Every Taylor Swift Era’s Holy Grail on Vinyl (and Affordable Alternatives)
Taylor Swift is a vinyl sales record-breaker, 12-time Grammy winner, and the first artist in history to claim all top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100. That’s a real legacy, and she’s nowhere close to being done.
Swift has released 10 studio albums and is in the process of re-recording her first six in a quest to own the masters to all her work. All re-recordings are referred to as “Taylor’s Version” to indicate her ownership. As of 2023, Red (Taylor’s Version), Fearless (Taylor’s Version), and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) have been released. Swifties are hard at work decoding easter eggs and trying to predict when Swift will be releasing her version of 1989, reputation, and Swift’s self-titled debut album.
Over the course of her career, Swift has encouraged her fans to support independent record stores. Swift frequently provides shops with signed records and CDs, has Record Store Day exclusives for six out of the 10 albums she’s released, and in 2022 was the first global Record Store Day Ambassador. When talking about record stores, Swift said, “The places where we go to browse and explore and discover music new and old have always been sacred to me. Record stores are so important because they help to perpetuate and foster music-loving as a passion.”
Whether it’s waiting in hours-long lines outside record stores for exclusive releases or surviving the great war for tickets to the Eras Tour, Swifties are no stranger to going to extreme lengths for their favorite global superstar. With a fanbase well into the millions, it’s no surprise that limited quantity releases from singer-songwriter’s discography have quickly become holy grails for devoted collectors.
Here are 10 highly sought-after and valuable Taylor Swift records from each era, as well as much more affordable alternatives you can add to your growing collection. A friendly reminder when hunting for a holy grail: These are some best practices to follow to help ensure safe purchases.
