Ryan Adams Archives

The 25 Best Taylor Swift Covers Ever

Posted by Staff at 10:00 am 1 Response »

May 292026

‘The Best Covers Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.

A few weeks ago, a mysterious countdown appeared on Taylor Swift’s website. It got fans all aflutter, as tends to happen whenever Taylor Swift does anything. But then it disappeared, and nothing happened. A rare error, apparently. Whoops. How excited everyone got for those brief few hours, though, shows just how omnipresent Swift remains, twenty-plus years into her career (has it really been that long?).

A while ago, we at Cover Me were thinking of what current pop star have we not yet done a list for. Swift was the blindingly obvious answer. I was going to say we’ve done most of her peers already, but, after completing the biggest tour in history, does she even have any peers?

So, below, 25 covers of her some of greatest songs. By the time this list comes out, she’ll probably have more songs, and there will certainly more be more covers of them. Maybe we’ll have to go back and revisit it. The Best Taylor Swift Covers Ever (Taylor’s Version).

Photo by Paolo V

25. Sondre Lerche — Anti-Hero

The biggest hit from 2022’s Midnights, Swift’s sort-of return to more mainstream pop after her dalliances with folk, “Anti-Hero” had Swifties all over social media quoting the chorus lyrics as a meme. Norwegian musician Sondre Lerche decided to take it on for his annual Christmas cover. He begins the song with nearly horror-movie-esque strings, before the beat comes in. Lerche mostly speaks the lyrics, rather than sings them. To start, though, the backing is just electronic percussion and strings, which are behaving themselves a little more. But when it comes to meme-able chorus, initially he omits most of the oft-quoted lyrics, just repeating “It’s me.” (He also plays with the order of the verses.) Lerche goofs around with his string section, getting really avant-garde in the middle, and setting us up for a drop. When he finally does the full chorus, there’s almost an orchestra backing him, though he omits all of those instruments out at the end of the last verse, once again masterfully playing with dynamics are our expectations.

It’s an extremely creative arrangement that threatens to deprive fans of the most famous part of the song, but adds tension and a whole lot of punch when it finally arrives. — Riley Haas

24. The Maine — cruel summer

This dream-pop cover with just a touch of emo gives us the appropriate level of nostalgic yearning to take us back to Summer 2019. It’s unhurried and laid-back with its syncopated percussion and echoey vocals. However, the pace escalates enough to deliver the “he looks up grinning like the devil” line with the crucial little bit of snarl. — Sara Stoudt

23. black midi — Love Story

Taylor Swift was an odd choice for experimental rock-post-punk-free-jazz band Black Midi, which I’m sure was entirely the point. They surprise-dropped it on a vinyl-only (at first) covers EP, Cavalcovers. As you might guess from those genre tags, it sounds different from the original—but, more surprisingly, not as different as you’d expect. They give it a somewhat yacht-y rock gleam, with added distortion and a whole lotta sexy saxophone. — Ray Padgett

22. MUNA — August

Famously, Folklore brought about a change in Swift’s writing and sound, due to the isolation of the pandemic. “August” very much captures that new sound, with acoustic instruments mixed in with subtle electronic production, but still with an extremely hooky chorus. The album has been called “cinematic” because of its sound and the focus on characters, including the mini song cycle of which “August” is a part. Indie poppers MUNA lean into both the folk feel and the cinematic vibe. Though the cover is live, they create a massive wall-of-sound, widescreen feel on the chorus and the bridge that contrasts really effectively with the more folky verses. The result is appropriately epic for the middle third of Swift’s love triangle song cycle. — Riley Haas

21. Old Dirty Brasstards — Shake It Off

A pivot to pop might disappoint some country purists, but it does leave an artist’s catalogue open to inventive covers which can convey the meaning of the originals without losing as much of the meaning. Old Dirty Brasstards take the energy of New Orleans with some of the sensibility of UK Symphonic Wind Band tradition (you can have a tuba, which is more difficult to march with, and full drum kit) and have fun with it. They find foot tappers in unusual places were necessary but give them an already danceable pop hit and watch them go, go, go! — Mike Tobyn

The 20 Best Iron Maiden Covers Ever

Posted by Staff at 9:00 am 1 Response »

May 022025

‘The Best Covers Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.

Up the irons! Iron Maiden turns 50 this year. They’re still going strong too, releasing music, playing shows, engaging in mock sword battles with a towering Eddie. So we felt it was time to honor them with a Best Covers Ever. Personally, I feel the list should rightfully be 666 covers long, but that seems like a lot of blurbs to write.

We haven’t done that many heavy metal bands in these lists. The reason is simple: Metal bands often only get covered by other metal bands. This is particularly true for bands that are either a) niche or b) extremely technical. Iron Maiden is neither. Like Metallica, who we tackled a few years ago, their songs are versatile enough to be easily covered in any number of genres. You don’t need to know insane time signatures or ridiculously complicated riffs to find a way in. Many are essentially pop songs in metal garb—well, pop songs about the number of the beast, that is.

A few of the covers below come from metal acts, but most don’t. Nevertheless, we recommend headbanging to them all. Even the klezmer one.

In the Spotlight: Willie Nelson

Posted by Curtis Zimmermann at 10:00 am No Responses »

Oct 302023

In the Spotlight showcases a cross-section of an artist’s cover work. View past installments, then post suggestions for future picks in the comments!

Back in 2021, Cover Me compiled a list of the top 30 Willie Nelson covers of all time. A comprehensive list, it included covers of many of Nelson’s trademark songs such as “Crazy” and “Funny How Time Slips Away.” Even then we noted we were leaving out a key component of the story: the number of covers Nelson has recorded himself.

As of this writing, Secondhandsongs.com lists a whopping 991 covers. Granted it counts instances where he re-recorded new versions of his old cover songs with other people. For example: it lists every single duet of “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” Nelson’s catalog of covers is both extensive and exceptional. One could easily place many of his covers, such as “Always On My Mind,” “Stardust,” or “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” among the best of all time.

In 2023, Nelson has hit two major milestones – he turned 90 in April. and in November he’ll be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – so we decided to revisit his covers collection.

The Most Popular Covers of the 21st Century (on Spotify)

Posted by Ray Padgett at 11:00 am 3 Responses »

Apr 282023

At Cover Me, our goal is to share great covers, whether they comes from artists with ten fans or ten million. But I am always vaguely curious what cover songs break out, which among the thousands we hear each year become genuine hits.

I was reminded of this when a recent Country Now headline crossed my Google Alerts: “Luke Combs’ ‘Fast Car’ Cover Is A Streaming Giant.” After only a month, the country star’s fairly faithful take on Tracy Chapman’s 1988 classic has racked up 33 million streams in the U.S. alone. Covers by famous singers come and go, but this one clearly has staying power.

So I decided to try to figure out which other covers from the 21st century have reached this level of breakout success. I’m not privy to Billboard‘s deep-dive chart data, so I used an easy metric available to an amateur like myself: Seeing how many plays something has on Spotify. As good a measure for “a popular song” as you can probably get these days, albeit still imperfect.

I found twenty-four 21st-century covers with over 100 million U.S. streams as of this writing (April 2023). Some very popular covers didn’t quite make the 100m+ threshold: Weezer’s “Africa” (75 million), Iron & Wine’s “Such Great Heights” (76 million), Fall Out Boy and John Mayer’s “Beat It” (89 million). Ryan Adams’ “Wonderwall” only just crossed the 100 million streams mark in the past couple months. And while older covers obviously have an advantage in more time to rack up plays, number one — by a lot! — came out only a few years ago.

Here’s the list of 24. No commentary since, for once, we’re not unearthing buried treasures here. Let’s count down the 24 most-streamed covers on Spotify, with the year of release and number of streams as of this writing. (And it’s possible, even likely, I missed a few, so feel free to suggest additions in the comments — if they qualify, I’ll add ’em.)
Continue reading »

Pick Five: Whitehorse

Posted by Ray Padgett at 12:48 pm 3 Responses »

Sep 112018

In Pick Five, great artists pick five cover songs that matter to them.

Two years ago, Whitehorse, the Canadian husband-and-wife duo made up of Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland, made our Best of 2016 list with their covers EP The Northern South, Vol. 1. Well, a volume one demands a volume two (someone remind Bob Dylan), and that finally arrives in January. On The Northern South, Vol. 2, the pair cover blues legends like Jimmy Reed and Slim Harpo, but not in the bar-band-choogler fashion you most often hear these songs performed. Get a taste with the first single, a version of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Who’s Been Talkin'” that sounds like Chess Records via Muscle Shoals:

You have to wait until January to hear more – unless you’re in Nashville this week, where the duo have two shows at AmericanaFest on Thursday: 4pm @ The Local (WMOT) and 10pm @ The Basement (I’ve seen them live, and can confirm they are not to be missed). Doucet and McClelland took some time out from rehearsing their own covers to tell us about their favorite cover songs. Though their music often gets pegged as bluesy Americana, their tastes span the genre gamut. They also, consciously or not, seem drawn to other bands with “horse” in the name. Continue reading »

The Best Madonna Covers Ever

Posted by Staff at 10:00 am 9 Responses »

Aug 162018

‘The Best Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.

Today is Madonna’s birthday, when the Material Girl herself turns – well, one isn’t supposed to talk of such things, so let’s just say it’s a nice round number. Round enough for us to devote this month’s Best Covers countdown to her many hits and, in a few cases, underexposed deep cuts.

A very few cases, to be honest. More than anyone we’ve done these lists about before, Madonna remains best known as a singles artist (even Beyoncé now gets thought of as an album artist). As a result, it’s the singles a cover artist tends to focus on – f’rinstance, the song “Like a Prayer” has been covered more than every other track on the album Like a Prayer combined. The repeated dipping into the same dozen or so songs sets the bar pretty high. You can’t just tweak a tune here and adjust it there. To stand out amidst the million other “La Isla Bonita” covers, an artist needs to attempt something radical.

Many have taken up the challenge. Not one cover on our list would you confuse with Madonna’s version for a second. These artists translate her dance-pop smashes into garage-punk, gypsy-jazz, reggae-soul, and a few genres that no amount of hyphenates will do justice (just wait ’til you reach that Sonic Youth side project).

So get into the groove below. And, if you have any favorite covers we missed, express yourself in the comments! Continue reading »