If you are looking for Taylor Swift facts to learn more about this superstar, then you are in the right place. In this article you will find all the best, most detailed facts about Taylor Swift. Let’s dive in!
Taylor Swift is a 32-year-old American singer-songwriter. Throughout her career she has released 10 studio albums, and sold over 200 million records worldwide, receiving critical appraise for her genre-bending discography and narrative song writing.
Some of her most notable achievements include:
- Being named Billboard’s Woman of the Decade in 2019.
- Being named Artist of the Decade by the American Music Awards in 2019.
- A total of 11 Grammys, including three Album of the Year awards.
- 34 American Music Awards- which is the most for any artist.
- She is the first female artist to receive a BMI named after its recipient at the 2016 BMI Awards.
- She holds the record for the most awarded pop and country album with 1989 and Fearless.
- She is the youngest person to ever be featured on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time in 2015.
Her fan base – swifties – know her to be notorious for dropping hints and scattering easter eggs about upcoming releases, from coded track lists to the colour of her nail polish.
Taylor Swift’s Childhood
Taylor Allison Swift was born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, on December 13th, 1989. She was named after singer-songwriter James Taylor. When she was 12 years old, local musician and computer repairman Ronnie Cremer taught her how to play different chords on a guitar, leading her to write “Lucky You”, amongst other songs. Taylor Swift turned 13 on a Friday the 13th– a fact she brings up when asked about her lucky number 13.
At age 14, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee with her parents, Andrea Swift and Scott Kingsley Swift, and brother Austin Swift to pursuit a career in country music. She was heavily inspired by fellow country artists Shania Twain, The Chicks, and Dolly Parton. She signed a record deal with Big Machine Records in 2005, after catching the attention of Scott Borchetta at an industry showcase at the Blue Bird Café. She was one of Big Machine Record’s first signings.
Country Singer Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift’s self-titled debut album was released October 24, 2006, peaking at number 5 on the Billboard 200. The lead single for the album, “Tim McGraw”, was released four months prior, in the June of that year. Big Machine Records was just starting out, so Taylor and her mother helped promote it. They sent various country radio stations a copy of the CD single. She opened for Rascal Flatts on their 2008 summer and fall tour. Taylor Swift spent 157 weeks on the Billboard 200 Chart – the longest stay by any album released in the 2000s decades.
You can get the CD for Taylor Swift here.
Fearless
Fearless, Swift’s second studio album, was released November 11, 2008. It featured five singles, including “Love Story” and “You Belong with Me”, two of her most iconic songs. The album told stories of high school crushes and broken hearts through fairy-tale-like story telling. It debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 and became the top selling album of 2009 in the US.
During this era, Taylor headlined her very first concert tour, The Fearless Tour, which grossed over $63 million. She also opened for Keith Urban and hosted and performed as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live.
Fearless achieved multiple awards, including the prestigious Album of the Year at the Grammys. She was the youngest person to receive this award at that time.
You can get the CD for Fearless here.
Speak Now
Speak Now is Taylor Swift’s third studio album, and it was released on October 25, 2010. She wrote this entire album all by herself when she was only 19 after critics and the general public disregarded her song writing capabilities. Originally going to be named Enchanted, after one of the tracks off it, the album name was changed to Speak Now due to Scott Borchetta’s criticism.
By now, the country singer’s youthful long blonde curls, and sparkly summer dresses paired with cowboy boots became her staple look. To promote this album, she headlined The Speak Now World Tour which grossed over $123 million and released a live album. Taylor won an impressive number of awards for this album, including two Grammys, Woman of the Year by Billboard, and Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of Country Music.
You can get the CD for Speak Now here.
Red
Red, Taylor’s fourth studio album was released on the 22nd of October 2012. It’s Swift’s most sonically diverse album to date. Taylor ditched the long blonde curls and summer dresses for wispy bangs and a more mature and vintage style instead. Red contains fan-favourite song “All Too Well”, which is the song fan’s sing the loudest at concerts despite it not being a single. It debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 1.21 million copies in its first week.
This makes Swift the first woman to have two million-selling album openings, according to the Guinness World Records. The Red Tour was the highest grossing country tour, at over $150 million. This album received multiple awards, including four Grammy nominations, and Taylor was the first woman to be honoured The Pinnacle Award by the Nashville Songwriter’s Association for this album.
You can get the CD for Red here.
Global Popstar Taylor Swift
1989
On October 27, 2014, Taylor Swift released her fifth studio album, and first ever pop album, 1989. Ditching the country boots for shiny heels and trimming her hair to a short bob, the singer-songwriter reinvented herself, becoming a worldwide pop phenomenon.
Swift named the album 1989 because it was the year she was born in, and to corroborate the late 80’s influence on her album. She described the title as a symbolic rebirth of her image and artistry. Heavily inspired by the city of New York, which became her new residence, the tracks of 1989 tell the story of navigating love and fame in a big wide city.
This album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200, earning massive commercial success and selling over 1.28 million copies in its first week. It received countless praise and numerous prestigious awards. This includes 3 Grammys, the Dick Clark Award for Excellence at the AMAs, one BRIT award, and two MTV Video Music Awards. To this day, 1989 remains the most awarded pop album in history. The 1989 World Tour went to become the highest grossing tour of 2015, at $250 million.
You can get the CD for 1989 here.
Reputation
After disappearing for a year and clearing her social media accounts due to a public feud, Swift made an earth-shattering comeback with Reputation. The lead single off this album, “Look What You Made Me Do” was released on the 25th of August 2017, immediately skyrocketing to the top of the charts internationally. The music video is a gorgeous work of satire, poking fun at both the media, the situation, and herself.
It is clear that Swift traded her classic red lipstick for an edgier, black one. This era is filled with snakes, plaid shirts, and an edgier style. Snakes are prominent throughout this era as everyone was calling Taylor Swift a snake.
The album was released on the 10th of November 2017. It debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200, selling over 1.21 million copies. This made Swift the first artist to have four consecutive albums sell one million copies within one week in the US.
Reputation won her four AMAs and one Grammy nomination. The Reputation Stadium Tour was her first all stadium tour. Worldwide, the tour grossed over $345.7 million, and it became the highest grossing North American concert tour in history. A concert film was made for this tour, and it can be found on Netflix.
You can get the CD for Reputation here.
Lover
On August 23rd, 2019, Taylor Swift released her 7th studio album, Lover. After her contract with Big Machine ended, she signed a new deal with Universal Music Group. Her new contract included a provision for her to maintain ownership of her new masters.
Therefore, Lover is the first album that she owns. It contains wholesome and light-hearted tracks that tells the story of her committed relationship to actor Joe Alwyn. Some tracks also contain very important political messages.
The album’s overall aesthetic is the complete opposite of her previous one. Where Reputation was dark and mysterious, Lover shines like sequins in the sun. The lead single “Me!” debuted at number 100 on Billboard Hot 100 but rose to number 2 just a week later. This became the biggest single-week jump in chart history.
The second single off the album, “You Need To Calm Down” had important messages about gender and sexuality based discrimination. The music video featured many beloved queer celebrities and included a message at the end urging fans to sign The Equality Act. At the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, Swift was honoured Video of the Year and Video for Good for this single.
Due to concerns regarding her mother’s health, Swift did not have a worldwide stadium tour planned for this album. However, she did plan Lover Fest, a tour of 17 shows in Europe and America for Summer 2020. The Lover Era was however unfortunately cut short due to the ongoing pandemic, and Lover Fest had to be cancelled.
You can get the CD for Lover here.
Folk/Alternative Taylor Swift
folklore
folklore is Taylor Swift’s eight studio album. It was a surprise album, released only 12 hours after its announcement on July 24, 2020. Collaborating with Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff virtually, this album was created as an escapism in the middle of the pandemic. Upon release, it achieved widespread critical appraise for its genius song writing and poetic storytelling.
The theme for this album can be described as being escapist and cottagecore inspired. The photo shoot for the album was located at Blake Lively and Ryan Reynold’s house in Bedford, New York. The singer is close friends with the actors, and even included their children’s names (Betty, James, and Inez) within her songs.
The album includes one collaboration, “exile” featuring Bon Iver. The lead single, “cardigan”, and the music video accompanying it were released at the same time as the rest of the album. Taylor Swift became the first artist to debut a number 1 single and number 1 album at the same time, first with folklore and then followed by evermore.
In her previous albums, Taylor Swift wrote about her own life and experiences. However, for folklore, Swift created a fictional world with the fictional characters Betty, James, Augustine, and Inez. Sonically, the album features no upbeat tracks, and is more toned down and mellow than her rest. Two of the tracks, “exile” and “betty” were co-written by her long-term partner Joe Alwyn under the pseudonym William Bowery. At the 2021 Grammys, folklore was awarded Album of the Year, making Taylor Swift the only woman to be honoured this award thrice.
No tour for folklore has been announced, and that will likely stay the same. However, Folklore: the long pond studio sessions, has been released on Disney+ in November 2020. It is a documentary concert film directed and produced by Taylor Swift in which she details her artistic and creative processes when creating the album.
You can get the CD for folklore here.
evermore
On the 11th of December 2020, Taylor Swift arose chaos with yet another surprise release: evermore. Her 9th studio album was released less than five months after it’s sister album, folklore. It follows the same theme sonically and lyrically. The lead single, “willow” was released at the same time as the album, and they both debuted at number one.
Swift stated that this album was not originally planned and was a result of her extended collaboration with Aaron Dessner. They continued to work virtually, alongside Jack Antonoff, and recorded a large part of the album at the Long Pond Studio.
The album includes two collaborations: “coney island” featuring The National, and the title track “evermore” featuring Bon Iver. William Bowery (Joe Alwyn) returned as a co-writer on the tracks “champagne problems”, “coney island”, and “evermore”.
This album received an Album of the Year nomination at the 2022 Grammys. Once again, no tour has been announced for evermore, and that is unlikely to change. Whilst many theories regarding an Evermore: the long pond studio sessions have been made; nothing has been confirmed.
You can get the CD for evermore here.
Midnights
Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated 10th studio album, Midnights, came out on the 21st of October 2022. The album was first announced at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards. Following the announcement, Swift took to Instagram and TikTok, announcing the track titles through a TikTok series titled Midnights Mayhem with Me.
On October 20th, Taylor Swift announced Midnights would be a visual album alongside a teaser trailer. The 13 tracks, 20 including the deluxe songs, each depict a sleepless night in the sing-songwriter’s life. The album includes Jack Antonoff as the main collaborator, as well as a collaboration with Lana Del Rey. Midnights broke both Spotify’s and Apple Music’s record for biggest first-day streams for an album.
You can get the CD for Midnights here.
Miss Americana
Miss Americana is a documentary film released on the 31st of January 2020, that follows Taylor Swift across several years of her career. It was directed by Lana Wilson. The film offers an unvarnished and emotionally revealing look into Swift’s personal life. It premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and received critical acclaim. The film can be found on Netflix.
The title Miss Americana is inspired by her protest song “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince”, released in 2019 on her Lover album. Throughout the course of the documentary, Swift talks candidly about struggling with an eating disorder, what happened in 2016, her sexual assault trial, and voicing her views on politics publicly for the first time. She goes in depth about realising that she’s not just an entertainer and singer-songwriter, she’s also an influential woman.
Accompanying the film, Swift released the promotional single “Only the Young”, which played at the end credits scene. The song references strong political themes and has a hopeful message within it. The single was featured in numerous democratic adds during the 2020 presidential election.
Within the film, Taylor is often seen wearing her own merchandise. The director even stated she unfortunately had to cut out a scene where Austin Swift was teasing Taylor about this, and she replied with “but its free for me!”.
You can get your own Taylor Swift merchandise by clicking here.
Taylor Swift and the master’s controversy
Taylor Swift and Big Machine Records
In the music industry, a master is the official original recording of a song, sound, or performance. Whoever owns the master of a song ultimately also owns the rights to it. Most artists do not own their masters, as they sign away their rights when signing with a label. Just like Taylor did with Big Machine Records.
As previously mentioned, Taylor Swift signed a deal with Big Machine Records in 2005. This company was founded and owned by Scott Borchetta at that time. Her contract with Big Machine Records expired in 2018, and she signed with Republic Records. She did so because she wished to own the masters of her songs going forward.
It is important to note that Taylor Swift considered Scott Borchetta to be a friend, and she trusted him. It is also important to note that Swift stated she tried to buy the masters to her songs before leaving the label but was denied that opportunity.
Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun
In June 2019, Mainstream media reported that Scooter Braun purchased Big Machine from Borchetta for $330 million US dollars, funded by various equity firms. This means that Braun is now owner of all the masters, videos, and artworks copyrighted by Big Machine Records. Including Taylor Swift’s first 6 albums.
Swift stated that she was not made aware of this purchase, and only found out when the rest of the world did as well. She also stated that Braun was aware that her and Borchetta were not on good terms, and referred to Braun as a “incessant, manipulative bully”. Their feud was made public, and fellow celebrities were quick to take sides.
(Taylor’s Version)
Consequently, Taylor Swift is now in the process of rerecording her first 6 albums in order to regain ownership of them. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was released in April 2021, followed by Red (Taylor’s Version) in November 2021. In order to engage fans, the singer-songwriter is also releasing “vault tracks”. These are tracks that were originally written for the albums but didn’t make the final cut. This included the long anticipated ten-minute version of All Too Well, and a short film starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien accompanying it.
Facts about Taylor Swift for kids
After reading this “Fun facts for kids about Taylor Swift” article, I hope you’ll agree that Taylor Swift is one of the most influential artists of our generation. Not only is she a lyrical genius, she also has a good heart. She avidly uses her platform to stand up for what is right and to empower others.
Looking for more fun facts for kids for an upcoming school project? Take a look at some of our other posts below.
