Red (Taylor Swift album)

Background

Taylor Swift's third studio album, Speak Now, was released by Big Machine Records on October 25, 2010. She wrote the album entirely herself and produced it with Nathan Chapman, who had produced both of her previous albums. Speak Now expands on those albums' country pop sound with a more aggressive influence of crossover pop that was also characteristic of Fearless (2008) and incorporates rock styles including pop rock, arena rock, and new wave rock. Speak Now registered in the 2010 Guinness World Records as the fastest-selling digital album by a female artist and was nominated for Best Country Album at the 54th Grammy Awards in 2012.

After Speak Now, Swift continued working with Chapman on her next album. By October 2011, she had written around 25 songs. Although executives at Big Machine felt that the materials were sufficient and congratulated her for finishing work within one year, Swift felt that her creativity was diminished because she had been repeating the same songwriting process. She sought to collaborate with other producers to venture outside of her "comfort zone" of writing songs alone. While Swift viewed the solo-written Speak Now as her statement as a songwriter, she envisioned her fourth studio album as a statement of her "thirst for learning". She reworked the new album while touring on the Speak Now World Tour from 2011 to 2012.

Writing and production

Swift recalled working on her fourth studio album within two years—she wrote songs by herself and produced them with Chapman within the first year, and engaged other producers within the second year. According to Swift, she recruited producers with whom she had not worked, but whose works had instilled curiosities in her. While experimenting sonically, she prioritized conveying emotional sentiments through her lyrics over what particular sounds she should pursue, as with her typical approach. On songs that Swift co-wrote, she first presented her co-writers with the feelings she had been going through, played a rough version of her song on guitar, and asked for their ideas on ways to better convey the story. Each track's production corresponded to the emotion it portrayed, to which Swift attributed the album's "eclectic blend of music".

Production sessions took place in between stops of the Speak Now World Tour during 2011–2012. The first song that Swift wrote was "All Too Well"; during a February 2011 rehearsal of the tour, she ad-libbed lyrics written after a broken relationship while playing a four-chord guitar riff as her touring band spontaneously played backing instruments. Swift told Rolling Stone that this relationship caused "a few roller coasters", and she channeled the tumult into the songs. She continued writing tracks like "Red" and "State of Grace" and produced them with Chapman in her creative base of Nashville, Tennessee. "Red" was a critical point during the album's formation; Big Machine's president Scott Borchetta overheard the production and suggested a pop-oriented sound. After several failed attempts at the desired outcome, Swift asked Borchetta to recruit Max Martin, a Swedish producer known for his chart-topping pop songs. Swift travelled to Los Angeles to work with Martin and his frequent collaborator Shellback, who produced the songs "22", "I Knew You Were Trouble", and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together".

Swift and Chapman produced the final version of "Red" with Dann Huff, and the three produced two more tracks: "Starlight" and "Begin Again". She engaged Jeff Bhasker because she was intrigued by his drum production, citing "We Are Young" (2011) by the indie band Fun as an example. Bhasker produced two songs: "Holy Ground" and "The Lucky One". She wrote "Everything Has Changed" with the English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and produced it with Butch Walker, and Dan Wilson co-wrote and produced "Treacherous". "The Last Time" is a collaboration of Swift with the Irish-Scottish band Snow Patrol: Gary Lightbody co-wrote and featured as a guest vocalist, and Jacknife Lee produced it. Swift named the album Red, denoting the color to which she associated the tumultuous and extreme emotions that she was experiencing—"intense love, intense frustration, jealousy, confusion". By the time recording began, Swift had written more than 30 songs, and 16 of which made the final cut of the standard edition; Swift was the sole writer of nine tracks as well as two tracks from the deluxe edition.

Composition

Music

Red incorporates various styles of pop, rock, and folk, namely dance-pop, indie pop, dubstep, Britrock, pop rock, and arena rock. The arrangements of its songs include acoustic instruments, electronic synths, and drum machines. Calling Red her "only true breakup album", Swift said that the diverse musical styles were a "metaphor for how messy a real breakup is". Its first half consists of country and pop songs intertwined with each other; "22", "I Knew You Were Trouble", and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" have a pop production that incorporates electronic vocal processing and hip-hop-influenced bass drums. "State of Grace", "Red", and "Holy Ground" expand on the 1980s arena-rock stylings of Speak Now, while "All Too Well", "I Almost Do", "Stay Stay Stay", "Sad Beautiful Tragic", and "Begin Again" feature the country sound of Swift's earlier music.

Critics were divided on the album's genre classification. Jon Dolan's review for Rolling Stone appeared in the magazine's column for country music, but he described its musical foundation as "post-country rock". Some reviewers commented that Red blurred the divide between country and pop, while others called it a straightforward pop album with contemporary influences, deeming it Swift's inevitable move away from country into mainstream pop. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times regarded Swift as a "pop star in a country context more than a country star" and argued that Red was the culmination of a gradual progress since her debut album to expand beyond the limitations of country music. In his article for Grantland, Steven Hyden argued that Red's broad musical styles made it a country album as much as a pop or rock one. Some retrospective reviews labeled Red as country pop, arena rock, country rock, or pop rock.

Lyrics

Swift's songwriting influences on Red include the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and the Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. In the album's physical booklet, she quotes a line from Naruda's poem Tonight I Can Write The Saddest Lines, "Love is so short, forgetting is so long." She was inspired by Mitchell's 1971 album Blue for how it "explores somebody's soul so deeply". Several journalists opined that Blue also influenced the cover artwork of Red, which shows Swift looking downward with her face partially shadowed from her brimmed hat. In The Atlantic, Brad Nelson argued that Swift's songcraft uses details and narrative devices that resemble the styles of rock and roll musicians such as Steely Dan, Bruce Springsteen, and Leonard Cohen.

Using autobiographical songwriting, Red is about the aftermath of an intense breakup, detailing loss, pain, abandonment, and regrets. According to Swift, most of the album was inspired by an ex-boyfriend who later contacted her after listening to it and described the experience as "bittersweet ... like going through a photo album". Whereas her previous albums contain fantasy-driven narratives with happy endings, Red explores the uneasy reality of how a relationship can painfully end; Caramanica wrote, "Almost everything here is corroded in some way." Each song is contained within a fixed scene and narrative with defined characters, informed by the storytelling aspect of country songwriting.

Reflecting Swift's personal experience, Red details her recurring themes of love and heartbreak, but from a more complex perspective gained from her early-20s adulthood. Nelson wrote that Red sees Swift no longer putting the blame solely on ex-lovers and instead viewing heartbreak with "ambiguity", while Emily Yoshida from Vulture opined that there are moments of vulnerability that "feel wise beyond the 22 years Swift was". There are allusions to sexuality on tracks like "State of Grace", "Treacherous", and "Stay Stay Stay"; writing for NPR, J. English regarded this new theme as Swift's coming of age and her first-hand experience and exploration in womanhood, a departure from her past albums which had hinted at sex but from an outsider's perspective.

Songs

"State of Grace" is an arena-rock song that features chiming guitars and dynamic drums, and its lyrics are about the tumultuous feelings stemming from romantic beginnings. According to the musicologist James E. Perone, the lyric, "Love is a ruthless game, unless you play it good and right", sets the overall theme of an album about passionate romance gone wrong. The title track explores an intense relationship that has failed, relating the stages of love to colors: "losing him" is blue, "missing him" is a dark gray, and "loving him" is red. It is built on an acoustic arrangement consisting of string instruments of acoustic guitar, banjitar, cello, fiddle, and bouzouki, which display a country sound, while also featuring electronic vocal manipulation and elements of mainstream pop, soft rock, and adult contemporary. "Treacherous", which begins with slow guitar strumming and percussion and gradually builds up, is about attempting to protect a fragile relationship.

"I Knew You Were Trouble" has a pop-rock production in its verses, and its refrain begins with a dubstep drop and continues with aggressive synth backing and hip hop-influenced syncopated percussion. In the lyrics of "I Knew You Were Trouble", Swift's character blames herself for a toxic relationship that has ended. Critics considered the song widely different from the music that Swift had explored on her past albums: Perone said that the track's dynamic shifts between the verses were "sudden and unexpected", and Caramanica wrote that the dubstep drop was "a wrecking ball, changing the course not just of the song but also of Ms. Swift's career". "All Too Well", considered by critics the emotional centerpiece of the album's narrative, has a slow-building production with overdubs of acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, drums, and harmony vocals. It chronicles a lost relationship from the peak of romance to the lingering memories after it has ended.

"22" is about celebrating the joys of being youthful by going out and meeting new people to move on from heartbreak. Its verses are driven by acoustic guitar, and its refrain incorporates a dance-influenced arrangement consisting of electronic synths and hip hop-influenced bass drums. According to Perone, the arrangement of "I Almost Do" is derived from Swift's early country songs: its verses are formed on short melodic motives and Swift's lower register vocals, while its refrain has a longer range in Swift's vocals. The song displays elements of country and folk via acoustic guitars and open string notes in the texture. In "I Almost Do", Swift's character wonders what she would do if an ex-lover asked her to come back to him, and she admits she would likely agree to do so. Her character in "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", meanwhile, promises an ex-lover that they will never rekindle their relationship. Swift's vocals in the song are electronically processed, and its production features an acoustic guitar arrangement alongside other stylistic embellishments including filtered guitar tones, synths, and hip hop-influenced bass drums. "Stay Stay Stay", a fast-tempo song combining styles of country and 1980s pop, features toy piano, ukulele, mandolin, and hand claps, and its lyrics are about two lovers trying to reconcile after a fight.

"The Last Time", a duet with Lightbody, is a melancholic power ballad that begins with piano and crescendoes with strings and electric guitars. Perone compared its production with the music of late-1970s and early-1980s rock bands but with a muted texture. Lightbody's and Swift's characters detail their perspectives on a failing long-term relationship in the first and second verses, and the refrain is backed by an orchestra playing intense strings and brass. In "Holy Ground", Swift's character reminisces about an absent lover and the specific memories of their past. It is a country rock and heartland rock track with persistent drums and a recurring guitar riff. "Sad Beautiful Tragic", an intimate and melancholic acoustic track, is composed of overdubs of acoustic instruments. She wrote the song when reminiscing about a relationship that had ended "months before", which evoked wistful feelings. Perone commented that "Sad Beautiful Tragic" extended the "lyrical impressionism" of Swift's songwriting by using various images without drawing a straightforward connection between them. "The Lucky One" incorporates a driving drum machine and has a soft-rock, indie rock, and 1960s pop-rock sound. Written in third-person perspective, the lyrics tell the story of a successful singer who looked "like a '60s queen" in her high-school days, was envied by her friends after achieving fame in "the angels' city", and ultimately "chose the rose garden over Madison Square".

"Everything Has Changed", a duet with Sheeran, is a mid-tempo acoustic guitar-led ballad that incorporates deep bass drums. Perone commented that the song's arrangement is similar to the music from Swift's debut album, using "a high degree of syncopation" at the sixteenth note level. In the song, Swift and Sheeran sing about the beginnings of a new romance, alternating their lead vocals in the verses. Swift was inspired to write "Starlight" by the teenage romance of Ethel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. In the lyrics, Swift's character reminisces about meeting her lover one evening in the "summer of '45" and how they intruded a "yacht club party" and danced "like [they] were made of starlight". Containing an electric guitar solo, "Starlight" is a dance-pop song that Perone deemed "vaguely contemporary country pop in nature". In the closing track of the standard edition, "Begin Again", Swift's character explores how a newfound love interest differs from her ex-lovers, giving her hopes of a new romance. According to Perone, that the genre-spanning Red concludes with a country ballad confirms country music as an integral part of Swift's musical identity.

The deluxe edition of Red includes three extra original songs: "The Moment I Knew", "Come Back ... Be Here", and "Girl at Home"; demo recordings of "Treacherous" and "Red"; and an acoustic version of "State of Grace". "The Moment I Knew" is a somber pop-rock piano ballad; its lyrics were inspired by Swift's 21st birthday: her narrator realizes that the relationship is coming to an end when she keeps staring at the door, hoping her boyfriend would appear to celebrate her birthday party, but he never comes. "Come Back... Be Here", with a 2000s adult-contemporary-oriented sound, has lyrics about a long-distance relationship with few chances to endure. "Girl at Home", a 1980s-styled folk-pop song with elements of electronic music and country, details a woman's contempt for a flirtatious man who is in a relationship with another woman.

Release and promotion

Swift and Big Machine implemented an extensive marketing plan for Red, encompassing brand endorsements, multimedia promotions, and song releases. She announced the album on August 13, 2012, via a live webchat held on Google Hangouts. Her corporate partnerships included album distribution deals at retail sites by Starbucks, Walgreens, Walmart, and Papa John's, and an exclusive merchandise line with Keds. Both the standard and deluxe editions were released on October 22, 2012. In the United States, the standard edition was available in digital and physical formats, and the deluxe edition was available exclusively for physical purchase at Target.

A day after the release, Swift began a cycle of television appearances in the United States, which included Good Morning America (October 23), Late Show with David Letterman (October 23), The View (October 24), The Ellen DeGeneres Show (October 25), Katie (October 26), and 20/20 (October 26). She gave interviews to as many as 72 radio stations, mostly in the United States and some from South Africa, New Zealand, Spain, Germany, and Mexico. On social media, Swift encouraged her fans to ask their local radio stations to air her songs. Her live performances at awards shows included the MTV Video Music Awards, the Country Music Association Awards, and the American Music Awards. In November 2012, she embarked on a promotional tour in Japan, appearing on Nippon Television's show Sukkiri and giving an interview to the radio station InterFM. On a promotional tour for Red in France in 2013, she gave a private concert to fans and journalists in Paris, and appeared at the NRJ Music Awards.

"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" was released as the lead single on August 13, 2012. It was Swift's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. After Billboard revised the Hot Country Songs chart to include downloads and streaming in addition to airplay, the single spent 10 weeks at number one due to strong digital sales. Elsewhere, it topped the Canadian and New Zealand singles charts and peaked in the top 10 in Australia, Japan, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom. During a four-week countdown to the album's release, from September 24 to October 22, Swift previewed one album track each week via Good Morning America: "Begin Again", "Red", "I Knew You Were Trouble", and "State of Grace". "Begin Again" and "Red" were released to US country radio as singles, and they both peaked in the top 10 of Country Airplay. "I Knew You Were Trouble" was released to US pop radio on November 27, 2012; it peaked atop the Pop Songs chart for seven weeks, reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, and peaked in the top 10 in Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Other singles were "22" and "Everything Has Changed", which reached the top 10 in the United Kingdom, and "The Last Time".

Despite Red promotion as a country album, its diverse musical styles sparked a media debate over Swift's status as a country artist. Its two most successful singles, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble", were successful pop hits that had little impact on country radio. Spin argued Red was difficult to categorize because country music was "the most dynamically vibrant pop genre of the last decade or so". Critics commented that Swift had always been more pop-oriented than country, and they described Red as her inevitable move to mainstream pop. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Swift said that country music "feels like home" and responded to the critical debate: "I leave the genre labeling to other people."

Touring

Swift announced the first North American leg of the Red Tour on October 26, 2012. Its first 58 dates began in Omaha, Nebraska, visited Canada and the United States throughout the spring and summer of 2013, and concluded in September in Nashville, Tennessee. To support a high demand, Swift held the concerts in sports arenas and stadiums. After the North American leg, the Red Tour visited Australasia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Asia.

The Red Tour broke several revenue records. The four shows at Staples Center in Los Angeles extended Swift's total of sold-out shows to 11, making her the solo artist with the most sold-out shows at the venue. She was the first female artist to sell out the Sydney Football Stadium since its opening in 1988. Tickets for the Shanghai show sold out within 60 seconds, setting the Chinese record for the fastest sellout. When it ended in June 2014, the Red Tour had grossed $150.2 million and became the highest-grossing tour by a country artist of all time.

Commercial performance

In the United States, Red debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 1.208 million copies. It surpassed Garth Brooks's Double Live (1998) as the fastest-selling country album and, together with Speak Now, made Swift the first female solo artist to have two million-selling albums within one week. Red spent seven non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200, making Swift the first female artist and the first overall since the Beatles in 1969 to have three consecutive studio albums each spend six or more weeks atop the chart. Its number-one position for the week ending December 23, 2012, marked Swift's third consecutive time—after Fearless and Speak Now—to have a number-one album during the last week before Christmas, which is traditionally the most competitive week of the year.

On Billboard Top Country Albums chart, Red spent 16 weeks at number one and was the year-end number-one album of both 2012 and 2013. It was the second-best-selling album of 2012 in the United States with 3.11 million copies sold after two months of sales, and surpassed 3.84 million copies after one year of release. The album had sold 4.582 million US copies as of January 2024, and it was certified eight-times platinum for surpassing eight million album-equivalent units by the Recording Industry Association of America in October 2025.

Red sold 2.8 million copies worldwide after less than one month of release, 5.2 million by the end of 2012**—**the global second-best-selling album of the year, and 8 million by August 2014. The album reached number one on charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, and Scotland. It received platinum or higher certifications in Australia (five-times platinum), Canada (four-times platinum), and New Zealand (six-times platinum). In the United Kingdom, Red was Swift's first number-one album and had four top-10 singles, the most of her albums; it had sold 619,000 copies as of June 2021 and was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry in January 2025.

Critical reception

Upon its release, Red received generally positive reviews from music critics, although there were a mix of complimentary and dismissive reviews. On the review aggregator website Metacritic, the album received a weighted average score of 77 out of 100, based on 23 reviews in mainstream publications.

Many reviews praised Swift's songwriting for its emotional exploration; they regarded Red as a pivotal album for Swift, citing its themes of adulthood and real-life experiences as a representation of her maturity. Dolan highlighted the "stark-relief emotional mapping" that recalled the singer-songwriters Joni Mitchell and Carole King, while Entertainment Weekly's Melissa Maerz hailed the detail-heavy narratives of songs like "All Too Well", and The Observer Alex Macpherson remarked that Swift was able to "pull you inside her break-up narratives" with her use of language. The Guardian Kate Mossman commented that the many emotions on Red made it "one of the finest fantasies pop music has ever constructed". Nelson opined that Swift's songwriting on Red became sharper and more nuanced; in his retrospective review for Pitchfork, he highlighted a "newfound patience" to her perspectives that resulted in multi-dimensional songs. In a more measured praise, Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic opined that the lyrics were at times "on the nose". American Songwriter's Jewly Hight commented that although Swift's songwriting outlook was occasionally one-sided, it was still more accomplished than "plenty of songwriters twice her age".

The production received mixed reviews, with the pop-leaning tracks being particularly divisive. Consequence of Sound Jon Bernstein likened this reaction to the controversy when Bob Dylan "went electric". On a positive side, Billboard opined that the album pushed Swift's to artistic heights with successful experimentations. Erlewine highlighted the "pristine pop confections" and remarked that she deftly executed the diverse musical styles, while Caramanica and Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times commented that the genre-spanning styles showcased a bold and worthwhile transition. Less complimentary reviews from Slant Magazine's Jonathan Keefe and The A.V. Club's Michael Gallucci deemed the broad musical styles ambitious but inconsistent, which prevented Red from being a truly great pop album. On a more critical side, Mesfin Fekadu of the Associated Press wrote that the experimentations did not always succeed, resulting in an "empty" sound compared to Fearless and Speak Now, while James Lachno of The Daily Telegraph deemed the production bloated and commented that it would be better had Swift abandoned country altogether.

Within weeks after the initial reviews, several critics defended the album. Channing Freeman of Sputnikmusic opined that the criticism towards the pop-leaning production was due to sexism, citing several online reviews that focused on Swift's love life and undermined her musicianship. He wrote that by embracing "pure pop sensibilities", the album became a distillation of all the conflicting emotions she had explored in her lyricism. In PopMatters, Nathan Wisnicki commented that the mixed reviews were a result of music journalism's tendency to pigeonhole Swift into a specific genre. He argued that Red showed Swift as both a deft songwriter and a great pop artist, which made her worthy of being representative of her generation, Millennials. The rock critic Robert Christgau viewed Red as Swift's attempt to approximate Stephin Merritt on 69 Love Songs, writing that while she "hits the mark less often than Merritt – 65 or 70 percent", the ambitious reach "forces her to aim higher" and resulted in songs that "hit just as hard", like "Begin Again", "Stay Stay Stay", and "the feisty ones".

Accolades

In 2013, Red was nominated for Album of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards, the American Music Awards, and the Libera Awards, and it won Favorite Country Album at the American Music Awards, and Top Billboard 200 Album and Top Country Album at the Billboard Music Awards. Internationally, the album won Top Selling Album at the Canadian Country Music Association Awards, helped Swift earn a nomination for Best International Artist at the Australian ARIA Music Awards, and was nominated for International Album of the Year at the Canadian Juno Awards. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2014, Red was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Country Album.

Various publications featured Red on their lists of the best albums of 2012. The album was ranked in the top 10 by Billboard, Newsday, MTV News; top 20 by The Guardian and Stereogum; top 30 by PopMatters, and top 50 by Rolling Stone and Spin, who additionally included it in their list of the year's best country albums. On the mass critics' poll Pazz & Jop by The Village Voice, it ranked 17th based on aggregate scores of all voters, earning votes from 34 critics. Caramanica ranked it second on his list of 2012's best albums (behind Emeli Sandé's Our Version of Events).

Legacy

Critical recognition

Although its diverse styles were met with mixed reactions upon release from critics and fans, who took issue with the pop-leaning direction, Red has been considered by critics as a career-defining album for Swift. They highlight the genre-blending sound as a bold and successful endeavor that laid the groundwork to Swift's full transition to pop music.—Pitchfork opined that the eclectic production expanded Swift's songcraft to reach higher standards, while some critics opined that the pop songwriting influenced Swift's more streamlined writing on her later albums. According to i-D, the album turned the "arena-rock-meets-country-pop" sound into her signature. Meanwhile, Hyden opined that it solidified Swift's status as a genre-agnostic musician capable of turning any sound into her own. Red's themes of heartbreak and sexuality during early adulthood marked her evolution to embrace more complex and subtle songwriting perspectives on relationships in subsequent albums.

Several critics have regarded Red as Swift's magnum opus*,* and it has frequently been ranked by publications in the upper tier of her entire discography, being ranked as her best album by The A.V. Club, i-D, the Star Tribune, and Paste. The critic Rob Sheffield wrote that the album established Swift as both the representative pop songwriter of her generation and one of the greatest songwriters of all time. Publications that ranked Red among the best albums of the 2010s include Atwood Magazine, The Independent, and Pitchfork; it was ranked within the top 10 by Billboard, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, Uproxx, and the Tampa Bay Times, while Taste of Country ranked it as one of the best country albums of the decade. Rolling Stone ranked it at number 99 on its 2023 revision of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and number 36 on its 2025 list of "The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far", and Paste featured the album at number 171 on their 2025 list "The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time".

Popular culture

Red was released when Swift's popularity became increasingly intertwined with tabloid gossip that routinely publicized her love life and associated her songs to her ex-boyfriends, leading to misogynistic criticism that trivialized her songwriting. According to the music critic Jessica Hopper, the criticism of Swift's music in relation to her public image was a natural product of how young female artists engaged with their fans through music. By constructing an image that reflected her transition from "pop's Virgin Queen" into a sexually-aware woman, but with an implicit and feminine approach, she conflated her songs with the tabloid gossip to create a greater narrative, which showcased a deft manipulation of her own image, "a cultural prescience that speaks to [her] ambition and interest in being understood".

Red successful pop singles influenced Swift to work again with Martin and Shellback on her fifth studio album, 1989 (2014), which recalibrated her artistic identity from country to pop. Critics have regarded Red as a classic breakup album that had a generational impact on both Millennials and Generation Z, and cited it as an influence on confessional singer-songwriters including Halsey, Kacey Musgraves, Troye Sivan, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, and Conan Gray. In the view of Hyden, the album inspired a generation of "indie" artists to create pop-friendly music without being confined by the "underground" rock scene. In 2019, an indie rock tribute album titled ReRed, featuring Wild Pink, Adult Mom, Chris Farren, among others, was released with all of its proceeds going to the Equal Justice Initiative.

2021 re-recording

Following the 2019 dispute over the ownership of the masters to her back catalog, Swift began re-recording her first six studio albums including Red in November 2020. By re-recording those albums, Swift had the ownership to the new master recordings, which enabled her to control the licensing of her songs for commercial use and therefore devalued the Big Machine-owned masters. The re-recording of Red, titled Red (Taylor's Version), was released on November 12, 2021. In addition to the re-recordings of the 19 tracks on the original Red, the re-recorded album features re-recorded versions of the charity single "Ronan", the songs "Better Man" and "Babe" that Swift had written for the country groups Little Big Town and Sugarland, the 10-minute version of "All Too Well", and six previously unreleased tracks. The ownership of the original album's master recording, alongside her other five albums released under Big Machine, was acquired by Swift on May 30, 2025.

Track listing

Notes

• "I Knew You Were Trouble" is stylized as "I Knew You Were Trouble." (with a period).

Personnel

Musicians

• Taylor Swift – lead vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitar
• Nathan Chapman – bass guitar, drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, mandolin, percussion, piano, soloist, synthesizer, background vocals
• Peggy Baldwin – cello
• Brett Banducci – viola
• Jeff Bhasker – bass guitar, keyboards, piano, background vocals
• J. Bonilla – drums, percussion
• Nick Buda – drums
• Tom Bukovac – electric guitar
• David Campbell – string arrangements, conducting
• Daphne Chen – violin
• Lauren Chipman – viola
• Eric Darken – percussion
• Marcia Dickstein – harp
• Richard Dodd – cello
• Paul Franklin – steel guitar
• Eric Gorfain – violin
• Dann Huff – bouzouki, electric guitar, high strung guitar, mandolin
• Charlie Judge – accordion, Hammond B3, piano, upright piano, strings, synthaxe, synthesizer
• Gina Kronstadt – violin
• John Krovoza – cello
• Marisa Kuney – violin
• Jacknife Lee – bass guitar, guitar, keyboards
• Max Martin – keyboards
• Grant Mickelson – guitar
• Anders Mouridsen – guitar
• Jamie Muhoberac – cello
• Neli Nikolaeva – violin
• Owen Pallett – conductor, orchestration
• Radu Pieptea – violin
• Simeon Pillich – contrabass
• Wes Precourt – violin
• Bill Rieflin – drums
• Shellback – bass guitar, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards
• Jake Sinclair – bass guitar, background vocals
• Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar
• Aaron Sterling – drums
• Jeff Takiguchi – contrabass
• Andy Thompson – guitar, electric piano
• Ilya Toshinsky – mandolin
• Butch Walker – drums, guitar, keyboards, percussion, background vocals
• Patrick Warren – string arrangements
• Amy Wickman – violin
• Dan Wilson – bass guitar, electric guitar, piano, background vocals
• Rodney Wirtz – violin
• Jonathan Yudkin – cello, fiddle, violin
• Caitlin Evanson – background vocals
• Liz Huett – background vocals ("The Moment I Knew")
• Tyler Sam Johnson – background vocals
• Gary Lightbody – featured artist, background vocals
• Ciara O'Leary – background vocals
• Ed Sheeran – featured artist

Production

• Taylor Swift – songwriting, production
• Nathan Chapman – production, engineering
• Joe Baldridge – engineering
• Sam Bell – engineering
• Matt Bishop – engineering
• Delbert Bowers – assistant
• Chad Carlson – engineering
• Tom Coyne – mastering
• Leland Elliott – assistant
• Jeff Bhasker – production
• Eric Eylands – assistant
• Greg Fuess – assistant
• Chris Galland – assistant
• Şerban Ghenea – mixing
• Matty Green – assistant
• John Hanes – mixing engineering
• Sam Holland – engineering
• Dann Huff – production
• David Huff – digital editing
• Michael Ilbert – engineer
• Tyler Sam Johnson – guitar engineer
• Jacknife Lee – engineering, production, songwriting, programming
• Gary Lightbody – songwriting
• Steve Marcantonio – engineer
• Manny Marroquin – mixing
• Max Martin – production, songwriting
• Seth Morton – assistant
• Justin Niebank – mixing
• Chris Owens – assistant
• John Rausch – engineering
• Matt Rausch – engineering
• Tim Roberts – assistant
• Eric Robinson – engineering
• Liz Rose – songwriting
• Pawel Sek – engineering
• Shellback – production, songwriting, programming
• Ed Sheeran – songwriting
• Jake Sinclair – engineering
• Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
• Andy Thompson – engineering
• Butch Walker – production
• Hank Williams – mastering
• Brian David Willis – engineer
• Dan Wilson – production, songwriting

Visuals and design

• Taylor Swift – creative director
• Sarah Barlow – photography
• Austin Hale – designing
• Jemma Muradian – hair stylist
• Bethany Newman – art direction
• Josh Newman – art direction
• Lorrie Turk – make-up artist

Managerial

• Scott Borchetta – executive producer
• Leann Bennett – production coordination
• Jason Campbell – production coordination
• Mike "Frog" Griffith – production coordination
• JoAnn Tominaga – production coordination

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Footnotes

References

Citations

Cited literature

References

1. Swift, Taylor. (2012). "Red". [[Big Machine Records]].
2. Dunham, Nancy. (July 21, 2010). "Taylor Swift on New Album, New Home, Favorite Fan Moments". [[The Boot (website).
3. Tingen, Paul. (February 2011). "Taylor Swift ''Speak Now''". [[Sound on Sound]].
4. Thomas Erlewine, Stephen. "''Speak Now'' – Taylor Swift". [[AllMusic]].
5. "Fastest-Selling Digital Album in the US by a Female Artist". [[Guinness World Records]].
6. (February 12, 2012). "Grammy Awards 2012: Complete Winners And Nominees List". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
7. Gallo, Phil. (October 19, 2012). "Taylor Swift Q&A: The Risks of ''Red'' and The Joys of Being 22".
8. Schillaci, Sophie. (October 19, 2011). "Taylor Swift on ''Speak Now'' Follow-Up: 'I've Written 25 Songs So Far'". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
9. Willman, Chris. (October 23, 2012). "Exclusive: Taylor Swift Talks About ''Red'', How to 'Begin Again' With New Love, And Being the World's Best-Behaved Bad-Ass". [[Yahoo]].
10. Bernstein, Jonathan. (November 18, 2020). "500 Greatest Albums: Taylor Swift Looks Back on Her 'Only True Breakup Album' ''Red''".
11. Mansfield, Brian. (October 17, 2012). "Taylor Swift Sees ''Red'' All Over". [[USA Today]].
12. Gallo, Phil. (October 22, 2012). "Taylor Swift's ''Red'': The ''Billboard'' Cover Story".
13. Doyle, Patrick. (September 13, 2012). "Taylor Swift's Bold New Direction".
14. Dickey, Jack. (November 13, 2014). "The Power of Taylor Swift".
15. Price, Deborah Evans. (October 29, 2012). "Taylor Swift Talks Writing, Relationships, Rejects and New Album ''Red''". [[Nash Country Weekly]].
16. "Taylor Swift – ''Red'' Album Personnel". [[AllMusic]].
17. Mckinley, James C, Jr.. (August 15, 2012). "New Album Coming From Taylor Swift". [[The New York Times]].
18. Lansky, Sam. (November 8, 2017). "Why Taylor Swift's ''Red'' Is Her Best Album".
19. Bream, Jon. (June 20, 2023). "Our Music Critic Ranks Taylor Swift's Albums From Worst to Best". [[Star Tribune]].
20. Wohlmacher, John. (November 16, 2023). "Second Look: Taylor Swift – ''1989 (Taylor's Version)''".
21. (November 29, 2021). "Roundtable Discussion: A Review of Taylor Swift's ''Red (Taylor's Version)''".
22. Barnes, Kelsey. (February 21, 2023). "Every Taylor Swift Album Ranked".
23. Dukes, Billy. (October 19, 2012). "Taylor Swift, ''Red''". [[Taste of Country]].
24. Dolan, Jon. (October 18, 2012). "''Red''".
25. Lachno, James. (October 19, 2012). "Taylor Swift, ''Red'', Album Review". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
26. Keefe, Jonathan. (October 22, 2012). "Taylor Swift: ''Red''".
27. Roberts, Randall. (October 22, 2012). "Album Review: Taylor Swift's ''Red'' Brims with Confidence". [[Los Angeles Times]].
28. Hight, Jewly. (October 26, 2012). "Taylor Swift: ''Red''".
29. Hyden, Steven. (October 28, 2014). "Pop Is a Banana-Quinoa Muffin: The Artisanal Aloofness of Taylor Swift's ''1989''".
30. Dantona, Savannah. (September 21, 2023). "From Country to Pop: 5 Taylor Swift Songs That Define Her Genre Shift".
31. Ray, Michael. (December 22, 2025). "Taylor Swift".
32. Farley, Christopher John. (October 31, 2012). "The Platinum Poetry of Taylor Swift". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
33. (November 2, 2012). "Taylor Swift: 'My Confidence Is Easy to Shake'". [[NPR]].
34. (June 22, 2016). "Joni Mitchell: 15 Great Artists Influenced by the ''Blue'' Singer".
35. (November 9, 2021). "Every Taylor Swift Album Ranked from Worst to Best".
36. Cox, Jamieson. (April 1, 2015). "This Is Why Joni Mitchell Is Your Favorite Musician's Favorite Musician".
37. Yoshida, Emily. (November 10, 2017). "Taylor Swift's ''Red'' and the Art of Never Seeing It Coming".
38. Rosen, Jody. (November 25, 2013). "Why Taylor Swift Is the Reigning Queen of Pop".
39. English, J.. (August 28, 2017). "Shocking Omissions: Taylor Swift's ''Red'', A Canonical Coming-Of-Age Album". [[NPR]].
40. Sargent, Jordan. (June 16, 2017). "Listen to Taylor Swift's ''Red'', One of the Best Pop Albums of Our Time". [[Spin (magazine).
41. Gallucci, Michael. (October 24, 2012). "Taylor Swift: ''Red''". [[The A.V. Club]].
42. Lambert, Molly. (October 23, 2012). "Dark ''Red'': The Smart, Sexual, And Suddenly Mature Taylor Swift".
43. Hogan, Marc. (October 16, 2012). "Taylor Swift Reaches 'State of Grace' on Feedback-Streaked Rock Anthem".
44. (October 2, 2012). "Taylor Swift Describes Color of Heartache on {{'}}''Red''{{'}}".
45. Hogan, Marc. (October 2, 2012). "Hear Taylor Swift's Maserati-Themed ''Red'' Title Track". [[Spin (magazine).
46. Roberts, Randall. (October 31, 2012). "'The Last Time' Connects Taylor Swift with Arcade Fire". [[Los Angeles Times]].
47. Nelson, Brad. (November 1, 2012). "If You Listen Closely, Taylor Swift Is Kind of Like Leonard Cohen".
48. Hyden, Steven. (October 23, 2012). "The Preternatural".
49. Farley, Christopher John. (October 18, 2012). "Taylor Swift's Kennedy Inspiration". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
50. Song, Jane. (February 5, 2020). "All 158 Taylor Swift Songs, Ranked".
51. Mylrea, Hannah. (September 8, 2020). "Every Taylor Swift Song Ranked In Order of Greatness".
52. Jones, Nate. (April 25, 2024). "Taylor Swift Songs, Ranked From Worst to Best".
53. Lewis, Randy. (October 30, 2012). "Taylor Swift Raises the Bar with a Savvy ''Red'' Marketing Campaign". [[Los Angeles Times]].
54. Caulfield, Keith. (October 30, 2012). "Taylor Swift's ''Red'' Sells 1.21 Million; Biggest Sales Week for an Album Since 2002".
55. Maloy, Sarah. (September 2, 2012). "Taylor Swift Performs 'Never Ever' at the 2012 MTV VMAs".
56. (October 31, 2012). "Taylor Swift's ''Red'' Debuts at #1". [[Universal Music Canada]].
57. JaLipshutz, Jason. (November 19, 2012). "AMAs 2012: Top 5 Best Performances".
58. (November 21, 2012). "". link. [[Billboard Japan]]
59. Giuliani, Morgane. (January 22, 2018). "Pourquoi Taylor Swift boude-t-elle la France, et vice versa ?".
60. Smith, Grady. (August 14, 2012). "Taylor Swift Releases Single 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together', Announces New Album ''Red''".
61. Trust, Gary. (September 12, 2012). "Taylor Swift's 'Never' Is Hot 100's Longest-Leading Country Song Since 1980".
62. (October 11, 2012). "Taylor Swift Lands 1 and 2 on Revised Country Songs Chart".
63. Asker, Jim. (April 6, 2021). "Taylor Swift Scores 25th Hot Country Songs Top 10 With 'You All Over Me'".
64. "Taylor Swift Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)".
65. "Taylor Swift: We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". Hung Medien.
66. "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". [[Official Charts Company]].
67. Bernstein, Alyssa. (September 21, 2013). "Taylor Swift Launches ''Red'' Album Release With 4-Week Song Preview Countdown". [[American Broadcasting Company]].
68. Montgomery, James. (October 16, 2012). "Taylor Swift's 'State of Grace' Goes Straight to #1 on iTunes". [[MTV News]].
69. (February 25, 2013). "Country Aircheck Weekly". Country Aircheck.
70. "Going For Adds :: Country". [[Radio & Records]].
71. "Taylor Swift Chart History (Country Airplay)".
72. "Airplay Archive".
73. Trust, Gary. (February 20, 2013). "Baauer's 'Harlem Shake' Debuts Atop Revamped Hot 100".
74. "Taylor Swift: I Knew You Were Trouble". Hung Medien.
75. "I Knew You Were Trouble". [[Official Charts Company]].
76. George Griffiths. (June 21, 2021). "The Biggest Hits and Chart Legacy of Taylor Swift's ''Red'' Ahead of Its Rerelease". [[Official Charts Company]].
77. Lane, Daniel. (November 4, 2013). "This Week's New Releases 04-11-2013". [[Official Charts Company]].
78. Sanneh, Kelefa. (August 21, 2014). "Country Music's Taylor Swift Problem".
79. Robbins, Michael. (October 25, 2012). "Taylor Swift, ''Red'' (Big Machine)". [[Spin (magazine).
80. Rosen, Jody. (August 30, 2012). "Top of the Pops: Taylor Swift, 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together'".
81. Trust, Gary. (November 13, 2012). "Taylor Swift to Outdo Herself on {{'}}''Red''{{'}} Tour: 'I Like for It to Be Big'".
82. (October 27, 2012). "Taylor Swift Tour to Paint the Road {{'}}''Red''{{'}}".
83. Brandle, Lars. (May 9, 2013). "Taylor Swift's Red Tour To Play Stadiums in Australia".
84. Nicholson, Rebecca. (February 2, 2014). "Taylor Swift's Red Tour – Review". [[The Guardian]].
85. (February 8, 2014). "Konzert in Berlin Taylor Swifts Blockbuster-Pop-Orgie". [[Berliner Zeitung]].
86. Welch, Andy. (April 6, 2014). "Taylor Swift Breaks China Ticket Sales Record on 'Red' Tour". [[NME]].
87. Lewis, Randy. (August 19, 2013). "Taylor Swift Ties Record for Most Sold-Out Shows at Staples Center". [[Los Angeles Times]].
88. (December 5, 2013). "Taylor Swift Is First Female Artist In History To Sell Out Sydney's Allianz Stadium". [[ABC NewsRadio]].
89. Allen, Bob. (July 3, 2014). "Taylor Swift's ''Red'' Wraps as All-Time Country Tour".
90. Greenwald, David. (September 6, 2013). "Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Justin Bieber Among 2014 Guinness Record-Setters".
91. Caulfield, Keith. (January 3, 2013). "Taylor Swift's ''Red'', ''Les Mis'' Soundtrack Lead Billboard 200 Chart".
92. Caulfield, Keith. (December 19, 2012). "Bruno Mars Debuts at No. 2 as Taylor Swift's ''Red'' Still Rules".
93. Grein, Paul. (December 27, 2012). "Week Ending Dec. 23, 2012. Albums: Swift Is First Since The Beatles". [[Yahoo Music]].
94. Caulfield, Keith. (November 21, 2021). "Taylor Swift Scores 10th No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With ''Red (Taylor's Version)''".
95. Caulfield, Keith. (January 2, 2012). "Adele's ''21'' 2012's Best Selling Album; Gotye Has Top Song".
96. Caulfield, Keith. (October 25, 2013). "Chart Moves: Taylor Swift's ''Red'' Spends Year on the Charts, Eric Clapton's ''Unplugged'' Returns".
97. Caulfield, Keith. (January 18, 2024). "Taylor Swift's ''1989 (Taylor's Version)'' Surpasses 2 Million in U.S. Sales".
98. Wyland, Sarah. (November 23, 2012). "Taylor Swift Closes In on Three Million Copies of ''Red'' Sold". [[Great American Country]].
99. "The Global Bestsellers of 2012". [[International Federation of the Phonographic Industry]].
100. Vincent, Alice. (August 19, 2014). "Taylor Swift's New Single 'Shake It Off' Shakes Up Pop Music". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
101. "''Red'' by Taylor Swift Reviews". AnyDecentMusic?.
102. "''Red'' – Taylor Swift". [[AllMusic]].
103. "''Red'' – Taylor Swift". [[AllMusic]].
104. Burgham, Lydia. (November 12, 2021). "''Red (Taylor's Version)'' Review: Why ''Red'' Is Taylor Swift's Magnum Opus". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
105. "Reviews for ''Red'' by Taylor Swift". [[Metacritic]].
106. Dukes, Billy. (October 24, 2012). "What Are People Saying About Taylor Swift's ''Red''?". [[Taste of Country]].
107. Kaplan, Ilana. (November 15, 2021). "Taylor Swift's ''Red'' Rerelease Proves What Fans Always Knew". [[Slate (magazine).
108. Maerz, Melissa. (October 18, 2012). "''Red'' – Review – Taylor Swift".
109. Macpherson, Alex. (October 21, 2012). "Taylor Swift: ''Red'' – Review". [[The Observer]].
110. Mossman, Kate. (October 18, 2012). "Taylor Swift: ''Red'' – Review". [[The Guardian]].
111. Nelson, Brad. (August 19, 2019). "Taylor Swift: ''Red'' Album Review". [[Pitchfork (website).
112. Bernstein, Jon. (October 24, 2012). "Taylor Swift Review: ''Red''".
113. (October 19, 2012). "Taylor Swift, ''Red'': Track-By-Track Review".
114. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "''Red'' – Taylor Swift". [[AllMusic]].
115. Caramanica, Jon. (October 24, 2012). "No More Kid Stuff for Taylor Swift". [[The New York Times]].
116. Fekadu, Mesfin. (October 24, 2012). "Taylor Swift's ''Red'' Fades to Mediocrity". [[The Des Moines Register]].
117. Freeman, Channing. (January 20, 2013). "Review: Taylor Swift - ''Red''".
118. Wisnicki, Nathan. (October 29, 2012). "In Defense of Taylor Swift and Gen-Y Pop Music".
119. Christgau, Robert. (November 13, 2012). "Taylor Swift/Donald Fagen". [[MSN Music]].
120. Dodd, Sophie. (December 13, 2019). "10 Years, 5 Albums & 1 Artist of the Decade: Birthday Girl Taylor Swift's Record-Breaking Career by the Numbers".
121. (April 24, 2013). "Alabama Shakes, M83, The Lumineers Top Artist Nominees for 2nd Annual A2IM Libby Awards". [[Shore Fire Media]].
122. "American Music Awards 2014 Winners – AMAs The Complete List". [[American Broadcasting Company]].
123. (May 19, 2013). "2013 Billboard Music Awards Winners and Nominees — Complete List". [[HitFix]].
124. (September 2, 2012). "Taylor Swift to Receive First-Ever Generation Trophy at 2012 Canadian Country Music Association Awards". [[Taste of Country]].
125. Moskovitch, Greg. (2013-12-01). "ARIA Award 2013 Winners – Live Updates".
126. (2013-04-19). "The 2013 Juno Award nominations". [[The Globe and Mail]].
127. Nordyke, Kimberly. (January 26, 2014). "Grammy Awards 2014: Winners List".
128. (December 17, 2012). "10 Best Albums of 2012 Critic's Picks".
129. Gamboa, Glenn. (December 27, 2012). "Best of 2012". [[Newsday]].
130. Montgomery, James. (December 12, 2012). "Best Albums of 2012". [[MTV News]].
131. Boult, Adam. (December 14, 2012). "The Best Albums of 2012". [[The Guardian]].
132. (December 5, 2012). "Stereogum's Top 50 Albums Of 2012".
133. (December 9, 2012). "The 75 Best Albums of 2012".
134. (December 5, 2012). "50 Best Albums of 2012".
135. (December 3, 2012). "Spin's 50 Best Albums of 2012".
136. Harvila, Rob. (December 17, 2012). "Best Country Albums of 2012".
137. "Pazz & Jop 2012: All Votes".
138. Caramanica, Jon. (December 12, 2012). "Jon Caramanica's Top 10 Albums of 2012". [[The New York Times]].
139. (October 4, 2021). "The 200 Most Important Artists of Pitchfork's First 25 Years".
140. Barnes, Kelsey. (October 7, 2025). "Songbook: An Era-By-Era Breakdown Of Taylor Swift's Journey From Country Starlet To Pop Phenomenon".
141. Zoladz, Lindsay. (November 15, 2021). "Taylor Swift's 'All Too Well' and the Weaponization of Memory". [[The New York Times]].
142. George, Tom. (December 13, 2023). "Every Taylor Swift Album, Ranked".
143. Masley, Ed. (April 26, 2024). "Best Taylor Swift Albums: We Rated and Ranked Them All". [[The Arizona Republic]].
144. Caramanica, Jon. (July 17, 2024). "Ranking Every Taylor Swift Album, Worst to Best".
145. (April 23, 2024). "Every Taylor Swift Album Ranked".
146. Shipley, Al. (May 5, 2024). "Every Taylor Swift Album, Ranked".
147. Johnson, Ellen. (October 21, 2025). "Every Taylor Swift Album Ranked".
148. (April 21, 2024). "Every Taylor Swift Album, Ranked".
149. Sheffield, Rob. (November 12, 2021). "''Red (Taylor's Version)'' Makes a Classic Even Better".
150. (October 25, 2019). "Our Favorite Albums of the Decade".
151. (November 18, 2019). "The 50 Best Albums of the Decade, From Frank Ocean's ''Blond'' to Adele's ''21''". [[The Independent]].
152. (October 8, 2019). "The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s".
153. (November 19, 2019). "The 100 Greatest Albums of the 2010s: Staff Picks".
154. (December 2, 2019). "The 100 Best Albums of the 2010s".
155. (November 4, 2019). "The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s".
156. (October 7, 2019). "The 100 Best Albums of the 2010s".
157. (December 26, 2019). "The 10 Best Albums of the 2010s". [[Tampa Bay Times]].
158. (December 18, 2019). "The 50 Best Country Albums of the 2010s".
159. (December 31, 2023). "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
160. (January 10, 2025). "The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far".
161. (June 3, 2024). "The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time".
162. Chang, Bee-Shyuan. (March 17, 2013). "Taylor Swift Gets Some Mud on Her Boots". [[The New York Times]].
163. Hopper, Jessica. (January 16, 2013). "Pazz & Jop: Taylor Swift, Grimes, and Lana Del Rey: The Year in Blond Ambition".
164. Hopper, Jessica. (January 16, 2013). "Pazz & Jop: Taylor Swift, Grimes, and Lana Del Rey: The Year in Blond Ambition".
165. Light, Alan. (December 5, 2014). "''Billboard'' Woman of the Year Taylor Swift on Writing Her Own Rules, Not Becoming a Cliche and the Hurdle of Going Pop".
166. Eells, Josh. (September 8, 2014). "Cover Story: The Reinvention of Taylor Swift".
167. George, Tom. (November 11, 2021). "How Taylor Swift's ''Red'' became Gen Z's first big breakup album".
168. Johnson, Ellen. (October 21, 2022). "A Decade Later, Taylor Swift's ''Red'' Still Sounds Like a New Beginning".
169. Harbron, Lucy. (November 11, 2021). "Why Taylor Swift's ''Red'' Is Her Turning Point".
170. Mlnarik, Carson. (February 25, 2022). "Taylor Swift's ''Red'' Found Its Power And Legacy In The Details". [[MTV News]].
171. Hyden, Steven. (March 10, 2021). "Taylor Swift, Indie-Rock Star?". [[The New York Times]].
172. DeVille, Chris. (December 13, 2019). "Stream The Taylor Swift Tribute Album ''ReRed'' Feat. Wild Pink, Adult Mom, Chris Farren, Future Teens, & More".
173. (August 5, 2021). "Taylor Swift Cheekily Reveals Phoebe Bridgers Feature on New ''Red (Taylor's Version)''". [[Pitchfork (website).
174. Willman, Chris. (May 30, 2025). "Taylor Swift Shocker: Singer Buys Back and Will Reissue First Six Albums — Even as 'Reputation (Taylor's Version)' 'Can Still Have Moment to Reemerge' Later".
175. "55th Annual Grammy Awards Winners & Nominees for Record Of The Year". [[The Recording Academy]].
176. "ARIA Australian Top 40 Country Albums". [[ARIA Charts]].
177. (May 26, 2013). "Comprehensive Chart for Week 21, 2013". [[Sino Chart]].
178. "Taylor Swift – Red". [[Top of the Shops]].
179. "Top 75 Artist Album, Week Ending 8 November 2012". [[GfK Chart-Track]].
180. "Billboard Japan Top Albums Sales".
181. "South African Top 20 Albums Chart". [[Radio Sonder Grense.
182. "Week 4 of 2012". [[Gaon Music Chart]].
183. "Week 4 of 2012". [[Gaon Music Chart]].
184. (December 28, 2021). "Lista Prodaje 51. Tjedan 2021. (13 December 2021. – 19 December 2021.)". [[Top of the Shops.
185. "Official IFPI Charts – Top-75 Albums Sales Chart (Week: 08/2024)". [[IFPI Greece]].
186. "Album Top 40 Slágerlista (Fizikai Hanghordozók) – 2024. 36. Hét". [[Association of Hungarian Record Companies.
187. "ARIA Top 100 Albums 2012". [[ARIA Charts]].
188. (January 2, 2013). "Canadian Albums – Year-End 2012".
189. "Album Top-100 2012". Hitlisten.NU.
190. (December 20, 2012). "2012 Year-End Oricon Album Charts". [[Oricon]].
191. "Los Más Vendidos 2012". [[Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas]].
192. "Top Selling Albums of 2012". [[Official New Zealand Music Chart]].
193. "2012 Album Chart". [[Gaon Music Chart]].
194. "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2012". [[Official Charts Company]].
195. "''Billboard'' 200 Albums – 2012 Year End Charts".
196. "Year-End Top Selling Country Albums".
197. "End of Year Charts – ARIA Top 100 Albums 2013". [[ARIA Charts]].
198. "Jaaroverzichten 2013". [[Ultratop]].
199. "Top Canadian Albums – Year-End 2013".
200. (December 15, 2013). "2013 Year End Oricon Album Charts". [[Oricon]].
201. "Billboard Japan Top Albums Sales Year End".
202. (June 10, 2013). "Le Top De L'année : Top Albums Fusionnés". [[Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique]].
203. "Top Selling Albums of 2013". [[Official New Zealand Music Chart]].
204. "2013 Album Chart". [[Gaon Music Chart]].
205. "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2013". [[Official Charts Company]].
206. "''Billboard'' 200 Albums – 2013 Year End Charts".
207. "Country Albums: 2013 Year End Charts".
208. "End of Year Charts – ARIA Top 100 Albums 2014". [[ARIA Charts]].
209. link. [[Sino Chart]]
210. "2014 Gaon Album Chart".
211. "''Billboard'' 200 Albums – 2014 Year End Charts".
212. "Country Albums: 2014 Year End Charts".
213. "Hot Albums 2015 Year End". [[Billboard Japan]].
214. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2015".
215. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2017".
216. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2018".
217. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2019".
218. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2020".
219. (November 8, 2019). "Ö3-Austria Top40 Longplay-Jahrescharts 2021". Ö3 Austria Top 40.
220. "Independent Albums – Year-End 2021".
221. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2021".
222. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2022".
223. "ARIA Top 50 Country Albums for 2024". [[Australian Recording Industry Association]].
224. "ARIA End of Decade Albums Chart". [[Australian Recording Industry Association]].
225. Copsey, Rob. (December 11, 2019). "The UK's Official Top 100 Biggest Albums of the Decade". [[Official Charts Company]].
226. "Decade-End Charts: Billboard 200".
227. "Top Country Albums – Decade-End".
228. (November 12, 2015). "Greatest of All Time Billboard 200 Albums : Page 1".
229. Caulfield, Keith. (November 12, 2015). "Greatest ''Billboard'' 200 Albums & Artists of All Time: Adele's ''21'' & The Beatles Are Tops".
230. (November 30, 2017). "Greatest of All Time Billboard 200 Albums By Women".
231. Trust, Gary. (November 30, 2017). "Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Adele & LeAnn Rimes Are Hot 100 & ''Billboard'' 200's Leading Ladies".
232. "Greatest of All Time Top Country Albums".
233. (March 20, 2013). "Taylor Swift obtiene disco de oro en Colombia con ''Red''". [[Los 40 Principales]].