50 Reasons Taylor Swift Rules the World
By Ani Bundel
Old or young, country music fan or no, everyone has heard of Taylor Swift. At age 25, she is one of the most famous women in the world. Not just a pop star, but an icon, Swift’s meteoric rise from one of the youngest stars in Nashville’s history to powerhouse business woman who stood toe to toe with Apple and made them blink has been nothing short of remarkable.
Fans of Taylor Swift (otherwise known as Swifties) will be able to cite the reasons she’s amazing by heart. But for those who might be less than aware, let us now take you through the 50 Reasons Taylor Swift Rules the World.
Next: 50. Taylor, Teen Prodigy
50. Taylor, Teen Prodigy
While most of us were awkwardly navigating our tweenage years, Taylor Swift was plotting her move to Nashville. Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, far from the country music scene, Swift fell madly in love with country music via Shania Twain around the age of 9, and immediately became obsessed with singing country music. It took a couple of years to win her first singing competition at age 11. At age 12 she started on the guitar. By age 13, she had already begun writing music, and was on Nashville’s radar having performed at an RCA showcase.
The family moved to Nashville a year later. As she tells it, her father claimed it was just his job transferring him, and did not mean she had to go become a country singer. But by then she had already been making regular trips to the Music City, and was in development with RCA. She might have released her first album with them too.
But, as is the story of her life, Swift was a bold and savvy business woman–RCA wanted to take her the LeAnn Rimes route and have her cover well known material, and not release an original album until she was of age. She knew she was better than that. With a songwriting deal in place with Sony at the age of 14–the youngest singer they had ever signed to a writer’s deal–she jumped ship to find a record deal that let her write her own songs.
Next: 49. She's always rocked...
49. Her first album Taylor Swift
At the age of 15, Taylor was now without a record deal, though she did have a raft of songs she had written with songwriter Liz Rose. She went out and did what all struggling artists in Nashville do: she performed at industry showcases, hoping someone would notice her. Someone did. Scott Borchetta, who was mentor of American Idol just last season, took notice, and signed her as one of his first acts to his brand new label, Big Machine.
Her first album, the eponymous Taylor Swift, came out a year later. Unlike other underage artists before her, such as Rimes or Tanya Tucker, this album featured several self-penned songs, three of which she wrote alone. The lead single “Tim McGraw” is a good representation of the type of song found on it. Written by Swift and Rose, it has that teenage simplicity to it, but also feels older–the first time I heard it, I assumed it was written by someone in their 20s or 30s with a good memory for the over emotional feel of being a teenager. Nope–written by a teenager who managed to capture exactly what she was going through at the moment. It’s become her hallmark of songwriting ever since. Other singles from her debut album included “Teardrops on My Guitar,” “Our Song,” “Picture to Burn” and “Should’ve Said No.”
Next: 48. She's a social pioneer
48. myspace
It seems funny now looking back in 2015, but in 2006 myspace was the biggest deal on the planet. Facebook was still something only open to college kids (and would remain so until late September). Everyone who was trying to be someone in cyberspace had a myspace page. And myspace, in their hope of becoming a lasting business, had latched on to music. By making it so that aspiring musicians could upload their work onto the booming social media site, it was the perfect promotion vehicle for a 16 year old with a debut album.
The music industry, as we all know, was very slow to understand and react to the rise of the internet, and their inability to change with the times is partly why it still hasn’t recovered. Nashville was even slower to embrace the modern concept of social media. In 2006 nearly no one who considered themselves anyone would even think to put themselves out there on the internet for anyone to listen to–especially after the horror of Napster and thousands upon thousands of artists losing revenue–why would you voluntarily put your music up on the internet for free? Swift had no such qualms. She was a pioneer on social media for the country music industry. The first army of Swifties was built from that myspace platform.
Next: 47. Our Song
47. “Our Song”
Would you believe that Taylor Swift’s first major hit wasn’t even written for her album? She wrote it for her high school talent show when she was still a freshman. Talk about test marketing–it proved popular enough with her peers that she put it on her first album. It was her most praised song from her debut, catching the attention of critics across the board, who noted the compelling story telling, which was remarkable for someone at such a young age. It was also a major sign of her pop chart crossover appeal, debuting in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100.
It was Swift’s first number one hit single on the Hot Country Songs chart. It hung out in the top songs for six weeks, and was certified triple platinum. But that’s not the real record that it holds. With the success of “Our Song,” Taylor Swift gained the world record of being the youngest person to have both written solo and recorded a number one song on Country Music Charts. It’s a record that hasn’t been broken since, and one she’ll probably hold for a long time to come. Though the video wasn’t the most adventurous of of her releases, it was still nominationed for “Video of the Year” and “Female Video of the Year” at the 2008 CMT Music Awards.
Next: 46. 2006 CMAs gown
46. 2006 CMAs gown
Like most pop stars who grew up in the limelight, Taylor has had as many fashion misses as she has hits. One of her earliest hits was the gown she wore to the CMAs in 2006. Despite not being nominated for her debut album that year (she would go on to get the Horizon Award for it the next year) this was, in many ways, Taylor’s coming out moment, and one of her first big turns in the spotlight.
At sixteen years old, it was also a bit like a prom substitute. While her peers were riding in limos to a ballroom rented by the prom planning committee, she was riding in a limo to the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville. Her dress even looks a bit like a prom dress. It’s trying really hard to be grown up, especially with the long opera gloves, but with the huge country hairdo and the minimal makeup it’s hard not to see a little girl playing at dress up. Still, the combination of the big long hair and the draped silk gown–which was retro before it was cool–makes for a striking red carpet moment, and one that should be remembered if for no other reason than it was before someone taught her to use a flat iron.
Next: 45. Teardrops...
45. “Teardrops On My Guitar”
“Teardrops on my Guitar” was the second single off the album Taylor Swift, and the first Swift song I ever heard. That’s not surprising, since it was her first major crossover hit, peaking at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the highest charting single from her debut album. It also defined the sort of confessional emotional relationship oriented hit that Swift would go on to include on every album that followed.
These confessional songs would spurn fans on to find out who in real life she was writing about. In later years, as her boyfriend pool pulled from some of the most famous singers and actors of the time period, this guessing game became easier. But because “Teardrops” was written in high school and about a high school classmate, it was a little more difficult to guess. Some wondered if it might be one of the Jonas Brothers that she was referencing, whose rise to popularity mirror Taylor’s own. But actually it was about some poor high school schmo who had no idea the girl who was nodding along eagerly to his stories about his girlfriend had a big old crush on him. Too bad for him that girl went on to become one of the most famous women in the world.
(Rumor has it said Schmo, one Drew Hardwick, upon realizing the song was about him, showed up at Swift’s house years later. I’ll bet the schadenfreude of rejecting him felt really good.)
Next: 44. She's Fearless
44. Her second album Fearless
In late 2008, Taylor Swift released her second album, Fearless. Much like her debut album, Swift wrote or co-wrote all the songs that appeared on it, seven of which she wrote by herself. Unlike her debut album though, there was no slow burn or build up to success with this album. It debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Album Chart in the US. That’s partly because savvy Swift didn’t just get writing and singing credits on the album–by the time her second album dropped she co-owned her own management company, and was therefore in charge of her own promotion, which she did quite a bit of the heavy lifting on.
Fearless‘ success not only positioned her as one of country music’s youngest superstars, it also confirmed her as a pop powerhouse and a force in the industry to be reckoned with. It was the best selling album of 2009 with 6.8 million sold. It also gave 19-year-old Taylor Swift (she would turn 20 in December) the honor of being the youngest artist in history to achieve that. The album would go on to spawn five hit singles: “Love Story,” “White Horse,” “You Belong with Me,” “Fifteen,” and “Fearless.” It went on to become the most awarded album in Country Music to date. TO DATE! In all, it won Album of the Year from no less than the American Music Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards, the Country Music Association Awards, and the Grammy Awards.
Next: 43. Fifteen
43. “Fifteen”
“Fifteen” might seem like an odd choice for this countdown. It was the fourth single from Fearless. Unlike “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story,” it wasn’t a massive crossover hit. It only peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was her first single not to hit within the Top Three on the Country Charts, the first since her debut single “Tim McGraw.” So why is it on this list?
Because unlike some of Taylor’s bigger hits, “Fifteen” is personal in a different way. It talks about something Taylor doesn’t give a lot of mention to–the deep friendships that happen between girls in your teenage years. In fact, some of Taylor’s hit songs, like “You Belong With Me,” the much bigger hit from this album, have been criticized for their pitting women against each other over a boy and de facto slut shaming. But this song, which is about how bad it can be to fall in love with a boy at all, and that one should stick with one’s sisters and friends, is a touching reminder that Taylor does treasure women’s friendships, and believes deeply in sisterhood and having girlfriends. And also, it contains one of her most memorable lines: (which she later claimed in interviews was the genesis of the song) “And Abigail gave everything she had to a boy/ Who changed his mind/ We both cried.”
Next: 42. 2009 Academy of Country Music Awards Gown
42. 2009 Academy of Country Music Awards Gown
Around this time, Taylor was not only working on her musical crossover appeal, but also on her fashion prowess. The big curly country hair hadn’t found the flat iron yet, but it was definitely deflated when she walked the red carpet for the 2009 Academy of Country Music Awards. The dress on the other hand, is a step up for Taylor–she’s admitted that she’s “gown” girl, who likes to go for the modern princess look. Here she stepped away from the gold metallic and the sequins she’d been sporting for the last couple of years and wore a siren red number from designer Angel Sanchez.
Sanchez isn’t the biggest household name when it comes to designers. (As Swift’s fame increased, so did the designers who wanted to dress her, but that mostly came post-2010.) Most of his work is in Bridal and Evening, which is obvious when you look at the mermaid style silhouette and the fan wave neckline. It was one-shoulder, which was on trend for the year, and unlike later looks, wasn’t quite so body conscious, which, considering she’s not even able to legally drink yet at this time, is probably the right way to go.
Next: 41. Love Story
41. “Love Story”
The biggest single from her second album Fearless, “Love Story” is Taylor’s Romeo and Juliet. Proving that when you go with Shakespeare, you go with God, this was not just one of Swift’s best selling singles ever, it was one of the best selling singles of all time period. At a time when the singles market was still recovering from a decade of illegal downloading, “Love Story” sold 8 million copies, 5.8 million of which were paid digital downloads, proving that if the singer is talented, the song is good, and the album marketed, sales will still happen. “Love Story” was also Swift’s first hit to reach number one internationally–a feat she would not repeat until 2014’s “Shake It Off.”
True to the song being a Romeo and Juliet story, the video is also a medieval romance type narrative, with Swift running around in period costume, dressed like a princess out of a fairy tale. Being Taylor Swift of course, she didn’t write it as a tragedy. No double suicides here, not today, thank you kindly. In Taylor Swift’s Romeo and Juliet, everyone lives happily ever after. Despite the crossover success, “Love Story” didn’t find much success in winning awards in mainstream circles, but it was declared “Country Song of the Year” by Broadcast Music Incorporated.
Next: 40. She's a Cat Lady
40. She’s a Cat Lady
Why do I love Taylor Swift? Because she’s a cat lady. Unmarried, in a condo in the city, she isn’t one of those girls with the idiot bag and the small dog carried about as a prop, thank you very much. Taylor is a cat lady, as any person in her position would be. She has two cats, Meredith and Olivia. Meredith is named for Meredith Grey from Grey’s Anatomy (natch) and Olivia is named Olivia Benson from that show no one ever admits they watch even though it’s on 24 hours a day Law and Order SVU. Meredith Swift (as her kitty would so clearly be named) is a Scottish fold, and even has a Twitter account. (Well a parody one, anyway.) She’s included in a lot of Taylor’s blog posts, and was even in a YouTube video where her very famous staffling suddenly catches on that the cat is training her and not the other way around.
Olivia, who was only adopted last year, is another Scottish fold, and she immediately one-upped Meredith by appearing along with her staff in a Diet Coke commercial. She appears in a lot of Taylor’s recent Instagrams, and though she might not have a Twitter account (yet) I’m sure Cat Twitter would be happy to have her join their kitty chatting crowd. MOL! (Yes, that stands for Meow Out Loud. Just go with it.)
Next: 39. You Belong With Me
39. “You Belong With Me”
This was Taylor’s third single from the Fearless album, and the video that seemed to go viral on pop music stations and MTV. That’s partly because of the crossover appeal of the song, which was the biggest country crossover since Faith Hill’s “Breathe.” It was her second highest charting single on the Billboard Hot 100 at the time. The video also helped with Swift’s popularity, casting her as a nerdy Every Girl, in contrast to her growing pop princess image. It was also her ticket into another exclusive club–that of pop stars ubiquitous enough to be parodied by Weird Al Yankovic. His version of her song was extra ironic for a girl who keeps tight hold of her image. It was called “TMZ.”
“You Belong With Me” was nominated for several Grammys, including Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She didn’t win any of them, but that didn’t matter–she won Grammys for other songs from that album, including “White Horse.” On the other hand, “You Belong With Me” was the first country music video to take the MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video in 2009. That spawned one of Taylor’s most infamous moments–standing there with her mouth hanging open as Kanye West stormed the stage to declare that Beyoncé should have won. For the record Beyoncé was genuinely horrified by Kanye’s behavior, and when she won later for Video of the Year, made a point to bring Swift back out to finish her acceptance speech, saying that she remembered how much her first MTV Award win meant to her back with Destiny’s Child.
Next: 38. Youngest Ever to...
38. Youngest Ever Grammy Album of the Year Winner
Part of Taylor’s phenomenal success comes from the fact that she’s achieved so much so young. The country music scene isn’t afraid to start them young–LeAnn Rimes was selling Patsy Cline covers at the age of 14. Tanya Tucker had her first hit at 13. But those were girls who were singing others people’s songs and having their talent heavily micromanaged, due to their young age. Taylor is the opposite. When RCA wanted to micromanage her, she walked. At every turn she’s been determined to put out her music at her age, because it would be more authentic for a 17-year-old to be singing about her life at 15 and 16 than it would ten years down the line.
And it’s paid off. Taylor owns the record for being the youngest artist to do a lot of things–from the youngest singer-songwriter on the country charts with a number one hit, to the youngest pop star with the best selling album of the year, she’s broken records left and right with her determination to do it her way. And the Awards Industry has recognized that. In 2010, she was the youngest Grammy winner for Album of the Year for Fearless. That along with her awards for “White Horse” and the Grammy for Best Country Album meant she walked away with four Grammys in 2010. It also was the beginning of what became known as “Taylor Swift Surprise Face” when she won awards, a face that would become a staple as she mowed them down over the next three years.
Next: 37. White Horse
37. “White Horse”
The second single from the album Fearless, this was the single that was the closest throwback to what was quickly becoming Taylor’s former country music roots. Due to the more country sound of the song, it didn’t find the big crossover success of other singles, like “Love Story” or “You Belong With Me.” But perhaps showing that her writing was still more comfortable in the country genre than the pop one at this juncture, “White Horse” was the one that won the Grammys it was nominated for.
For the record, “White Horse” actually was not meant by Swift to be on the Fearless album. She had decided initially that there were enough “solemn” songs on the disc, and that she should maybe hold this one for the next album. But then Shonda Rimes called looking for a song for Grey’s Anatomy, which we know from the name of Taylor’s cat is one of her all time favorite shows. This was the song Swift played for them, and after some debate decided to use for the fifth season premiere of the show. So on to the album it went. Good thing too. “White Horse” was nominated in 2010 for the Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song. “You Belong With Me” was also nominated, but in the pop categories. It lost both, but “White Horse” won both its nominations.
Next: 36. 2010 Costume Gala Gown
36. 2010 Costume Gala Gown
One of Taylor’s best fashion moments in her career thus far came at the Costume Gala in 2010. The event, which is also referred to as the Met Gala, or the Fashion Oscars, is one of the highest profile red carpet events of the year. Here we can see Taylor’s continuing transformation from country queen to pop icon. This is where we start to see the curled hairdo parted on the side and the retro look of the finger waves start to come in to play. The hair is still long, but rolled up in a faux bob to give the sense of that 1920s bobbed look that women did who didn’t quite have the nerve to cut their hair. (See also, Edith in Downton Abbey.)
But the real magic of the look is the choice of gown. It’s a Ralph Lauren, whose minimal styling and choice of just this side of off-white suit her. The princess style gown with the soft layers, the off the shoulder lace sleeves, the barely noticeable mermaid shape, all of these are perfect for her next stage as ruler of the pop universe.
There’s also quite a bit of diamond jewelry with this outfit, but none of it showy, which goes with the idea that real royalty never worries about making sure you know they are rich. And of course, the makeup which would become a Taylor Trademark–the dark lip that plays up the cupid’s bow shape and the light eyes. It’s a knock out moment.
Next: 35. She Loves Burgers
35. Taylor Swift’s Diet
Of course Taylor Swift has a diet. All celebrities do. Some of them are self explanatory–they eat vegetarian, or they are vegan. Some of them are a little more inscrutable–they say they’re vegan, but then add that they still eat meat, clearly missing the point. In a culture where how a celebrity looks is a major component of their marketing strategy, someone like Swift needs to make sure she exercises and keeps her figure in order to maintain her image of a healthy wholesome girl.
And her diet? It’s no different. As published on WebMD, “Taylor Swift’s Rules for Healthy Living” are exactly the sort of down to earth every girl way of eating one would expect. No wacky refusal to eat carbs, no insistence that everything be in juice form. She sticks to salads, yogurt and sandwiches during the week, and on weekends? “I allow myself to eat what I know from common sense is bad for me. I like comfort foods. I love a burger and fries, I love ice cream so much, and I love baking cookies. Actually, I love baking anything.”
She drinks Starbucks, and says that it’s one of the things she refuses to give up. That sort of sensible “never cutting out what you love” type advice is exactly the sort of thing all nutritionists champion. It fits in perfectly with her image, and yet sounds like a diet anyone wouldn’t mind trying for 30 days. After all, anyone who says a sandwich is good for you is talking sense.
Next: 33. Her Third Album Speak Now
34. Valentine’s Day
As with most pop stars, Taylor attempted in 2010 to branch out into a movie career, with the ill-fated film Valentine’s Day. The entire movie was a disaster, a bad romantic comedy that attempted to circumvent inevitable box office failure by casting every big named star who had five minutes free. Not an auspicious start to a movie career, but Taylor got decent reviews for her little storyline, which is more than you could say for some of those in the movie who don’t have a mega pop star day job to go back to.
But though the movie bombed, and Swift might not have had her breakout movie role a la Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard, she did find success anyway. Like Houston, Swift didn’t just act in the movie, she also contributed to the soundtrack. “Today was a Fairy Tale” was her second biggest debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, entering at number 2. People who hadn’t seen the movie nevertheless heard the song and liked it enough to buy it. It sold 325,000 digital downloads, which broke the record that held at the time by Britney Spears. (The current record is still held by Swift, but for another, later song.)
Next: 33. Her Third Album Speak Now
33. Her Third Album Speak Now
Speak Now, Taylor’s third album, was her second consecutive album to debut at number one on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Released in 2010 almost exactly two years after Fearless, and right at the height of her Grammy success from that album, its first week sales put it third best in the history of country album releases (second at the time, Taylor’s next release would bump it back to third), and fifth in releases by a female singer over all.
It instantly made end of year lists, even though only two of the six singles it would go on to spawn had been dropped at that point. It was the biggest album debut in five and a half years for a flagging music industry, and the biggest first week sales of the entire year. The album officially stands at quadruple platinum, with 4.5 million albums sold to date.
This was the first album where Swift wrote all 14 tracks. No co-writers are credited. She claims she didn’t mean for that to be the case, it just happened: “Like, I’d get my best ideas at 3:00 am in Arkansas, and I didn’t have a co-writer around and I would just finish it.” The six singles that were released from it were “Mine,” “Back to December,” “Mean,” “The Story of Us,” “Sparks Fly,” and “Ours.”
All of them reached either gold or platinum status. The rest of the album, even without being put out as a single, charted on the Billboard Hot 100 the first week of release. A year later in 2011, it was the number one album of the year on the Billboard County Album chart and number 2 for the year on the Billboard Top 200 Albums.
Next: 32. Mean
32. “Mean”
Most of Taylor’s songs on Speak Now were love songs–songs of loss and break ups and crushes never fulfilled. But then there was “Mean.” This song was not about a break up but apparently aimed at one of her critics. At the time it started out as more of a general lashing out at those who seemed to attack her and her success, “There’s constructive criticism, there’s professional criticism, and then there’s just being mean. And there’s a line that you cross when you just start to attack everything about a person.” But as interviews when on, and her fans narrowed down who was being referenced in every song, Taylor admitted it was about a critic who had been especially cruel after her bad duet with Stevie Nicks.
Bob Lefsetz, of The Lefsetz Letter, had turned heavily on Swift after that performance, declaring that Swift needed to do major damage control, this incident would destroy her career overnight, and a plea to her parents to step up and control their daughter. Beyond the rash statements of the former and the rather blatant sexism of the latter, none of these declarations turned out to be necessary. And though Swift never said directly it was him, Lefsetz (and most of her fans) are convinced it was.
It debuted at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was arguably one of the most successful of her singles from Speak Now. It was nominated for two Grammys in 2012 (along with one more for the album). Though the album did not win in its category, “Mean” won both for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. Not bad for for a revenge track aimed at someone who hysterically declared her career over.
Next: 31. Stevie Nicks!!
31. That Duet With Stevie Nicks
We can’t go through this countdown without talking about that thing everyone always brings up as proof she can’t sing–the live duet with Stevie Nicks.
Look, everyone has a bad day. Singers have off performances. It’s a fact. One of the drawbacks of Swift becoming famous at such a young age is that her bad moments, including a bad performance, don’t just play out in public, they play out on telecasts where millions upon millions are watching.
Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters has talked about the same issue with his band–that the personnel changes that would have probably happened before they broke big unfortunately played out on a wide stage in front of millions on MTV, because of his status from Nirvana. Much like other embarrassing moments, including the one with Kanye, Swift did the only thing she could. She held her head high and kept walking.
It worked too. Not only has she moved past that performance, but several artists who saw it came to her defense publicly, including Nicks herself who said: “Taylor reminds me of myself in her determination and her childlike nature. It’s an innocence that’s so special and so rare. This girl writes the songs that make the whole world sing, like Neil Diamond or Elton John … The female rock-‘n’-roll-country-pop songwriter is back, and her name is Taylor Swift. And it’s women like her who are going to save the music business.”
Most singers would kill for that kind of full throated defense. Most singers would have hired a “crisis agent” to get them through. Swift decided to do that would just acknowledge and prolong the story. Once again, the best offense is to let the bad day roll off your back and do better tomorrow. That’s the Swift way.
Next: 30. Dear John
30. “Dear John”
“Dear John” was not a single that was ever released from Speak Now, but it’s arguably one of the most famous songs people have never actually heard. Though the concept of the “Dear John” letter was what Swift was arguably playing off of when she titled it, her relationship with John Mayer was as well known as it was controversial. They never admitted to their relationship in public, but when they started dating in 2009 he was 32 and she was barely 19.
Up until the release of “Dear John” Mayer was a pretty big name in rock music. His peak came around 2006 with his album Continuum. But by 2010 when Speak Now was released his career had plateaued and hit “Waiting on the World to Change” was being criticized as the anthem that proved everything that was wrong with millennials. Into this dropped Taylor’s accusatory track, asking the questions people had privately thought (that she was way too young for him) and accusing him of being emotionally abusive. Add that to a pair of extremely unfortunate interviews on his end–one where he described his relationship with Jessica Simpson in such terms that it almost confirmed everything Taylor was accusing him of, as well as some unfortunate racial comments, and boom. Mayer’s career disappeared.
Five years later, he’s still trying to make it go away. If there’s one moment that can be pointed to that proves the power of Swift’s songwriting skills, it was her ability to help in taking down the career of someone who did her wrong.
Next: 29. 2011 CMAs Gown
29. 2011 CMAs Gown
You don’t even have to add Taylor Swift into the search. Just type “2011 CMA Gowns” into Google and her gorgeous J.Mendel gown shows up. As we can see just from the designer name, Swift was now commanding serious big named designers for her award show appearances.
Even though this was for an appearance at the Country Music Awards, one can see yet again another step away from country and into pop princess-hood. The curl is now almost completely gone from her hair, which the exception of the roll of her bangs, her hair barely has a wave. In side views you can tell her hair is pulled back into a wavy ponytail that goes past her shoulders, but from the front, you cannot tell what length it is, a trick that pop starlets pull a lot.
Then there’s the dress. Taylor has always gone for mermaid gowns, even when the silhouette is subtle. Here the strapless gown wraps tightly in chiffon until it hits the mermaid length, and then explodes out of one side on a diagonal forming the train. It is a touch bridal, and on another lesser starlet, we might be asking where the bouquet and aisle are, but somehow Taylor manages simply by posture to let us know this is a red carpet moment.
Next: 28. Safe & Sound
28. “Safe & Sound”
As one of Swift’s soundtrack side projects, she was asked to contribute a track to the franchise hopeful The Hunger Games, which came out in 2012. She wound up contributing two. “Eyes Open” was her solo project. “Safe and Sound” she wrote with T-Bone Burnett and Joy Williams and John Paul White of the now defunct country alternative band The Civil Wars. The resulting song was far more folk rock than anything Swift had released before, and her duet with the Civil Wars duo gives it a lovely lullaby quality. It was picked as one of the highlights of the soundtrack by AllMusic.
Fans weren’t the only ones to think so. The song was not the hot button commercial success of some of Swift’s other releases, peaking at Number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100. But it did make it as high as number 19 on the Hot Digital Charts. It also garnered several award nominations, though it didn’t take many awards home, including Musical Event of the Year by the CMAs and Collaborative of the Year by the CMTs. Other nominations included Taylor Swift’s first trip to the Golden Globes, where it lost to Adele’s “Skyfall.” (She’d go again just a year later for “One Chance” where she would lose to U2.) It did take home a Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
Next: 27. The Big Help Award
27. The Big Help Award
Taylor Swift isn’t just a pop phenomenon. As many successful artists do, she works hard to give back. She’s been promoting Children’s Literacy since 2009, and has donated money and books both to her hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania and to her adopted hometown of Nashville. She’s donated money to schools around the country to help pay teacher’s salaries, and even has a program called Read Now with Taylor Swift that was broadcast in schools. She co-chaired the National Education Association’s Read Across America campaign in 2012, and had donated 14,000 books to the Nashville public library. “Something I wanted to do at the end of this amazing year and especially on my birthday was give back to something I really believe in, which is education,” said Swift on her 20th birthday. “The schools that I went to and the amazing people I got to learn from really turned me into who I am, and I wanted to give back.”
All of this work lead to Michelle Obama recognizing Swift with the Big Help Award that same year. As part of Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, the Big Help Award is exactly what it sounds like. Mrs. Obama was a recipient of the award in 2010, and came back in 2012 to present it to Taylor, for all of her charity work at such a young age and her ability to reach teenagers and younger kids and to try and make a difference in their lives. As they noted, her donation list includes (but is not limited to) Make-A-Wish Foundation, St. Jude Medical Center, the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, Nick’s Kids, the TJ Martell Foundation and the Victory Junction Gang Camp.
Next: 26. She Took On The Westboro Baptist Church
26. Westboro Baptist Church
Anyone who irritates the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad people who run the Westboro Baptist Church ought to be commended. I would suggest an award, but Taylor has so many, she might not have room. Still! By the time her fourth album Red was released, this group of attention seekers decided that she would make a lovely target and began picketing her shows. They called her “the whorish face of doomed America.” This seems beyond extreme, considering that Swift’s peers were all far more likely to appear nude in magazines, go on drinking binges in public, or go the way of Lindsey Lohan.
Further, proving that the Church runs on a patriarchal view of the world that has very little do do with the reality of Swift’s career, they blamed her father for it. “He has no compunction about her immodest vulgar appearance or serial fornication. With a hating hypocrite for a dad – who will jealously guard her income, while not giving a thought for her never-dying soul – no wonder she grew up to be the poster child for the young whores of doomed-america.”
Ok guys, sure. Let us know when that boycott starts working, ok?
Next: 25. The Taylor Swift Education Center
25. The Taylor Swift Education Center
One of Taylor’s major charitable initiatives is bringing music education to the masses. She’s not alone, quite a few artists lend their name to charities that bring music into schools, like VH1’s Save the music foundation. Swift went one step further. She opened an entire school, in association with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
“It will allow us to do what we do better, serve more people, develop new programs and I’m happy to say that as we talked through this opportunity with Taylor, she very much wants to be involved in an advisory capacity in what we do,” Kyle Young, the museum director, told The Associated Press. “Is there a better person out there who’s in touch with a young audience?”
The Taylor Swift Education Center, a $4 million dollar wing off the Country Music Hall of Fame, is a space that provides not only education opportunities for those who might not be able to afford private music lessons, but classroom spaces for teaching and lectures. The space works with local school groups to bring them in to experience instruments and music in a hands on way as part of the Nashville public school curriculum. They also hold Q&As for students with artists, both aspiring, and establish musicians. Programs range in ages from toddler to after school workshops for teens, and talks for adults. Because when you’re Taylor, you don’t just donate in half measures. you build entire centers.
Next: 24. Her Fourth Album Red
24. Her Fourth Album Red
Swift continued her rolling chart domination in 2012 with the release of her fourth album Red. Released towards the end of 2012, just as her 2012 Grammy wins from Speak Now were beginning to fade from the front pages. Like Speak Now, and Fearless before it, Red debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 when it came out, Swift’s third consecutive number one album. It marked the third best debut for a female artist. Moreover, its first week sales of 1.21 million marked the highest of all time by a country act–a record previously held by Garth Brooks. It was the fastest selling album in more than a decade.
Red also marked Taylor’s first major success outside the US. It topped the charts in the UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. Red was released at the end of October 2012, but mere months later it had become the best selling country album of that year. It was her fourth consecutive quadruple platinum album. It was also her first real experimentation outside the country genre. Though marketed and treated as if it was a country album, Swift had songs on this album that ranged from dubstep to dance pop to harder rock.
Due to the collaborative and experimental nature of some of the tracks, she only wrote nine tracks solo–the rest of the 16 tracks are collaborations with other artists. She released a total of seven singles from the album. The first five, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “I Knew You Were Trouble,” “22,” “Everything Has Changed,” and “The Last Time,” were released to all radio formats, while the last two “Red” and “Begin Again” were for country radio only.
Next: 23.We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
23.”We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
This was Taylor’s lead single off of the Red album, and her first hit to go all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Not only that, but it was the first single to remain at number one for more than a week after making a huge jump in the first week of release. Worldwide sales were around 7 million. It was Swift’s first collaboration with Swedish pop hit maker Max Martin, and clearly they made for a winning team.
Swift had always had slightly different remixes of singles for pop and country radio for most of her career–one that played up the banjo and steel guitar for country airplay and one that played them down for the pop stations. “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” was the first single to take that a step further. Since Martin’s style is the heavily electronic type of pop production and voice processing, the backing track for country radio (which took those out) made for a radically different sounding single, with banjo and mandolin standing in for electronic beat making.
Like all Taylor’s break up songs, this one was scrutinized pretty heavily, with fans determining that the song was in reference to her on and off relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal.
Next: 22. The CMA 2013 Pinnacle Award
22. The CMA 2013 Pinnacle Award
By the time 2013 rolled around Swift’s pop crossover stardom was almost complete. Despite more countrified versions of her pop hits playing on country charts, it was obvious that she was very soon going to be leaving the genre that made her. The Awards circuit was also a little tired of handing her awards year after year. After three consecutive albums that dominated the charts for five years in turn, the Grammys gave her nominations a pass. The CMAs did as well, but knowing perhaps that their time with her would soon be drawing to a close they went out of their way to revive a one off award that had only been given out once before–The Pinnacle Award.
Created in 2005, the Pinnacle Award was invented for the purpose of being given to the sole other recipient of it: Garth Brooks. Brooks was honored for his two decade career in the 1990s and 2000s for his unprecedented (at the time) crossover success. In 2005, his streak of hit records was second only to Elvis and the Beatles in terms of sales. He had done that in 15 years, and after a career that spanned decades was heading into retirement. Taylor had reached equal status in the eyes of the Country Music scene in only five years. Unlike Brooks, who took it as one of his last awards, for her it was more of a graduation ceremony, as her world opened up to decades more success in the world of pop.
Next: 21. I Knew You Were Trouble
21. “I Knew You Were Trouble”
If “We Are Never Getting Back Together” was a calculated choice of lead single for Red to show pop fans that Taylor was pushing further into the mainstream sound, “I Knew You Were Trouble” was her attempt to see how far those boundaries could be pushed. Her other collaboration with reliable hitmaker Max Martin on the album, this was her foray into the trend of the moment, dubstep. Though it didn’t go all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 (Bruno Mars kept it locked out of the penthouse with “Locked Out of Heaven”), it was one of the top selling singles worldwide ever for a female artist of any stripe with 6.6 million in sales.
Several of Swift’s critics were not pleased with her use of dubstep on the track, accusing her to be dabbling in something that wasn’t really her forte, and only adding it in to be trendy. The pushback on the single seemed to boil down to a desire to see Swift “stay in her lane.” But as one Rolling Stone critic reminded every one, Swift was only 22, and it was natural for an artist of her age to experiment with the sounds of the moment.
Unlike other of Swift’s break up songs, “I Knew You Were Trouble” was a little more generalized and not quite so specific about one relationship or referring to a recent boyfriend. Fans are still convinced though that the song is a follow up to “Dear John,” and that the person she’s berating herself for dating despite all the red flags is John Mayer.
Next: 20. 2014 Costume Gala Gown
20. 2014 Costume Gala Gown
Vintage is Taylor Swift’s fashion wheelhouse, even if she doesn’t always know it. So when the theme for the 2014 Met Gala was announced as Charles James, the famous 1950s designer, it was going to be hard for Swift to go wrong. In fact, it was her best dress of the year, and one of her all time most fashionable moments.
The pale pink gown was custom designed by the late Oscar De La Renta, and one of the last dresses he designed before he passed later that year. The floor length satin-faced organza gown was decorated with matte gold sequins, pearl beads, silver-lined seed beads, rose gold metallic threadwork leaves, and organza petal embroidery, and was one of Taylor’s most sophisticated looks to date.
The train, which stretched out from the bow at the back, made a good impact in photos on the Met staircase. By this time, the hair, which had once reached to the sky was fully flat ironed, with only the sort of 1950s waves that fit the retro vibes. And of course, there was her signature red lip, which had become a permanent staple during the Red album launch and beyond.
And for the record, it’s one of my personal favorite dresses Taylor Swift has ever worn.
Next: 19. The Liner Notes
19. The Liner Notes
Speak Now was the album that made Taylor really famous for the secret messages embedded in her album’s liner notes, and all of her albums since have driven fans to try and decipher every song. All of the singles, and most of the other tracks, are all very personal songs. All of them refer to relationships Swift either had, was having, or failed to have. And nearly all of them were with her peers–i.e. people just as famous as herself. Fans stated that the album liner notes, with their random capitalization and odd typesetting contained clues letting everyone know which song was about which failed celebrity relationship.
“Sparks Fly” for instance, has PORTLAND OREGON spelled out in the liner notes, so fans tied it back to a blog post she wrote in Portland, about fellow country star Jake Owen. “Back to December” is assumed to be about her break up with Taylor Lautner. “The Story Of Us” and “Dear John” are about the same person, and “Dear John” is so obviously about John Mayer, there’s almost nothing subtle about it. “Enchanted” spells out ADAM in the liner notes, and is assumed to be about Adam Young of Owl City, who Taylor had a crush on. And on and on and on. Figuring out what song was about who became a game with her fans, one that would extend to later albums.
Next: 18. Grammys 2014 Gown
18. Grammys 2014 Gown
This is probably one of Taylor’s less high end moments in Red Carpet, but it’s one of my personal favorite gowns that she’s worn in the last five years. In 2014, with something of a minor “Taylor Swift backlash” happening in the press, no high profile awards won other than the Pinnacle Award in the last 18 months and feeling a little under siege, Taylor Swift wore armor to the Grammys.
I say this is one of Taylor’s less high profile moments, because at first glance this Gucci Première feels like a throwback to the older style Taylor wore when she was still a teenager without high profile designers and stylists around her–the metallic column gown that feels a bit childlike and unsophisticated. The hair is almost causal–a ponytail one might see a co-worker wear to the office, and even her lips are much paler than usual.
But look again and realize those aren’t sequins or silver threads. This is a dress that’s all metal–a column of chain-mail from head to foot. She could walk into battle wearing this gown and walk out unscathed (Well, ok, she might hurt her ankle–the platform shoes are less sensible footwear than easy to reach weaponry.) It also paints her as an Ice Goddess, someone untouchable, that the press can’t reach no matter what they attempt to lob at her. All that and it photographs spectacularly. Daenerys Targaryen, take notes.
Next: 17. Her fifth album 1989
17. Her fifth album 1989
Ten years after Taylor Swift’s parents moved their family out to Nashville, nominally because her father was transferred, but really because his daughter was obsessed with a career in country music, Swift left Nashville behind. With the drop of her latest album 1989, at the end of 2014, Swift completed the full crossover to pop music that had been slowly working its way to the fore since Fearless. Max Martin is listed as executive producer along with Swift, and unlike her other album, Swift is only credited with having written one song alone–the rest of the 12 tracks are collaborations with Martin, pop writer Ryan Tedder, or indie artists like Jack Antonoff and Imogen Heap.
1989, which refers to both Swift’s birth year, as well as the late 80s trending sound her album cleaves to, debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 Albums, making it her fourth album in a row to do so. It was the first album to sell 1.3 million copies in the first week since 2002, and was the best selling album by a woman since Britney’s Oops, I Did It Again album. So far the album has spawned four singles, “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” “Style,” and “Bad Blood.” Only “Style” did not make it to number one on the Billboard Top Hot 100. Though it was only out for two months before the end of the year, 1989 was the best selling album of 2014. With 11 weeks in the number one spot on the Billboard 200, Swift became the second woman to have albums spend 35 weeks at number one over the course of her career. Only Whitney Houston has more.
Next: 16. Shake It Off
16. “Shake It Off”
The lead single from Taylor’s self professed first full pop album 1989, “Shake It Off” debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 100, becoming her second number one single ever. It’s been nominated for three Grammys this year: Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. Most non Swift fans refer to it as the “Haters Gonna Hate” song, for the catchy chorus line in the song. It did not quite best “We Are Never Getting Back Together” in sales, but it came close, and is the fourth highest seller in first week sales over all. Though it takes aim at all the critics who done her wrong during the Red era, some complained it wasn’t quite as personal as some of her other hits, proving the old adage that some people will never be pleased no matter what you do.
“Shake It Off” is also notable for being Swift’s first controversial video. Most of Swift’s videos prior to this had been somewhere between forgettable to inoffensive to the sort of storytelling expected from a country artist. This one, like several pop star videos before it, featured the African American style of dancing known as twerking. Unfortunately, those complaining missed the point of that “Taylor Twerking” moment.
Whereas other pop stars who included it in their videos, like Miley Cyrus, who was twerking seriously and sexily with no thought to the cultural appropriation it represented, or Lily Allen, whose tone deaf use of black dancers twerking over the lyric “Don’t have to shake my ass for you/Cause I’ve got a brain” was just embarrassing, Taylor’s use of it was to be ironic. She looks as ludicrous twerking as she does in pointe shoes, because neither of these styles of dance are her or who she is, and doing them in order to please her critics or her producers are not going to work and she knows it.
Next: 15. Handling Tina Fey
15. Handling Tina Fey
One of the drawbacks to Swift’s personal confession style writings is the bizarre not quite slut shaming that’s come with it from her critics. Now, to be fair, Swift was one aspect of the end of John Mayer’s hit career, but the fact of the matter is, she did not do it single-handedly–she merely framed the conversation and handed him the shovel and sat back while he did the digging. But after two albums which served as guessing games for fans of “Who is Taylor talking about here?” those who don’t know her or her music very well mostly think of the string of men she’s dated and shamed when you ask them what’s the first thing about Taylor Swift that comes into their head.
Which is why it wasn’t all that surprising that at the 2014 Golden Globes, as Taylor sat in the audience for her hit “One Chance” from Sweeter Than Fiction the let’s poke fun at the celebrity roulette wheel landed on her, with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler chiming out jokes to the men in the audience (well, Michael J Fox) that dating Taylor Swift was a terrible idea, and they don’t understand why this isn’t obvious to all and sundry. Swift laughed it off at the time, but the lesson of the moment clearly stuck, as afterwards she began cultivating high profile friendships with women to balance her dating life. It was also a moment where Swift let out one of her more baldly feminist statements, quoting Madeline Albright: “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.”
Next: 14. Blank Space
14. “Blank Space”
Taylor’s foray into minimalist electronica “Blank Space” was the second single off her 1989 pop album. If you’re looking for a song that shows just how far she’s grown as an artist over the last ten years, listen to it back to back with “Tim McGraw.” The different is startling. So are the numbers. Upon release, reached 1 billion views on Vevo, becoming in six months, the fastest to do so, and the third video to ever hit that number. Currently the video is the fourth most viewed on YouTube of all time.
“Blank Space” supplanted “Shake It Off” in the number one slot on the Billboard Hot 100 making Taylor, at the age of 24, the first woman to have back to back number one singles in the 56 year history of the chart’s record keeping. It also topped charts internationally, in Canada, South Africa, Scotland, and Australia. Much like “Shake it Off” the song is a meta commentary on her career, portraying herself as a maneater who only dates famous men for material for her next album. Taking aim at herself instead of at the men who done her wrong did very well for Swift. It’s currently considered the peak of her song writing career to date by critics.
Next: 13. 2015 Billboard Music Awards Pantsuit
13. 2015 Billboard Music Awards Pantsuit
For all Taylor’s insistence that she is a dress girl, her best look this year so far was her moment when she branched out and tried on the trend of the moment, the 1970s style pantsuit. Much like everything Swift is doing currently the entire look, from designer Balmain, is a radical departure from her usual style, from the pants themselves, to the sexy cut outs on the sides, to the makeup and that rather startling helmet of hair.
Though the short bob and the flat iron are good departures for Swift, the overall result unfortunately makes her look a bit like a country suburban housewife, so we’ll politely ignore the hairdo with a “good try.” After all, the hair, and the minimal makeup aren’t the focus, as much as the white suit with the large cutaways which show off more of Swift’s cut and and chiseled figure than she’s ever done before. The pants are cut extra long to hide her feet too, another look she’s never given us. After nearly a decade of little girl dressed up looks, romantic visions and sweet princess looks, it good to see her going for a more adult look.
Next: 12.Bad Blood
12.”Bad Blood”
The track “Bad Blood,” which is Taylor’s latest single, represents her most radical departure to date. Though one might argue the 1989 album itself is a total departure from her earlier work, this is the first single to be dropped that’s actually a remix of the original. It also features rapper Kendrick Lamar contributing and free styling on verses, something that is a pop staple at this point, but a thing Swift has never done before.
Much like her first two singles, “Bad Blood” once released went straight to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and making it her first album to have three number one pop singles.
“Bad Blood” is also notable because the original album version went over like a lead balloon when it was released as part of the run up to the album dropping. The song, which fans assume is about Katy Perry, seemed like a step back for Swift, with repetitive lyrics and cliched verses. That’s part of the reason behind taking the song and reworking it with Lamar and releasing a remix instead of the original. Working with Lamar also opened her up to a further audience who might not have heard her work before. As Swift experiments with what works and what doesn’t work for her in this new pop landscape, this ability to take lemons and make yet another number one hit single shows her resiliency.
Next: 11. Role Model
11. Role Model
Taylor Swift isn’t one of those teen stars that suddenly had to break free of her image and start rebelling all over the place. This might be because, unlike those who might be considered her “contemporaries” she wasn’t micro managed from the beginning. When made an offer that would have controlled what music she sang and when she could release albums, she walked away, knowing her own worth was better than that.
Since Taylor wasn’t being controlled by Disney, when she came of age, there was no need to rebel against anyone or “start making her own music.” There was no need for an Xtina style Stripped album, Taylor already bared her soul regularly. There were very few pictures of her wildly partying, no one had ever stopped her from partying before, so there was no need to push back. Likewise there were no images of her out of control, no shaving her head, no flashing herself getting out of cars. One thing that Taylor has done for herself from the beginning is realize how valuable that wholesome image is to her marketing. To this day she’s obsessive about her privacy, to the point where she bought two condos in New York in 2013–one for her, and one across the hall for her security team. And she’s never appeared naked or even partly undressed, in a magazine. It’s why parents trust her as a role model for their kids, and it’s integral to her image as a pop star.
Next: 10. T-Swift's Girl Crew
10. Taylor Swift’s Girl Crew
Let me say this right now–Taylor’s Swift’s Girl Crew strategy is well nigh genius.
Taylor Swift has a problem–she’s an unmarried woman in her mid 20s who goes through boyfriends like most women in her position would. She has a boyfriend, right now, don’t get me wrong. But Calvin Harris, a Scottish singer-songwriter, is the latest in what’s been a long line of industry boyfriends. And though Taylor has worked hard to keep herself as wholesome and relatable and image controlled as she can over the last ten years, the fact of the matter is, her tendency to write very personal songs about the things that happen to her–including dating and breaking up with said long line of industry boyfriends, has made her reputation just a little less than perfect.
Enter the cultivating of the Girl Crew. Starting in about 2012, Swift has made it a point to cultivate just as many high profile female friendships as male ones. She makes sure to point out in interviews that certain guest rooms are reserved for certain high profile besties, like Karlie Kloss, Lena Dunham, and more recently Lorde, Emma Watson and Serena Williams.
Much like Beyoncé Instagrams her perfect married life, Taylor makes sure to Instagram and document these high profile friendship just as thoroughly as she would male ones. (Speaking of which, Beyoncé is one of those who shows up in her photos too.) But not all the friendships she documents are high profile ones. She makes sure to have Abigail Anderson, the Abigail from her song “Fifteen” and BFF from high school in the mix as well, showing she hasn’t forgotten where she comes from.
Next: 9. The Kanye West Incident
9. The Kanye West Incident
One of the Top Ten reasons why Taylor Swift rules the world stems directly from the incident with Kanye and her handling of it at the time. Many pop stars would have interrupted back. Many would have responded in the press, or said unfortunate things that might have been construed very badly.
Taylor didn’t. She kept her mouth shut. When Beyoncé brought her back out and gave over her stage time to let Taylor finish her speech, she didn’t use it to jab at Kanye. She let the press, the fans, Twitter, and everyone all the way up to the President of the US speak for her. (Obama for the record, called Kanye a jackass.) When Kanye finally did issue an apology, she accepted it with dignity. When interviewers tried to ask her about it–and for the next few years every last one of them did–they all received the same answer.
Swift considered the matter closed. “It happened on TV, so everybody saw what happened … It’s not something I feel like we need to keep talking about.” By refusing to talk about it, she’s been able to walk away from it. (Though she did allow herself to be in a skit in which she interrupted Kanye in a good natured moment a year later.) Kanye continues to be a jackass and bring it back up (the look on Beyoncé‘s face when he started to do it again to Beck at the 2014 MTV Awards said volumes.) By Taylor has kept her head high and moved on. No one even bothers to ask her about it anymore. That’s how you handle scandal like a pro.
Next: 8. 100 Million singles downloaded in under 10 years.
8. 100 Million singles downloaded in under 10 years
Much like her album sales, Taylor’s single sales–in this day and age when people don’t buy singles anymore, they stream them or they pirate them, has been nothing short of remarkable. She holds the Guinness Book of World Records for Fastest Selling Single in Digital History for “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” as well as most simultaneous Billboard Hot 100 Hits by a Female artist. In all, in the last nine years she has released 35 singles as a lead artist. She also has three singles where she’s a featured artist, like B.O.B.’s “Both of Us” and John Mayer’s “Half of My Heart.” And then of course, there’s the promotional singles, which are released prior to the album dropping to drum up interest, but aren’t promoted as individual singles, of which she’s released ten.
All in all, Taylor Swift has reached over 100 Million singles downloaded in under 10 years. Over the course of five albums she has so far released 40 singles, plus a few from outside projects. That’s an average sale number of 2.5 million per single. Ina day and age when most stars excuse their poor sales by insisting that there are too many ways people can listen to singles for free and not but then, Taylor stands as a reminder that the public will buy your music. It just has to be good enough and well marketed.
Next: 7. Taking Aim at Spotify
7. Taking Aim at Spotify
One of the legacies of the music industry’s inability to get ahead of the internet and the Napster bloodbath that followed is the idea that music should be free to anyone anywhere. Though Apple arguably came along with iTunes and handed the music industry a life rope with which to pull itself out of the death spiral it was in, outside of Swift’s album sales, the year to year slump of album sales has been nothing short of a Great Depression for the industry. Into that void, a new way of consuming music has emerged–the streaming service. And though Pandora was at the forefront of streaming radio services, the current King of Streaming is Spotify.
Which is why it was huge news when Swift announced she would not be putting her 1989 album on their service when it was released, and in fact would be pulling all of her songs from their site. Her reasoning was simple, but startling in this era–artists should be paid for their art and their music. Spotify wasn’t willing to pay her what she thought she was worth. Let us quote:
“Everybody’s complaining about how music sales are shrinking, but nobody’s changing the way they’re doing things. They keep running towards streaming, which is, for the most part, what has been shrinking the numbers of paid album sales. With Beats Music and Rhapsody you have to pay for a premium package in order to access my albums. And that places a perception of value on what I’ve created. On Spotify, they don’t have any settings, or any kind of qualifications for who gets what music. I think that people should feel that there is a value to what musicians have created, and that’s that.”
In an era where most musicians, especially pop stars are expected to basically give away their music for free with the idea that they would get returns eventually, this is not only a radical stance, it’s a revolutionary one. Though it did not spark the change in the industry she hoped for, it planted her feet on the ground and made a stand that she would continue to follow later with Apple Radio.
Next: 6. Three Top Grossing World Tours (And Counting)
6. Three Top Grossing World Tours (And Counting)
Of course, everyone knows the real dirty secret of the industry isn’t that you make money off of albums. (Unless, like Taylor you do all the writing and get paid for both songwriting and performing.) But even having that security in her pocket, Swift, like everyone knows the real money comes from touring. Tickets, from the nosebleeds to the VIP backstage passes for the meet and greet, plus those all important merchandise sales, touring is where Swift has really added to her fortune.
And tour she has. For every one of her last four albums, from Fearless to 1989, Swift has gone on a World Tour, performing all of her songs live for audiences across America and the world in support of the albums and the singles. (This is extra impressive when you also add in that the moment an album is released, she immediately starts working on the next one to keep up the every-two-years pace.)
And every last one of these tours made money hand over fist. The Fearless Tour in 2009, which mostly stuck to North America with a few stops int he UK, brought in $63 million. The Speak Now World Tour, which included Oceania and Asia, as well as North America and Europe brought in $123 million in 2012. The Red Tour, another world wide tour that saw her hit four out of five continents, grossed $150 million. The 1989 World Tour which kicked off in May, is expected to gross somewhere on par with the latter number. Like her album sales, her tour grosses just keep rising.
Next: 5. Taking Down Apple
5. Taking Down Apple
Taylor’s latest and greatest moment only occurred last month. She was already on record as not liking streaming services, as they do not pay artists what they are worth. When Apple, the company that arguably saved the music business in 2003 when it opened the iTunes Store and started selling music over the internet so people didn’t have to steal it, announced at WWDC at the beginning of June that they would be bringing us “Apple Music” a streaming service app, she probably wasn’t thrilled.
But she really wasn’t happy when she discovered that the three month trial the company was offering came with the caveat that they would not pay any of the writers, producers or artists whose songs were streamed during that time. It was another one of those expectations that happen to pop artists–give away your music for free now, in hopes of making money later.
Taylor wasn’t having it. In an open letter to the company she let everyone know that Apple was refusing to pay their artists, and that she would not be allowing her music to be streamed on the service, because she worked too hard to give away her music for free. Unlike Spotify, who were not embarrassed to be outed as paying their artists little to no money, Apple was thoroughly embarrassed to have everyone suddenly know that they were trying to get away with cutting corners like this. And unlike her strike against Spotify, this one worked.
Apple was so embarrassed by the bad publicity it did a public about face, apologized to Taylor and announced they would pay the artists on their service during the free period after all. Not only was it a huge publicity win for Taylor, but it was a huge win for the music industry. Small time indie artists everywhere began publicly thanking her for taking a stand and using her platform to help everyone in the industry who wants to make a living.
Next: 4. 40 million albums sold in 9 years
4. 40 million albums sold in 9 years
Taylor has released five LP albums over the course of the last nine years. That’s one album every two years, like clockwork. Each of her albums has built on the success of the previous one, and has outsold the ones before it. She currently holds the Guinness Book of World Records for Fastest Selling Digital Album for Speak Now.
As they say on MarketWatch, let’s do the numbers:
- Taylor Swift 5.5 million
- Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection (EP) 1.1 Million
- Beautiful Eyes (EP) 300,000
- Fearless 6.9 million
- Speak Now 4.5 million
- Red 4.1 million
- 1989 4.9 million
In total, that’s 40 million albums sold in 9 years. And she did it during a time when people thought it could no longer be done. back in the late 90s, top selling albums regularly reached the eight and nine million mark. (N’SYNC, for instance, sold 9.9 million albums in the year 2000, the year that Napster rolled into homes across the country as broadband expanded.) By 2008, when Taylor was about ready to drop Fearless, the highest grossing album barely managed to sell 2.8 million. Since then Swift has performed a direct march across all industry expectations, reminding everyone that it can still be done.
Next: 3. The Hand Written Notes
3. The Hand Written Notes
Taylor is famous for one of her throwback habits–the hand written thank you note. This one time staple of the American Postal System, hand written thank you notes are now a thing reserved to torture small children with after their birthdays and brides to bemoan having not done two years after their wedding. But don’t tell that to Taylor.
Her penchant for hand written notes is legendary. The first one (and arguably one of the more famous instances) is the one she sent to fellow country artist Eric Church. Church is one of those artists who has done well on the country scene in the past five years, but had zero crossover success. His career took a while to kick off as well. It might have taken off back in 2006, if he hadn’t been kicked off the Rascal Flatts tour. That Christian country band was at the height of their crossover fame when Church was opening for them–until they decided he played too loud and too long and replaced him with–you got it–Taylor Swift. She sent him a thank you note.
But that’s not the only thank you note she sends. Swift will send hand written thank you notes to radio DJs, fans, people she meets backstage at concerts, basically anyone. It’s part of her campaign to be as wholesome as all get out, but it’s also an extremely savvy move in this day and age when most people could never be bothered. When she was still up and coming, it was memorable. Now that she’s a huge star, people feel that her taking the time to write them makes them feel special. And it also makes a connection. Because you never know who that next random person you meet backstage might turn out to be one day.
Next: 2. 210 Awards Won and Counting
2. 210 Awards Won and Counting
Taylor Swift is one of the most decorated songwriters and singers in the history of music and the history of country music. She’s been nominated by no less than 50 organizations over the course of her career. Though most of the time, it’s an honor just to be nominated, Taylor has won quite a few of them. We won’t run through them all–suffice to say she has enough Broadcast Music Industry Awards to power a small country–but we will go through the highlights.
- 7 Grammys,
- 16 American Music Awards
- 22 Billboard Music Awards
- 11 Country Music Awards,
- 8 Academy of Country Music Awards
- 6 CMT Awards
- 5 Canadian Country Music Awards
- 7 MTV Awards
- 1 BRIT Award
The Nashville Songwriters Association International Award has nominated and awarded her the Songwriter of the Year every year from 2007-2013. She’s also been honored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame. That’s three times as many awards as years she’s been alive. That’s also a ton a hardware.
Any questions?
Next: 1. Forbes Top Ten Earning Woman
1. Forbes Top Ten Earning Woman
As is probably obvious from her dealings with Spotify and Apple, Taylor is always all about the bottom line. but that’s not something that happened recently. She’s been that way from the beginning.
She walked away from a deal where she would sing other people’s music, because she wanted not only her songs to be her voice, but to own them. so not only does she get paid as a singer, but she gets paid as a song writer and a producer on every track she records. that means when it gets used in a commercial, she’s the one who mainly gets paid. When someone covers her songs, she’s the one who mainly gets paid. And when you buy her album or her singles, she’s the one who mainly gets paid.
And that how Taylor Swift ended up one of only two women on the Forbes Top Ten Highest Paid Celebrities for this year. She ties with Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr., raking in $80 million dollars so far in 2015. She also ranks in their Top 100 Most Powerful Women. And nearly all of that comes from her music–not endorsement, not commercials, not side projects like fashion lines or perfumes or shoes. between her albums and her sold out world tours she’s making it big and as a musician only. In this day and age it takes business savvy, determination and a whole lot of grit to get there.