Taylor Swift - the folklorian rankdown (Winner Revealed!)

[Future Captain]

my number 2 vs 3 so whichever win I'll be happy

also, aww i was hoping that champagne problem would have beaten williow to be the highest placing track from evermore but alas. they're only 4 points apart too :(

[khan]

Dang I didn't think Folklore would have such a blowout with taking the whole podium on this one! Deserved tbh I do like Folklore more than Evermore but now all that's left is for Exile to WIN

[.indulgecountry]

So happy we booted "August" out of here and it didn't get to repeat as a winner, especially since y'all did worse to poor "No Body, No Crime."

Rooting for "Exile" to win.

[Deleted]

5 vs. 16

[taylor]

A friend to all is a friend to none
Chase two girls, lose the one
When you are young, they assume you know nothing...

But I knew you
Playing hide-and-seek and
Giving me your weekends
I, I knew you
Your heartbeat on the High Line
Once in twenty lifetimes, I
And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone's bed
You put me on and said I was your favorite.

To kiss in cars and downtown bars
Was all we needed
You drew stars around my scars
But now I'm bleeding.



Placement in folklore's rankdown: #3 of 16


Total: 411 (Points: 1,129)
Average: 9.34
Std. Dev.: 7.81

CF15 - 1
ClevelandRox - 1
Troublemaker - 1
GrinningLikeADevil - 1
born - 1
Mayman - 1
Future Captain - 2
taylor - 2
tim - 2
Marooned@Midnight - 2
Exclusive - 2
Mylo13 💜 - 2
neverduplicated - 2
someguy - 2
reputainbow - 3
DistrictTwelve - 4
wyckyd - 4
RoseColoredGirl - 5
trilogy - 5
sapphire - 6
BB🌕 - 7
nick64 - 7
schnetzka - 8
fearlessarrow - 9
lady𝓐fan - 9
Rose "Payola" Nylund - 9
austin - 10
khan - 12
nickd - 12
Rhythm Nation - 12
samo🦕 - 12
.indulgecountry - 14
wrip - 15
@imhappy259 - 16
woods - 16
CagedJuggalo The Third Tanker - 17
twigs - 17
Fire - 19
willapted33 - 20

Tried to Change the Ending
@jadenlefranks - 22
dremolus - solarpunk - 23
toomuchboy - 24
bat1990 - 25
bboat11 - 27

---

I can see you starin', honey
Like he's just your understudy
Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me
Second, third, and hundredth chances
Balancin' on breaking branches
Those eyes add insult to injury

I think I've seen this film before
And I didn't like the ending
I'm not your problem anymore
So who am I offending now?
You were my crown
Now I'm in exile seein' you out
I think I've seen this film before
So I'm leavin' out the side door.



Placement in folklore's rankdown: #2 of 16


Total: 425 (Points: 1,115)
Average: 9.66
Std. Dev.: 8.54

sapphire - 1
BB🌕 - 1
dremolus - solarpunk - 1
Marooned@Midnight - 1
fearlessarrow - 1
khan - 1
reputainbow - 2
Rose "Payola" Nylund - 2
bat1990 - 3
Future Captain - 3
nick64 - 3
Troublemaker - 3
Mayman - 3
bboat11 - 4
.indulgecountry - 4
lady𝓐fan - 4
schnetzka - 4
@imhappy259 - 5
Fire - 5
willapted33 - 5
ClevelandRox - 6
trilogy - 6
born - 7
someguy - 7
wrip - 8
CagedJuggalo The Third Tanker - 9
samo🦕 - 9
tim - 10
twigs - 12
DistrictTwelve - 13
neverduplicated - 13
wyckyd - 13
austin - 14
CF15 - 14
Rhythm Nation - 14
Exclusive - 16
Mylo13 💜 - 18
GrinningLikeADevil - 20

I Didn't Like the Ending
toomuchboy - 23
RoseColoredGirl - 24
nickd - 25
taylor - 26
woods - 30
@jadenlefranks - 32

[CF15]

"cardigan" just really hits right, in every way. Really happy it won! Thanks for hosting, taylor, fearlessarrow, and born!

[Future Captain]

A deserving win for Cardigan! Considering the only song in the top 5 that isn't in the top 10 in my list is willow, I'm very happy with how this turns out

[taylor]

And there you have it!!! In what comes likely as quite a thrill for some and perhaps a shock to everyone, "cardigan" gets its revenge (particularly on "august," the song it flip-flopped finishing positions with in this rankdown) after finishing at #3 in the folklore rankdown to take the title as the best song overall across both of these albums!!! This song hit me the very moment I first heard it. It just really spoke to me--it felt like everything I was feeling put together into a song. And comparing a piece of clothing to a human emotion, a feeling--it's just so incredibly powerful. This is EASILY among my favorite Taylor Swift songs of all time. I couldn't be more thrilled to see it claim its rightful victory here!!! 

[khan]

robbed of being a year-end hit :c

Still good winner, and I can't complain at my #1 being runnerup!

[toomuchboy]

I never could get the love for "exile." The duet partner's voice is overbearing for me.

Thanks for hosting! The graphics were really well-done.

[taylor]

We have a bunch of stats to show you, as well as a recap of the results, but I don't know how to copy/paste it correctly because Google Sheets is being a nightmare with it. So I'm just gonna leave it to fearlessarrow, the host who compiled the data, to post it lol

[Mayman]

Cardigan was initially not my favorite from Folklore, but overtime it has really grown on me. The vocal layers, production, and lyrics are just amazing. It's become my most played Taylor song ever and I still can't get enough of it.

This popped up in my YouTube recommendations a few weeks ago and I am in love. There's so many layers to this song that I never knew were there until I listened to this. The "you drew stars around my scars, but now I'm bleedin'" line is the best I've ever heard Taylor.

[Deleted]

Thanks for hosting, hosts!!!

[Fire]

thanks fearlessarrow, born, and taylor for doing a great job hosting yet again!

[wrip]

eh cardigan is my least favorite song in the top 5 but oh well. thanks for hosting y’all, cohosting trios are sooo awesome : D

[RoseColoredGirl]

Thank you so much for hosting, fearlessarrow , born and taylor ! This was such a fun idea for a rankdown and you all did an amazing job! I'm happy "Cardigan" won

[reputainbow]

cardigan <33 what an excellent song. and exile is just slightly better imo.

thanks for hosting taylor fearlessarrow born <33

[dremolus - solarpunk]

boooo, not cardigan winning over exile!!!! /s

in all seriousness, exile is amazing. cardigan is nice but not on it's level.

thank you so much fearlessarrow, taylor, and born for hosting. can't wait for the next taylor rd!

[ClevelandRox]

Folklore reigning supreme

[Mylo13 💜]

Thanks for revealing! Was very worried exile will win but extremely happy cardigan won. Surprised august didn't though!

Love both albums, glad we got them. Here's to the future of great Swift albums~

[twigs]

Great result! Thanks for hosting guys!

[bat1990]

*yawn* single bias carries the day once more. People make excuses about how much they *love* the singles, but it's really just the brain having the most exposure to certain songs.

[Future Captain]

Feb 1, 2022 8:12:39 GMT -5 bat1990 said:

*yawn* single bias carries the day once more. People make excuses about how much they *love* the singles, but it's really just the brain having the most exposure to certain songs.

you say it like the single actually winning a Taylor Swift rankdown isn't the anomaly

[fearlessarrow]

1. cardigan (1129) - **WINNER**
2. exile (1115)
3. august (1108)
4. willow (1090)
5. champagne problems (1086)
6. no body, no crime (996)
7. the last great american dynasty (961)
8. betty (949)
9. 'tis the damn season (911)
10. this is me trying (904)
11. gold rush (885)
12. mirrorball (868)
13. my tears ricochet (858)
14. ivy (852)
15. marjorie (802)
16. tolerate it (798)
17. seven (796)
18. the 1 (763)
19. the lakes (742)
20. cowboy like me (712)
21. evermore (709)
22. long story short (705)
23. right where you left me (671)
24. mad woman (649)
25. invisible string (646)
26. epiphany (642) [Highest SD]
27. illicit affairs (635)
28. dorothea (606)
29. coney island (516)
30. peace (484)
31. hoax (463)
32. happiness (447)
33. it's time to go (409)
34. closure (273) [Lowest SD]

---

First of all, we want to say thank you to all of you that participated and followed along! Rankdowns aren't possible without you all who actually submit your lists. This time around, we have buffed up our post-game stats (or more like me as the chief data manager) as well. As was the case in the evermore rankdown, we have an exciting trajectory graph of the songs throughout the rankdown (you can toggle between rank and score if you're curious about how close/how far the songs were at any point, there's a lot of data so it might be hard to see is the one caveat that I will give you all). If that sounds interesting to you, check out the link below:

Link to Trajectory Graph

We have also calculated between-member closeness but decided to brand it as "finding your folklorian soulmate". Between-member closeness for those of you who have never seen them before is a measure of how close/far your taste is to other participants of the rankdown. The smaller the number, the closer your tastes are and thus the closer to being folklorian soulmates! It seems like austin and reputainbow are in high demand as they appear multiple times in the top 5 pairings.

Find Out Who YOUR Folklorian Soulmate Is!

The Ultimate Folklorian Soulmates (The Top 5 Closest Pairs)
1. fearlessarrow & reputainbow: 5.236
2. austin & someguy: 5.412
3. austin & woods: 5.588
4. sapphire & schnetzka: 5.647
5. nick64 & reputainbow: 5.826

Will Get Lost in the Folklorian Woods (Top 5 Furthest Pairs)
1. CagedJuggalo The Third Tanker & RoseColoredGirl: 15.235
2. @jadenlefranks & lady𝓐fan: 15.118
3. @jadenlefranks & born: 14.294
4. GrinningLikeADevil & CagedJuggalo The Third Tanker: 13.824
5. CagedJuggalo The Third Tanker & someguy: 13.765

Last but not least, rankdown closeness! This indicates how close your ranks were to how the rankdown actually played out; the smaller the number, the closer you were to the rankdown results. #1 is yours truly

SPOILER: Click to show

{Rankdown Closeness}1. fearlessarrow - 3.764705882
2. reputainbow - 4.235294118
3. Marooned@Midnight - 4.941176471
4. tim - 5.529411765
5. neverduplicated - 5.764705882
5. Future Captain - 5.764705882
7. schnetzka - 5.882352941
8. DistrictTwelve - 6.058823529
9. sapphire - 6.117647059
10. trilogy - 6.411764706
11. Mayman - 6.529411765
12. Rose "Payola" Nylund - 6.882352941
13. samo🦕 - 6.941176471
13. CF15 - 6.941176471
15. austin - 7
16. khan - 7.176470588
17. someguy - 7.235294118
18. RoseColoredGirl - 7.352941176
19. dremolus - solarpunk - 7.411764706
20. .indulgecountry - 7.470588235
21. BB🌕 - 7.529411765
21. GrinningLikeADevil - 7.529411765
21. Troublemaker - 7.529411765
24. wyckyd - 7.647058824
25. wrip - 7.705882353
26. willapted33 - 7.764705882
26. woods - 7.764705882
28. Exclusive - 7.823529412
29. lady𝓐fan - 7.941176471
30. Fire - 8
31. bboat11 - 8.058823529
32. nick64 - 8.117647059
33. nickd - 8.294117647
34. twigs - 8.411764706
35. born - 8.529411765
36. Rhythm Nation - 8.705882353
37. toomuchboy - 9.294117647
38. Mylo13 💜 - 9.352941176
39. ClevelandRox - 9.529411765
40. bat1990 - 9.705882353
41. taylor - 9.764705882
42. @imhappy259 - 10.47058824
43. CagedJuggalo The Third Tanker - 12.11764706
44. @jadenlefranks - 12.82352941

[fearlessarrow]

(Graphics beautifully created by born)

[nick64]

Feb 1, 2022 8:37:32 GMT -5 Future Captain said:

Feb 1, 2022 8:12:39 GMT -5 bat1990 said:

*yawn* single bias carries the day once more. People make excuses about how much they *love* the singles, but it's really just the brain having the most exposure to certain songs.

you say it like the single actually winning a Taylor Swift rankdown isn't the anomaly

You mean “ME!” isn’t your favorite song from Lover? Or “Look What You Made Me Do” from Reputation? Huh. Strange. Couldn’t be me.

[Mayman]

I feel like the "single bias" thing is a little far-fetched. IIRC, Cruel Summer, August, and NBNC all won their respective rankdowns. Cardigan is just a great song, simple as that.

[Fire]

"1. fearlessarrow - 3.764705882"

rigged

[taylor]

I also wanted to say a big thank you to everyone for following along and being patient, even if you hate f**kin’ waiting  ;)  , for me to start the reveals while I dealt with a wicked cold that I have now fully recovered from! This rankdown (and every rankdown I have done with fearlessarrow and born) was so fun to host, thanks in part to your participation and reactions/discussions during reveals. 

We may have just ended the folklorian era, but I for one am so excited for the next chapter!

[twigs]

Yes we need the Red TV rankdown!!