Taylor Swift is in her bride era with Travis Kelce, the man whose “love was thе key that opened [her] thighs.” But before Taylor wrote any cheeky love songs about Travis, she and her lucky cats were hard at work spinning other absolute bops, many of which focused on her other famous pairings. Naturally, Taylor is “never, ever getting back together” with any of her well-known exes. However, some of their endings with Taylor left more of a mark on the entertainment industry than others. Ahead of Taylor and Travis’ wedding, we’re taking a look back.
The most high-profile breakups in Taylor Swift’s dating history
Taylor’s dating history reads like a multi-platinum, Grammy-award-winning gallery of men. Her exes range from guys who might like keeping scarves to others who couldn’t even handle a proper in-person breakup. But as a result, the world got fifteen years of relatable tracks, so, thanks, men!
To John Mayer, Joe Alwyn, Joe Jonas, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Harry Styles, we raise a salute. And we also raise our readers this list, ranking these men in order from Taylor’s least infamous breakups, to her most.
5. Joe Alwyn – 2023
Taylor and Joe Alwyn dated for six years. Their split was widely reported as a mutual decision, aided by busy schedules and a general feeling of growing apart. The world may never know much more than that.
The reason for that is simple, as throughout their relationship, Joe and Taylor maintained a strict level of privacy. Their breakup followed suit. Instead of airing out any dirty narratives, both parties chose to focus on their respective careers instead. And for that, Joe’s breakup with Taylor clocks in as the least infamous one in her sordid romantic road to Travis.
4. Harry Styles – 2013
Like the men above, Taylor and Harry Styles only dated for a handful of months. But following their split, many new songs were born on both sides of the aisle, which fans quickly suspected were about the other party. Then, Taylor seemingly dissed Harry in 2013 at the Grammys. Onstage, she quoted her own lyric, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” using an English accent.
However, neither Harry nor Taylor ever released any direct insults about the other. In fact, Harry even praised Taylor for her musical prowess. Additionally, these two are on decent terms now. So, while their pairing and initial split were rather infamous in nature, Taylor’s breakup with Harry was rather tame in comparison to the other men on this list.
3. Jake Gyllenhaal – 2011
Taylor only dated Jake Gyllenhaal for three(ish) months, so they were rarely photographed together. Jake was the one who ended things here. And that reportedly took Taylor by surprise.
So, Taylor picked up her guitar for her next album, Red, which allegedly contains several Jake-inspired tracks. One of these tracks, “All Too Well,” referenced her left-behind scarf at the sister of an ex-boyfriend’s house, which this man might have kept for himself. That quickly became a whole thing on the internet.
But as Jake told Esquire magazine, he does not resent Taylor in the slightest. And for that, Jake clocks in at the middle of Taylor Swift’s infamous breakup list.
2. John Mayer – 2010
Taylor and John Mayer also dated for a short period of time, with a breakup that similarly created quite a stir. After their split, Taylor released “Dear John,” which John hated. However, per usual, Taylor never confirmed who this track was about.
John still berated Taylor, telling Rolling Stone, “I know she’s the biggest thing in the world, and I’m not trying to sink anybody’s ship. But I think it’s abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, ‘Wait till he gets a load of this!’ That’s bullsh*t.”
Taylor pushed back, calling his response “presumptuous.” For the brief drama their split caused, John comes in second as Taylor’s most infamous breakup ahead of her wedding to Travis, which, allegedly, John was not invited to.
1. Joe Jonas – 2008
Taylor briefly dated Joe Jonas. Nevertheless, the fallout from their breakup lasted YEARS. Probably because Joe broke things off over the telephone, which Taylor threw him under the bus for when chatting with Ellen DeGeneres in 2008.
Several beats later, Taylor released “Forever and Always.” The lyrics in this song seemingly hinted that Joe was a “scared little boy.” Then, Taylor went on Saturday Night Live, where she once again called Joe out.
Thankfully, Taylor has since apologized, and all is now well between these exes. But for the media circus created by their breakup, we rank Joe as her most infamous split ahead of her upcoming wedding to Travis.
TELL US – WHAT OTHER EXES OF TAYLOR WOULD YOU ADD TO THIS INFAMOUS BREAKUP LIST, AND WHY?
