Bonus tracks or rather the deluxe edition of albums are often seen as the dessert after the meal, something for the listener to enjoy just a little bit after the initial project, whether it’s to keep them listening for longer periods of time or because they had extra music they couldn’t fit onto the record. Very rarely however does one of these bonuses truly outshine the standard edition project, but in some cases we have seen it happen. Here’s some of our favourites:

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1989 Deluxe (Taylor’s Version) – Taylor Swift

While the album was great, Taylor Swift’s most memorable song on this project arguably comes from the Deluxe edition, “New Romantics”. The song was widely considered the driving force behind Taylor’s 1989 era despite not being on the standard edition tracklist. Also on the bonus edition, “Wonderland” and “You Are In Love” are strong songs that fans have argued are better and could have replaced some of the weaker listens on the standard edition record.

GUTS (spilled) – Olivia Rodrigo

While the album had multiple hits, Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS (spilled) featured a boat load of new tracks to listen to, including two that were standout fan favourites with “obsessed” and “so american”. The songs continued with the same pop-rock standard she had set throughout the span of the standard record, but the message behind the songs is what drove fans to really platform and drive up the numbers for the records, ranking it higher than some of the songs on the original drop.

Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead – Ariana Grande

Ariana’s Eternal Sunshine is arguably her strongest record put together to date, however on the Deluxe edition, Ariana looks towards the future with hopeful eyes adding 6 more tracks that carry that same hopeful vision throughout all of them. Fans specifically took a liking to “dandelions” and “twilight zone”, highlighted as songs that could be seen as the best on the record. Along with this, there are still “Hampstead”, “warmth”, “past life” and “intro (end of the world) – extended” also featured on the bonus record.

Crash (Deluxe) – Charli XCX

Charli’s Crash is already a perfectly curated electronic pop album however the bonus tracks added in throughout the project generally just makes the record sound more complete as a whole. “Selfish Girl”, arguably the most popular of the bonus tracks, gives more of a dance/electronic sound. With it comes two other bonus tracks with “How Can I Not Know What I Need Right Now”, and “Sorry If I Hurt You” add even more of an uprooted experience that expresses regret and yet somehow keep that same party playlist vibe.

Future Nostalgia (Moonlight Edition) – Dua Lipa

Dua Lipa’s second studio album, Future Nostalgia, was released back in 2020, and is highly regarded as a fantastic project, honoured with a Grammy Award in its release year. However just because the standard edition was so great, doesn’t mean Dua Lipa’s bonus tracks didn’t surpass them. Her Moonlight Edition featured 3 new songs with “It Ain’t Me” and “That Kind Of Women” specifically being two songs often cited by fans as favourites off the record as well as the third track “We’re Good” being an underrated listen.

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