Taylor Swift descended onto the country music scene at 15 with her first single, "Tim McGraw." The song reached #6 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and her self-titled debut album sold 39,000 copies in the first week! At this point, right out of the gate, the only country stars who'd posted those numbers EVER had been The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood.
2. And the Winner Is...
The young star began racking up industry awards just as fast as her songs climbed the charts. In 2007, she won Breakthrough Video of the Year at the CMT Awards and she even performed her hit song at the Academy of Country Music Awards that year. Plus, the young star became the opening number for Faith Hill and, you guessed it: Tim McGraw.
3. A Girl And Her Guitar
Taylor's second single, "Teardrops on My Guitar" also tore up the charts. The song reached the second spot on the Hot Country Songs list, and climbed to #33 on the general Billboard Hot 100. Her pop crossover was totally natural, and at this point plenty of folks had gone country and gotten a hold of her record.
4. Grammy Gal
The country starlet made her first (and definitely not last) trip to the Grammy Awards in 2008. She was nominated for Best New Artist, but didn't secure the win. But, she had plenty to celebrate in 2008 as her second album sold 2.1 million copies that year, right ahead of her first album, which sold 1.5 million copies! Those stats secured her as the best-selling musician of the year in the US.
5. Singing in the Rain
Taylor's performance at the 2008 ACMs was quite memorable. She performed her hit song "Should've Said No" and by the end she was soaked! It was all planned, and definitely got people talking -- as if they weren't already.
6. Boyfriend's in a Band
In 2008, Tay dated Joe Jonas. They reportedly broke up in November of that year, and then she supposedly wrote the song "Forever & Always" to mourn their relationship. She hasn't stopped writing about her love life since!
7. Famous Friends
Taylor and Rihanna both visited TRL in 2008. This was long before RiRi's red hair, if you hadn't picked up on that already. The gals were (and still are) two of the hottest acts around!
8. Winner Winner
Taylor Swift sure cleans up at awards shows! She won the prestigious Album of the Year statue at the 2009 ACMs, making her the youngest country star to ever do so. She was recognized for selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any other genre. Pretty sweet.
9. Fearless
Taylor Swift's 2009 Fearless tour sold out! She performed over 50 dates for the first part of the 6-month tour, and then added on an additional 37 dates in 2010. She smiled and merrily sang her way though every single show!
10. The Kanye Incident
Of course we HAD to include the picture of the infamous 2009 Kanye West VMA incident in our mini Taylor history. As you probably well know, Kanye stole the mic from Taylor while she was accepting her Best Female Video award, claiming the rightful recipient of the award was Beyonce. Chaos ensued, Kanye's still talking about it -- and Taylor, naturally, wrote a song.
11. Tay-Squared
Taylor Swift dated Taylor Lautner in 2009, which made for a great nickname. They also starred in the flick Valentine's Day together before they fizzled out after only a few months.
12. Taylor Gives Back
Taylor and Faith Hill teamed up at a benefit for the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009, and the country star has been very charitable over the last few years. She donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Iowa after some bad flooding in 2008, and she donated $500,000 to Tennessee flood relief in 2010. She also supports the social change platform, the @15 fund.
13. Sweeping the CMAs
The country cutie could hardly carry all of her CMAs after the 2009 show. She won the Entertainer of the Year prize (becoming the youngest star ever to do so) and a whole host of other honors. That same week she set a record for the most songs on the Billboard Hot 100 list by a female artist at the same time!
14. 'Today was a Fairytale'
Taylor released a new song, "Today was a Fairytale," in early 2010. The hit was featured in the movie Valentine's Day, which marked her foray into acting! The song became her first number 1 hit in Canada, oddly enough. It did very well on the US charts, too. Of course.
15. With the Girls at the Grammys
Taylor Swift posed with some of the biggest gals in the biz at a 2010 Grammy Awards event. The next day, at the big show, she brought home 4 statues, including Album of the Year. Kanye was nowhere in sight.
16. Fashion Focus
Taylor made a very stylish appearance at Milan Fashion Week this year. She's turned into quite the fashion plate over the last couple years and has landed herself on plenty of magazine covers. She also made People's "100 Most Beautiful People" list in 2008, and 2009, AND 2010!
17. Besties!
Taylor Swift has been friends with tween star Selena Gomez for some time now. This fall they met up in Europe and had some gelato! These gals definitely keep it classy. No bars and wild parties ,thankyouverymuch.
18. The World's a Stage
Ms. Swift has performed in some peculiar places this year. Here she is performing at the Jet Blue terminal at JFK, and just weeks later she gave an impromptu concert on top of her tour bus! Fun, huh?
19. Seeing Double
You know when you're truly a superstar when Madame Tussauds makes you into a wax figure. Taylor's wax double was unveiled in October 2010.
20. What's Next?
Taylor's latest album Speak Now is still tearing up the charts, but that's not quite why a lot of people are so interested in the songstress currently. The hot gossip: Taylor's rumored to be dating Jake Gyllenhaal! They've kept mum so far, and even if she never says a word about the "relationship" in an interview, we expect to hear all about it in a song.
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