Taylor Swift Music
By age 19, country-pop artist Taylor Swift had her first number 6 single in the Billboard country charts, Tim McGraw. Five more hit singles followed when she released her self-titled debut album in October 2006. Songs from her album entered t he Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, making her a 3 time Multi-Platinum artist by the RIAA.
Tim McGraw was only the start of a very successful career for this young country artist. Her self-titled album debuted at the number 19 spot on the Billboard 200 and sold 39,000 copies during the first week of its release. She wrote or co-wrote all of the songs for her album.
Her knack for songwriting eventually earned her the Songwriter/Artist of the Year Award in 2007. She now holds the record of being the youngest artist to ever win the award.
Her first album eventually reached the top spot of the Billboard Top Country Albums and number five on Billboard 200. She’s now in the same league as other country superstars, the Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood, who has achieved number one sales positions for at least 20 weeks.
Swift is also an online phenomenon. She surpassed the two million mark for music streams on the MySpace.
She got her chance to meet and sing in front of the man who inspired her first single—Tim McGraw during the 2007 Academy of Country Music Awards. She’s been an opening act for McGraw and Faith Hill’s 2007 tour. Other musical acts she’s opened for were Rascal Flatts, George Strait, and Brad Paisely.
On February 24, 2007, Swift released the second single Teardrops on my Guitar and peaked at the number 2 spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and 33 on the Billboard Hot 100. It jumped to number 13 on the Hot 100 when the single was re-released as a remix track. It also entered the Pop 100 at number 11.
After she received the Songwriter/Artist of the Year award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International, she then went on to win another award, the CMA Horizon Award in November. A month later, her single Our Song became her first number one song. The single spent six weeks at the top of the country charts.
The following year, she was nominated for a Grammy for Best New Female Artist. But despite her success commercially, she lost to Amy Winehouse—similar to what happened when Britney Spears lost to Christina Aguilera.
She then released the fourth single from her debut album, Picture to Burn, and peaked at the number 3 spot on the charts. Should’ve Said No, the final single in her album, became her second number one hit. After that, she released an EP titled Beautiful Eyes that was exclusively sold in Wal-Mart. It sold 45,000 copies in its first week and landed at number one on the Top Country Albums chart.
Fearless was her second studio album. It was released in November 2008 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 Album chart, selling 592,304 units. It was the highest debut of any country artist for the year. The first single, Love Story, was a hit in both country and pop charts.
Fearless also did amazingly well in the digital market. During its first week of release, the album sold more than 129,000. After eight weeks, it already has sold more than 300,000 paid downloads, making her the best selling country album in digital history.
Most of the songs in the album have done well in the Hot 100. One track, Change, was chosen to be part of the soundtrack that supports the US Team for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Swift’s spawned numerous hit songs. In February 2009, she performed with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards, whose movie, Hannah Montana: The Movie, featured one of her songs, Crazier.
Her biggest achievement yet, is the Album of the Year award given to her by the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Crystal Milestone Award because of her outstanding achievement in music.