Taylor Swift

20 Taylor Swift Facts:

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania and was named after the singer-songwriter James Taylor.

Swift spent her early years on a Christmas tree farm, which her stockbroker father had purchased from one of his clients.

After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, Swift felt sure she needed to go to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a music career. She travelled with her mother at age eleven to visit Nashville record labels and submitted a demo tape of Dolly Parton and Dixie Chicks karaoke covers.

In 2003, Swift and her parents started working with New York-based music manager Dan Dymtrow. With his help, Swift modelled for Abercrombie & Fitch as part of their Rising Stars campaign, had an original song included on a Maybelline compilation CD.

At age 14, Swift became the youngest artist signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house and, at age 15, she signed her first record deal.

Her self-titled debut album peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the United States, spending 157 weeks there, the longest stay on the chart by any release in the US that decade.

Her 2006 eponymous debut album was the longest-charting album of the 2000s in the US. Its third single, “Our Song”, made her the youngest person to write and perform a number one song on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

Her second album Fearless, was released in 2008. Buoyed by the pop crossover success of the singles “Love Story” and “You Belong with Me”, it became the US’s best-selling album of 2009 and was certified diamond in the US. The album won four Grammy Awards, and Swift became the youngest Album of the Year winner.

Swift made her acting debut in a 2009 episode of CSI, playing rebellious teenager Haley Jones.

In 2015, American singer Ray Stevens released his album Here We Go Again that included the single “Taylor Swift is Stalking Me”.

Her sixth album, Reputation (2017), made her the only act to have four consecutive albums each sell one million copies in their first week in the US.

She has won 10 Grammy Awards, a Brit Award, an Emmy Award, six Guinness world records and is the most-awarded act at the American Music Awards with 29 wins, and most-awarded woman at the Billboard Music Awards with 23 wins.

Swift is one of the most-followed people on social media.

In 2015, Swift became the youngest woman to be included on Forbes’ list of the 100 most powerful women, ranked at number 64.

Swift placed at number eight on Billboard’s list of greatest artists of all time, the highest for an act that debuted in the 21st century and was named Woman of the Decade by the magazine and Artist of the Decade by the American Music Awards.

Her 2018 53-date Reputation Stadium Tour grossed $345.7 million.

In 2018, Swift collaborated with 300 women in Hollywood to set up the Time’s Up initiative to protect women from harassment and discrimination.

Swift has sold more than 50 million albums, including 37.3 million in the US, and was one of the top five music artists with the highest worldwide digital sales.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Swift promoted the Every Woman Counts campaign, aimed at engaging women in the political process.

With 178,600 pre-adds on Apple Music within one day, her seventh studio album Lover is the most pre-saved album by a female artist. The album surpassed three million album-equivalent units worldwide within its first week of release.