After the announcement of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, Swifties are dying to know which of their favorite songs will be featured at the concert. Here are our predictions!
The Eras Tour is Taylor Swift’s sixth headlining tour and her first tour after the COVID-19 pandemic. Swifties are dying to see her, and are extremely excited to hear that she will be performing songs from all ten of her studio albums. There’s already speculation on what will be on the setlist, as well as some songs that are already confirmed by Taylor Swift herself in responses to people on TikTok. After some deep-diving, here are our setlist predictions for each Taylor era.
The Taylor Swift (Debut) Era
Taylor’s self-titled, debut album is often left behind by both Taylor and her fans, as it was her first album with an incredibly different, country feel than her current music. However, it will be featured in the Eras Tour. The biggest hits off Taylor Swift are probably “Our Song,” “Tim McGraw,” “Should’ve Said No,” “Teardrops On My Guitar,” and “Picture To Burn.” However, the fan favorites on this list, and the songs that have stood the test of time as being particularly memorable to Swifties and general audiences, exclude “Tim McGraw” and “Teardrops On My Guitar.” I’d say it’s safe to say the three remaining songs will be featured in Eras Tour, while the other two are strong “maybes.”
The Fearless Era
Fearless is one of Taylor’s most famous albums and the one to launch her into superstardom. There are the obvious choices from this era that will no doubt be featured in her tour, which are “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me.” They’re iconic, they can’t NOT be in the Eras Tour setlist! However, there are some underdog songs that Swifties adore that have a strong chance of making it in the setlist, for instance, “The Way I Loved You” had a huge resurgence on TikTok. There’s also “White Horse,” another big song off the album that was a big deal back in 2008, though less so now. But with the songs we’ve heard From the Vault in Fearless (Taylor’s Version), it’s also quite possible that “Mr. Perfectly Fine” will make an appearance, or potentially “You All Over Me” or “Don’t You.” This era is definitely harder to place than others, but if we had to pick a top three most likely to be on the setlist it would have to be “You Belong With Me,” “Love Story,” and “The Way I Loved You.”
The Speak Now Era
With Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) around the corner, it’s easy to assume that this selection of songs from the Speak Now era may be larger. Based on the hints left behind in the “Bejeweled” music video that was recently released (check out our article talking about all the other Easter eggs in there!), one could assume that “Enchanted” and “Long Live” will be featured on the setlist since they were played in the video–a video which also impresses the importance of the different Eras. There are some more obvious selections like the singles from the album, “Sparks Fly,” “Mine,” and “Mean” a stood the test of time less favorably than the previous two songs with fans, however songs like “Ours,” “The Story of Us” and “Back to December” have stood that test better. Then there are the underdog choices, fan favorites, like “Dear John,” “Better Than Revenge,” and “Haunted.” To pick the five most likely, based on internet speculation, I’d say “Enchanted,” “Long Live,” “The Story of Us,” “Sparks Fly,” and “Back to December.” Although one could also confidently switch out “Sparks Fly” for “Mine” or “Ours.”
The Red Era
Red is tricky, again with Red (Taylor’s Version) coming into play and what was successful off that release vs. what was successful in its initial release in 2012–including the songs added From the Vault. The obvious contender for this, taking Taylor’s Version into consideration, is “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” which was the most popular song of the re-released album and is beloved by Swifties. Singles to consider this time around would have to be “I Knew You Were Trouble,” “22,” “Red,” and “Everything Has Changed”–no I’m not including “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” I think even Taylor is tired of that song. The most successful of those tracks from Taylor’s Version, according to Apple Music, are “Red,” “I Knew You Were Trouble,” and “22,” and I doubt Taylor will sing “Everything Has Changed” without an appearance from Ed Sheeran who sang it with her. From the Vault, the biggest contenders are “Nothing New” (especially since Phoebe Bridgers is set to play for Taylor at numerous shows), “I Bet You Think About Me,” and “The Very First Night.” The top three choices for this era would have to be “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” “I Knew You Were Trouble,” and “The Very First Night,” which can be easily switched out with “Nothing New” when Phoebe and Taylor share the stage.
The 1989 Era
Another album with Taylor’s Version hinted at in the “Bejeweled” music video is coming out soon, we’re going to do a top five for 1989 as well. “Wildest Dreams” has already been re-released as a single, so it’s safe to say it will make it on the setlist. 1989 has a lot of very obvious hits with both Swifties and casual listeners, as it was majorly popular upon its original release in 2014, such as “Blank Space,” “Bad Blood,” “Shake It Off,” and “Style,” all of which could be combined together or rotated around to fit into the setlist comfortably. Underdog choices and fan favorites Taylor may also include are “You Are In Love” and “I Know Places,” however they seem much more unlikely to be on the list in the face of behemoths like the singles previously listed. The top five contenders for this era, for that reason, would have to be “Wildest Dreams,” “Blank Space,” “Bad Blood,” “Shake It Off,” and “Style.” The album is just too popular to not include those choices, it’s too obvious!
The Reputation Era
Taylor’s reputation era setlist has been made a bit easier to guess based on information Taylor herself has confirmed. When asked by a Swifite on TikTok to include “Delicate” in the setlist, Taylor replied in the comments, “Done.” So there we have it, one song already confirmed and it is both a single and a fan favorite, so everybody wins! This album is hard to place in the setlist, because the reputation Tour was the last tour Taylor had been on before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and canceled her Lovers Fest tour, and it was recorded and put on Netflix for fans to watch and rewatch. It’s easy to imagine the most obvious singles to make it are “Look What You Made Me Do,” “Getaway Car,” and “New Years Day,” as they are all singles and beloved by fans. Another heavy hitter would also be “I Did Something Bad,” a fan favorite that wasn’t a single but is extremely beloved in the Swiftie community. The top three, apart from “Delicate” which was already confirmed, would have to be “Look What You Made Me Do,” “I Did Something Bad,” and “Getaway Car.” It’s likely the tone of this section will be very high energy and totally badass, brought back down to Earth by the “Delicate” entry, meaning “New Years Day” may have to take a backseat this tour.
The Lover Era
The Lover Era will also get a top five, as its tour was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t get to spread its wings when it deserved to. Part of the reason why this will be an Eras Tour and not simply a Midnights Tour is due to the amount of albums she’s released that nobody has ever seen on tour. At the time of writing this, “I Think He Knows” has already been somewhat confirmed by Taylor as being in the setlist, possibly in a mashup with “Lavender Haze” from Midnights. This was confirmed by her commenting “not no” on a TikTok where a fan suggested it. So that’s one song down, potentially to be combined with another song. Popular singles likely to be performed are “Lover,” “You Need To Calm Down,” “The Man,” and “Cruel Summer,” as they are the most popular entries from the album that fans also still adore. However, fan favorites that are more underdog choices would include “Daylight” (especially with the Midnights release), “The Archer,” and “Cornelia Street,” “Daylight” being the strongest contender there. Not including the already (somewhat) confirmed “I Think He Knows,” the most likely predictions are “Lover,” “You Need To Calm Down,” “The Man,” “Daylight,” and “Cruel Summer.” There could be other combinations of these songs to fit more in, though, to make up for lost time.
The Folklore/Evermore Era
While being two separate albums, folklore and evermore are inextricably tied together as sister albums, put out during the pandemic at around the same time. There is speculation online that these eras will be in the same section and we can’t help but agree, so we will be doing another top five to fit all the greatest hits. Three songs have been somewhat confirmed by Taylor on social media, including “the last great American dynasty,” “right where you left me” and “champagne problems.” These were all hinted at by Taylor liking TikToks and theorizing that they were going to be on the setlist. We will exclude these choices from our top five, as they’ve already been confirmed. Off folklore, which was the more successful critically of the two, we imagine there will be more songs played live than evermore. Three of our top five we are obligated to dedicate to the “Teenage Love Triangle,” which are three folklore songs that are connected storywise. These songs include “betty,” “cardigan,” and “august,” detailing a teenage relationship between the characters Betty and James broken apart by James cheating on Betty with another girl, though he later returned to her and they got back together. These three are so obvious and beloved by fans we hesitate to include anything else from folklore in the top five, although there are many good options like “exile” and “my tears ricochet.” evermore’s remaining two slots would have to go to “no body, no crime” (HAIM is touring with Taylor for some of the stretch) and “willow,” based on popularity alone.
The Midnights Era
This most recent era is going to be the hardest to guess, as literally 10 of the 13 songs on Midnights made the Billboard Top 10, so there aren’t really any unpopular choices. However, since it was just released, we will be ranking based on the five MOST popular. According to Apple Music, the most listened to songs on the album are “Lavender Haze,” “Maroon,” “Anti-Hero,” and “Bejeweled.” Considering “Anti-Hero” and “Bejeweled,” at the time of writing this, are the only songs to get music videos so far. Based on the teaser Taylor put out, “Lavender Haze” is the assumed next music video to drop, and is possibly confirmed to be in a mashup with “I Think He Knows” from Lover. We will exclude “Lavender Haze” from our predictions for that reason, as it is already somewhat confirmed. So with “Anti-Hero” and “Bejeweled” as sure-fire picks, that leaves three left. Based on Swiftie speculation, as well as their personal favorites, we have to say “Karma,” “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” and “Midnight Rain” can comfortably take those other three spots. It’s hard to imagine there not being any combinations of songs from Midnights to fit more into the setlist, but so far these are the strongest contenders.
For more Eras Tour updates and theories, go visit @tswifterastour on Twitter, a fan-run account, as their account was a huge help in writing this article. Also, be sure to follow Taylor Swift and Taylor Nation on Twitter for more updates as well.
