularly fruitful creative period, directing the rustic indie-folk production toward a feeling of stasis. As the rest of the world revolves around her, Swift is immobile, the corner of a restaurant turning into quicksand: “You left me, no / You left me, no / You left me no choice but to stay here forever,” Swift sings, her voice lilting in shock as the guitar chugs forward beneath her. “Right Where You Left Me” not only puts a bow on a two-album wallop but remains a songwriting triumph in a career stuffed with them. – J. Lipshutz