Taylor Swift Bio

Taylor Swift is the next big thing in country music. She hails from Pennsylvania and has a younger brother named Austin.

Personally, she's been romantically linked to Joe Jonas and is a good pal of Kellie Pickler. She actually taught herself to play guitar.

Yes, unlike some (okay, most) music stars of today, Taylor Swift is actually impressive!

With her first number-one hit "Our Song," at age 18 years and 9 days, Swift became the fifth teenaged female singer to top the Billboard magazine Hot Country Songs chart. Aside from singing talent, as you can tell, she's a major looker. In fact, Swift was ranked #57 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2008 list.

At almost six feet tall and with curly, lone blonde hair, Taylor Swift might have a modeling career ahead of her. For now, though, she's content to be dominating the country charts and making a major name for herself in the music industry.

Chace Crawford Comforts Taylor Swift

Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford gave Taylor Swift a "pep talk" the day after she was ambushed by Kanye West at the MTV VMAs, a source reports.

At the Kings of Leon concert in New York Monday night, Crawford spotted her and gave her a huge hug, telling Taylor Swift, "I'm so proud of you."

"Don't let anyone ever take your spotlight ever again."

She thanked Crawford, who, the source says, is "like an older brother type and is very protective over her" (although Taylor Swift once told Your Prom magazine that the Gossip Girl star was her "celeb dream date" for prom).

Besides Chace, Swift's other pals chipped in on the pep talk front in the aftermath of Kanye's VMA meltdown, which the Prez even called him out on.

After the show, the Best Female Video went to dinner at Del Frisco's at midnight to meet a group and received a standing ovation, an insider says.

"Taylor's friends ordered her favorite dish, macaroni and cheese, to cheer her up," the source adds. "And nobody brought up Kanye West."

We're glad Chace started this trend. It makes us wonder ...

Do Not Mess with Taylor Swift!

Taylor Swift was making the media rounds Friday promoting her single "You Belong With Me" (which is #1), her album going platinum, and all that good stuff.

Naturally, though, all attention remains on the Kanye incident.

During her interview with the MJ Morning Show on Tampa Bay's 93.3, FM, she made her desire not to talk about Kanye Weset very clear. Not that it helped.

The first time the host asked her to describe what happened that fateful VMA night, Taylor explained: "I'm just honestly trying not to make it into a bigger deal than it already is ... I just would like to move on maybe a little bit."

Fair enough. Or not. "Do you think it was a scripted thing?" the host asked.

"Well... you know, I um... I didn't know what to think, but I think that we should maybe move on and talk about something else, because, um, I've talked about this in one interview, and that was going to be it," Taylor awkwardly said.

Still not taking the freaking hint, the rude radio host proceeded to ask if Kanye-gate was good for her career or if the rapper's apology was sincere.

"I really would appreciate it if we could talk about something else," Taylor Swift said, again. "I've asked you three times, and I'm trying to be nice."

More bullying followed, with the host saying, "Taylor, let me give you a couple of tips ..." But then, Swift walked away and her publicist took over!

A minor spat ensued, and MJ revealed his last question: "Do you think Kanye West has a mental problem?" Suffice it to say, that went unanswered.

In summation, no one messes with T-Swizzle. She is awesome. Step off.

Taylor Swift Album Update: Cover Art, Release Date, Track List

Great news, Taylor Swift fans:

The release date for the expanded edition of the singer's smash hit CD, Fearless, has been moved up... from October 27 to October 26!

In November 2008, the original album debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200. Fearless Platinum Edition, meanwhile, features six new singles from the wildly popular star. The complete track list is below.

Swift, of course, has been in the news quite often over the last few weeks. Kanye West acted like a jackass in front of her at the MTV Music Awards.

She's set to host Saturday Night Live on November 7; and she might be dating Twilight hottie Taylor Lautner!

Check out the songs that will be available on this CD now:

1. "Jump Then Fall" (NEW!)
2. "Untouchable" (NEW!)
3. "Forever & Always (Piano Version)" (NEW!)
4. "Come In With The Rain" (NEW!)
5. "SuperStar" (NEW!)
6. "The Other Side Of The Door" (NEW!)
7. "Fearless"
8. "Fifteen"
9. "Love Story"
10. "Hey Stephen"
11. "White Horse"
12. "You Belong With Me"
13. "Breathe (Featuring Colbie Caillat)"
14. "Tell Me Why"
15. "You're Not Sorry"
16. "The Way I Loved You"
17. "Forever & Always"
18. "The Best Day"
19. "Change"

Follow The Hollywood Gossip on Twitter and Win Taylor Swift's New CD!

Awesome music from Taylor Swift.

The expanded edition of the singer's smash hit CD, Fearless, is being released today and features six new singles from the popular singer. It can be yours free!

Here's all you have to do to enter:

• Follow THGossip on Twitter
• Send a Tweet saying "Follow @THGossip and win Taylor Swift's new album!"
• (If you already follow us, thanks! Send a Tweet saying the same to enter)

That's it! We'll pick a winner at random, notify you by private message (you must follow THGossip on Twitter to receive such a message) and send it on to you!

The winner will be announced Monday (November 2). Good luck!

Taylor Swift Rakes in Five AMA Nominations

Taylor Swift wins so many awards, it's gotta be getting hard to keep track of where to put them all. The American Music Awards should add to her haul.

Having already received multiple nominations for the Grammys, CMAs and MTV VMAs, the country star has been nominated for five more honors. Woo!

Swift, 19, received five American Music Awards nods, including favorite female country music artist, favorite female pop artist and artist of the year.

Note to certain rappers this time around: don't mess with Taylor!

The late Michael Jackson, who passed away June 25, was another top nominee, with five nominations, followed by rapper Eminem, who nabbed four.

Beyonce, the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, Kings of Leon and T.I. each received three nods. We just hope that Kanye West doesn't decide to show up.

Paula Abdul, Adam Lambert and Snoop Dogg revealed the nominees and the live lineup, including Lambert, Jennifer Lopez, and the Black Eyed Peas.

For the first time in the show's history, fans will bdetermine the final four nominees of the T-Mobile Breakthrough Artist Award by voting on ABC.com.

Among those considered for the category are Kings of Leon, Lady Gaga, Gloriana, the Zac Brown Band, Keri Hilson and Jermiah. Should be close!

The AMAs will air live on Sunday, November22, at 8 p.m. EST.

Taylor Swift on SNL: Funny or a Flop?

She ripped on Joe Jonas.

She hinted at a romance with Taylor Lautner.

She referenced the rude actions of Kanye West.

And that was just in Taylor Swift's opening monologue!

Indeed, the celebrity gossip world is buzzing today over the singer's stint as Saturday Night Live host over the weekend. Did you see it? Did you love it? Or did you think Swift took a cheap shot at Jonas?

During the show, Taylor also took on the Twilight Saga in a spoof; and mocked Kate Gosselin for... well, being Kate Gosselin.

Swift has mostly received positive reviews for her performance, with Entertainment Weeky labeling her as the funniest host of the season. Do you agree?

Taylor Swift Cleans Up at the Country Music Awards

Dear Taylor Swift: It's okay to let other celebrities enjoy a bit of success. Sheesh!

The 19-year old singer is on top of the entertainment world these days. She recently received rave reviews for hosting Saturday Night Live; she's dating Taylor Lautner; and she picked up four Country Music Awards last night.

Including Entertainer of the Year!

"I will never forget this moment because, in this moment, everthing I have ever wanted has just happened to me," said Swift after accepting her final trophy, adding a joke at Kanye West's expense:

"I want to thank every single person in this room tonight for not running onstage during this speech."

After the event, Swift - who became the youngest Entertainer of the Year in history - said:

"I never imagined that the unattainable thing that I dreamed about could happen to me at 19. It's a lot to absorb. So now the next challenge is to find the next challenge."

Sounds like a challenge! What do you think Taylor should do next? Act? Write poetry? Retire?

Taylor Swift on the Vampire diaries?

After conquering the country music world last night, Taylor Swift said she was seeking a new challenge.

Kevin Williamson, a producer on The Vampire Diaries, has one for the singing senstion: come aboard my show!!!

"I'm desperate to have [Swift] come play a vampire," Williamson told E! News. "Wouldn't she make an amazing Kirsten Dunst circa Interview With the Vampire type? I cannot tell you how hard I'm trying to get her - I would kill to have her on the show!"

Swift is dating Taylor Lautner, who stars in his own vampire-based franchise. This casting almost makes too much sense, doesn't it?

Taylor Swift Gossip: InStyle, In Dating Denial -,-"

It's a good thing we're big fans of Taylor Swift.

Otherwise, we might get sick of the fact that the singer is featured on more shows and magazines than President Obama.

Swift covers the December issue of InStyle, which hits newsstands on Friday. Donning a beaded Oscar de la Renta dress, the star gives major props to Taylor Lautner inside the magazine, but also espouses her single life in the article.

Of the New Moon hunk, Swift says:

"He and I have gotten really close. It would be confusing on the set [of Valentine's Day] with two Taylors in the same scene. They were like, 'Taylor, on your mark – no, not you, the other one!' So halfway through the shoot, I said, 'How about you guys call me Swifty and call him Taylor?'"

Sounds like Taylor Squared is totally on, right? Not so fast.

"I've never thought it was a curse to be single," she said. "At this point in my life, I'm in the mind-set where I choose to be single, like I get to light scented candles and write in my diary and I wouldn't have time for that if I had a boyfriend right now!"

We don't see why not. Dear Diary: Surrounded by scented candles, I cuddled all night with Taylor yesterday... XOXO, Swifty.

John Mayer Gives Mad Props to Taylor Swift

ohn Mayer may be a total and utter douchebag, but we can say one nice thing about him: The singer is unafraid to praise his competition.

Months ago, he (sort of creepily) gave a shout out to Demi Lovato via Twitter. Now, he's telling Access Hollywood just how awesome Taylor Swift is.

“There’s something about Taylor that she would have been a star in any decade,” Mayer said. “Taylor’s like this fresh voice.”

Swift actually shares a credit with the crooner on “Half of My Heart,” a song off Mayer's new album, "Battle Studies."

Mayer says he's most impressed by how calm and humble Swift has remained in the face of such success.

“Taylor Swift is the last person to know she’s Taylor Swift, which I think is totally sweet. It’s almost like Taylor Swift is like a character in a movie about a small town girl who has her dreams come true.

"It’s great to have someone who’s hugely talented and still is able to receive the pleasure in all moments.”

It sure is, but you best stay away from her, John! Otherwise, you'll have to answer to Taylor Lautner and his abs of steel!

Taylor Swift GOSSIP hmm

This is Taylor Swift's year.

While she wasn't on hand personally, the 19-year-old pocketed a leading five prizes, including the biggest, Artist of the Year, at Sunday's American Music Awards.

Screw you, Kanye! Meanwhile, Michael Jackson was a close second.

The late King of Pop won four posthumous awards, including Favorite Pop/Rock Artist, an impressive feat when you're not alive, bringing his AMA career total to 25.

And, capping a box-office-busting weekend for New Moon, The Twilight Saga even got in on the action, scoring the prize for Favorite Soundtrack for the first film.

Here's the complete list of winners at the 2009 AMAS

How to contact Taylor Swift?

http://taylorswift.com/

http://taylorswiftweb.net/

http://www.myspace.com/taylorswift

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Taylor-Swi…

http://twitter.com/taylorswift13

that is where u can contact Taylor Swift ..

-PLEASE DONT STEAL MY PERSONAL PICTURE :)

Taylor Swift's family

Taylor Swift was born in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania and lives with her parents, Scott and Andrea, and her younger brother, Austin,in Hendersonville, Tennesse. Swift grew up on a Christmas tree farm outside of Reading, Pennsylvania, the daughter of a stock broker father and stay at home mother. When she was in fourth grade, Swift won a national poety contest with a three-page long poem entitled "Monster In My Closet". At the age of ten, Swift began to perform around her home town, singing at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs, and also started writing songs.

-PLEASE DONT STEAL MY PERSONAL PICTURE :)

Taylor's biography

• Taylor Swift has been singing all her life and her motivation is her grandmother who was a professional opera singer.
• She began locally performing around her town at the age of 10 and at the age of 11 she sang the national anthem before a Philphadelphia 76ers game
• When she turned 12 she had picked up a guitar and began practicing for hours each day until her fingers began to bleed
• While performing at a showcase at Nashville's Bluebird Café, Swift caught the eye of music industry veteran Scott Borchetta. He had plans to create a new label and decided Swift was one of the first acts he wanted to sign. Still a high school student fascinated by love (which she uses as her muse), she released her debut single, "Tim McGraw," in August 2006

cat named Indi (who hates everyone in my family except for me) and two Dobermans
Favorite Color- white
Food- cheesecake
Holiday- Christmas
Hobby- driving fast
Place- anyplace around a creek
Season – summer
Things to do- write songs
Things to write about- LOVE
Guitars- Taylors Guitar
Artists- Tim McGraw and Miranda Lambert
Song- Can’t tell me nothing by Tim McGraw
Quality in other people- Honesty and sarcasm
Movie- Love actually
Memory- Living on a farm
Zodiac sign- Virgo
First single- Tim McGraw
TV Show: Law & Order, SVU, CSI & Grey's Anatomy
Straight A Honor Roll student

Personal life

Swift's best friend has been Abigail Anderson, whom she has known since ninth grade. During a discussion of Shakespeare in an English class they learned what they had in common. "We were the ones in the back of the class saying negative things about Romeo and Juliet because we were so bitter toward that emotion at the time," said Anderson. "We just really connected ... and ever since then we have been inseparable."^{[broken citation]} Anderson also appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to surprise Swift. On that episode of Ellen, Swift also revealed that Joe Jonas broke up with her in a 27-second phone conversation. Anderson was mentioned in Swift's single Fifteen.

Swift is also close friends with Kellie Pickler, with whom she co-wrote Pickler's second single "Best Days of Your Life" from her self-titled album Kellie Pickler. In July 2008, Swift graduated from the Aaron Academy, a Christian school in Hendersonville, Tennessee, which offers a home-schooling program.

Public image and other work

Swift has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. In 2008, the list includes Blender, Seventeen, Billboard, Girls' Life,^[115][116] Women's Health and CosmoGirl.In 2009, Swift graced the cover of Teen Vogue, Self Magazine, Rolling Stone, Allure, Glamour, and Bliss. She has been a cover girl for Blender, for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen year run to be a cover subject. Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on Maxim's sexiest women of 2008. CosmoGirl voted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year".Swift was named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change". She was nominated as a candidate for TIME's "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting.

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008.Taylor Swift is the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008. Swift and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing. It will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months. However, Swift said she does not want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on her own style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swift designer line." In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators. On November 20 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Taylor Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.

Philanthropy

On September 21, 2007, Swift launched a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes. The year-long campaign, launched in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state. In early 2008, Swift donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to children’s charity, the Victory Junction Gang; in June, 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds she got from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to Red Cross, the Nashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and the National American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.^[104] Swift donated $10,000, funded by CMT ONE COUNTRY, to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital by winning the "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year" awards at the 2008 CMT Music Awards.^[105] In 2009, Swift won "Video of the Year and "Female Video of the Year" awards at the 2009 CMT Music Awards. She donated $5,000, funded by CMT, to American Red Cross.

Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly". Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen", is featured in this campaign.^[109] Swift has lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert,reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross. Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org. On November 11, 2009 Swift donated £13,000 to Childre

Acting career

In 2008, Swift made her acting debut in Brad Paisley's music video "Online". In that same year Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitled MTV's Once Upon a Prom and a documentary with Def Leppard for CMT entitled CMT Crossroads, which was premiered on November 7, 2008, drew more than 4.5 million viewers for its four initial airings. Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D Concert Film, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience. The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America. The concert film brought in $12,700,000 on its opening weekend.Swift made her primetime television acting debut on CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Turn, Turn, Turn on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers. Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's music video "Best Days of Your Life". Swift also appeared in Hannah Montana: The Movie as "woman singing in the barn". The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America. The television show Dateline NBC showcased an hour to Swift on May 31, 2009. The episode titled Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor Swift included scenes from her tour bus, concert footage, and rehearsals. She was also interviewed for the show and some of her exclusive video diaries were shown.Taylor both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of Saturday Night Live.

In 2010, Swift will make her feature film acting debut as Samantha Kenny in the film Valentine's Day.

Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards with her award

On September 15, 2009, Swift talked about the matter on The View. Asked what she was thinking the moment it happened, she stated, "Well, I think my overall thought process was something like, 'Wow, I can't believe I won, this is awesome, don't trip and fall, I'm gonna get to thank the fans, this is so cool'", she said, and that she further thought, "'Oh, Kanye West is here. Cool haircut. What are you doing there?' And then, 'Ouch.' And then, 'I guess I'm not gonna get to thank the fans.'" In addition, she said that West had not spoken to her following the incident. Following Swift's appearance on The View, West contacted her to apologize personally; Swift said she accepted his apology.^[89][90] The night of the awards show, Swift became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award.

On November 11, 2009 Swift won four CMA Awards: Album of the Year, Music Video of the Year for "Love Story," Female Vocalist of the Year, and Entertainer of the Year. During the CMA ceremony, the incident with Kanye West was lampooned on stage by Brad Paisley and Little Jimmy Dickens, with Dickens stealing the microphone during Paisley's speech to say Swift's video was better.

On the chart week of November 14, 2009, Swift set a record for the most songs on the Billboard Hot 100 by a female artist at the same time with eight singles from the re-release of her 2008 album Fearless namely five debut new songs in the top 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The Other Side of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at #27 and "Come in With the Rain" at #30 and three already-charted songs that were released as singles — "You Belong with Me" (#14), "Forever & Always" which re-entered the chart at #34, and "Fifteen" (#46). In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls which features Swift, debuted at #80 in the same issue. This gives Swift six debuts in one week, the biggest number of debuts by any female artist of all time. It also lifts the number of her simultaneously-charting songs to nine, setting another record for the biggest number of charting songs by the same female artist in the same week.When "Fifteen" reached #38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, Swift became the female artist with most Top 40 singles this decade, surpassing Beyoncé Knowles, who currently has 19 Top 40 singles. "Fifteen" became Swift's thirteenth Top 40 single from Fearless and her twentieth overall. Taylor's historical moves continued as the December 5 issue of the Hot 100 was announced; "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls progressed to #40, and John Mayer's "Half of My Heart" debuted at #25, both of these songs features Taylor. This gives Swift her twenty first and twenty second Top 40 singles.

2009 MTV Video Music Awards

On September 13, 2009, during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, singer/rapper Kanye West came on the stage and took the microphone from Swift during her acceptance speech for winning Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me", saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time". This caused the audience in the venue to respond negatively.He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech. West was removed from the remainder of the show for his actions. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech.

Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed). He was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and by President Barack Obama in an "off the record" comment.^{[84][85][86][87]} He later posted a second apology on his blog and appeared on The Jay Leno Show one day after the incident, apologizing publicly.

Swift performed

In June 2009, Swift performed "Thug Story" with T-Pain at the CMT Music Awards. She went on to win two awards for Female Video of the Year and Video of the Year.^[64] On July 14, 2009, it was confirmed Swift would perform at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. "I'm so excited that MTV and the VMAs have invited me to perform, because I think this year's show will be unlike anything they've ever done!" stated Swift. "I love incorporating theatrics into my performances, and the VMAs have always allowed artists to run with that," Swift says. "MTV has been so good to me, and I could not be more excited about this year's VMAs." This was Swift's first performance on the VMAs. The show aired September 13 on MTV, with British comedian Russell Brand hosting for the second year in a row.^[65] In addition to having three of her songs featured, Swift will appear as a playable character in Band Hero.^[66] Swift announced September 6 on her MySpace blog that Fearless will be re-released on October 27 with six new songs. It will also include a DVD with her tour footage and pictures.^[67]

In January 2009, Swift announced her first headlining tour. Swift is taking her North American Fearless Tour 2009 to 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. Opening acts include Kellie Pickler and Gloriana, a new group in country music. The tour features a theatrical presentation of graphics, sets and visual elements designed by Swift; Swift plays guitar as well as piano. Multiple costume changes and a fairy-tale castle are some of the elements of the three-act show.^[68]

The tour kicked off April 23 in Evansville, Indiana. On February 6, 2009, tickets went on sale for the May 22 date at Los Angeles’ Staples Center and sold out in two minutes.^[69] Tickets for several dates and venues, including Madison Square Garden, went on sale the following week and sold out in one minute.^{[70][71][72][73][74]}

On April 28, 2009, Swift gave a free, private concert to students at Bishop Ireton High School, a small Catholic school in Alexandria, Virginia after the school won a national "TXT 2 WIN" contest from Verizon Wireless.^[75] The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon during a roughly one month long contest. Swift played for about an hour during the school's field day, an annual day-long recess with games and activities. On October 8, 2009 Swift's official website announced that her sold-out Fearless Tour would return to North America for 37 additional dates in 2010.

Swift is Billboard's Top Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008

she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008. Swift ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. Fearless and Taylor Swift took the #1 and #2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart.^[58] Swift sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008.

On January 10, 2009, Swift made her first musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live, making her the youngest country singer to appear as a musical guest on the show in its 33-year run. Swift's show achieved SNL’s highest adult 18-49 rating and overall viewer total since the November election (in 2008). It was tied for the #7 rating of that week among all broadcast and cable entertainment programs on all networks and outscored all its telecasts of last season in 18-49 and total viewers.On February 8, 2009, Swift performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards.

Since the release of Swift's second album, Fearless, she has released one new song "Crazier" for the soundtrack of the feature film Hannah Montana: The Movie. At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked up Album of the Year honors as a performer and producer for Fearless.

Swift is the youngest artist in history to win Album of the Year award. Swift was also awarded the Academy's Crystal Milestone Award, given for Outstanding Achievement in Country Music. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album (which spawned five Top 10 hits, more than any in history for a female artist's debut CD), and the worldwide crossover success of her #1 single "Love Story". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution to helping country music attract a younger audience. As of late April 2009, Swift has sold more than 14 million downloads, as well as three Gold Mobile Ringtones.

2008–present: Fearless and MTV VMA controversy

Swift's latest studio album, Fearless, was released in the United States on November 11, 2008. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. Its sales of 592,304 were the highest debut of any country artist in 2008. This is also the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall behind Lil Wayne, AC/DC and Coldplay. Its lead single "Love Story" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any country album in history. It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004. Through its eighth week of release, Fearless has sold more than 338,467 paid downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In second place is Swift's debut Taylor Swift with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 2009.

In its debut week, seven songs in total on Fearless were charted on Billboard Hot 100, tying Swift with Hannah Montana for the most by a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse" charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on Fearless, 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100. "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[44] The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics.

She also released the lead single from the album, "Love Story", on September 12, 2008. The song is accompanied by a music video that is based on Romeo and Juliet. The song has reached number 2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and number four on the Billboard Hot 100. It is also called as Taylor Swift's signature song. Fifteen weeks after being added to pop radio, "Love Story" also became the first country crossover recording to hit number one on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of list, as well as number one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart.

The second single from Fearless, "White Horse", was released on December 8, 2008. The music video for the song premiered on CMT on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the #1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the #1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered by Mediabase) in that week."Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas.

She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart. It also was the first album by a female artist in country music history to log eight weeks at #1 on The Billboard 200. In mid-January 2009, Swift became the first country artist to top the 2 million mark in paid downloads with three different songs.

As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story" became the country song with most paid downloads in history and the first country song to top the Mainstream Top 40 chart. Swift then subsequently went onto replicate the feat, reaching number 1 again on the Mainstream Top 40 in September 2009 with "You Belong with Me", making it just the second country song in the chart's history to reach the top.

Taylor's Music career 2

Big Machine Records announced the release of "Should've Said No" on Monday, May 19. The song is the fifth and final single from Swift's debut album. She performed it on the 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.The performance started off with her dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, but soon after a short black halter dress was revealed. In the last minute of the song, she went backstage to perform the final verse under a cascading waterfall. Swift had wanted to do that performance on stage with the water and the change of clothes since she was ten years old.

"Should've Said No" became her second Number One single for the chart dated August 23, 2008. In June 2008, at the CMA Music Festival held in Nashville, Swift signed autographs for nearly eight straight hours. It was the longest autograph-signing session since Garth Brooks' 23-hour marathon in 1996. In Summer 2008, Swift released Beautiful Eyes, an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at #1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and #9 on the Billboard 200. With her self-titled debut album at #2 the same week, Swift became the first artist to hold the Top 2 positions of the Top Country Albums chart since LeAnn Rimes did so in 1997. Swift plays a custom-made Taylor acoustic guitar made of koa wood.

Taylor's Music career

Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching number 6 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs chart. Her self-titled debut album was later released on October 24, 2006.^[25] Swift wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album, which debuted at number 19 on the Billboard 200 and sold 39,000 copies during its first week. It later peaked at number one at Billboard Top Country Albums and number five on the Billboard 200. It also spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts^[28] and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks.^[29] The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks or more are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood.^[30] As of November 2008, Taylor Swift has sold over three million copies and 7.5 million single downloads.

Swift has surpassed the 200 million mark for music streams on MySpace. She is currently ranked in the Top 10 for the most MySpace visits for all genres of music, and is MySpace's current top-ranking Country artist. Swift is the most searched musical artist on MySpace in 2008.The music video for "Tim McGraw" set a record by appearing for 30 consecutive weeks on GAC's fan-voted weekly Top 20 music countdown show, and reached number one on CMT's video charts. The video also won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006 on the country music channel. On May 15, 2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. She sang the song to Tim McGraw in the audience, and introduced herself for the first time to him. Swift has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts as well.

On August 21, 2007, Swift performed live on the season finale of America's Got Talent.The second single from the Taylor Swift album, "Teardrops on My Guitar", was released February 24, 2007. The song originally made its peak positions in mid-2007, peaking at #2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was re-released to the Hot 100 and Pop 100 in late 2007 with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to #13 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift's songwriting peers at the Nashville Songwriters Association International honored her with their Songwriter/Artist of the Year Award, making her the youngest artist ever to win the award.

On November 7, 2007, Swift won the 2007 CMA Horizon Award and also performed "Our Song," the third single from her album, which would go on to become her first #1 song the week of December 22, 2007, where it leaped up from the #6 spot. This was the biggest jump to Number One since January 1998, when Tim McGraw's "Just to See You Smile", also jumped from #6 to #1. "Our Song" spent six weeks at #1 on the Country charts and also peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #24 on the Billboard Pop 100. Swift also recorded a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, which was released October 16, 2007, exclusively available at Target stores. The album, which was not as successful as her self-titled debut, featured both holiday classics such as "Last Christmas" and original songs written by Swift. Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse. Swift's successful single, "Picture to Burn" was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted early in 2008 and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Country Chart in the spring of 2008.

Taylor's Early work

Swift first learned to play guitar from a computer repairman who showed her how to play three chords. After learning those three chords, she wrote her first song, "Lucky You". She began writing songs regularly and used it as outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. Other kids would react badly to her so she wrote songs about them.

Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain. Her other influences include her grandmother, LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner and Dolly Parton. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer,^[14] Taylor's tastes always ran more toward country and she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton at an early age. She also credits the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain for demonstrating how much impact can be made by "stretching boundaries".

At age 11, Swift made her first trip to Nashville hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town. Swift faced rejection, not just from record labels, but also from her peers.

After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament; her rendition of the national anthem received a lot of attention. Swift started writing songs and playing 12-string guitar when she was 12. Swift began to regularly visit Nashville and wrote songs with local songwriters. By the time she was 14, her family decided to move to an outlying Nashville suburb.

When Swift was fifteen, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep her on a development deal.^[21] Swift then performed at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The Bluebird Café, catching the attention of Scott Borchetta who signed her to his newly-formed record label, Big Machine Records. She also became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house at 14