21st Century Pop Culture - Taylor Swift

Taylor Alison Swift

December 13, 1989

Leading figure in popular music

Taylor Swift began her career as a country singer.  Her albums in this genre include Taylor Swift (2006) and Fearless (2008).

Taylor considered rock with the album Speak Now (2010) and electronic with the album Red (2012).  In 2014, Taylor released the synth pop album 1989.  In 2017, Taylor released the hip-hop album Reputation.

Early Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles include "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," "Shake It Off," "Blank Space," "Bad Blood," & "Look What You Made Me Do."

Taylor's most recent albums include the electropop Lover (2019), the indie folk Folklore (2020) and Evermore (2020), pop Midnights (2022) & The Tortured Poets Department (2024).

Recent No. 1 singles include "Cardigan," "Willow," "All Too Well," "Anti-Hero," "Cruel Summer," "Is It Over Now?", & "Fortnight."

Honors -

- One of the world's best-selling music artists - Record 7 albums selling over one million copies first week

- Highest grossing female touring act ($1.96 billion in ticket sales as of November 2023)

- First billionaire with music as primary income

- World's richest female musician

- Noted in Rolling Stone, Billboard, & Forbes

Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Music (2014)

No. 64 on Forbes' 100 Most Powerful Women (2015)

No. 5 on Forbes' Most Powerful Women in the world (2023)

- Person of the Year, Time (2023)

- Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2010, 2015, & 2019

- Discography is a "critically hailed songbook" (Sam Lansky, Time)

- No. 8 on Billboard's Greatest of All Time Chart

- Woman with the most Billboard 200 No. 1's (14)

- Top Ten Songs (59)

- Top 5 Songs (36)

- First woman to have an album (Fearless) and single ("Shake It Off") to certify Diamond

Awards -

14 Grammy Awards

(4 for Album of the Year - Record)

Primetime Emmy Award

40 American Music Awards (Record)  

39 Billboard Music Awards (Record)

30 MTV Video Music Awards

(5 for Video of the Year - Record)

12 Country Music Association Awards

8 Academy of Country Music Awards 

2 Brit Awards

Achievements -

Grammy Award for Album of the Year - 4 wins

MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year - 4 wins

IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year - 4 wins

Recognition -

Nashville Songwriters Association

Songwriters Hall of Fame

National Music Publishers' Association 

Youngest person on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time (2015...26 years old at the time)

Honorary Doctor in Fine Arts from New York University & Served as commencement speaker on May 18, 2022

Notes -

As of 2019, 50 million album sales & 150 million single sales as well as 114 million in sales globally.  As of 2019 in the U.S. alone, over 37.3 million in sales.

"...profound impact on the music industry, pop culture, and the economy..."

...And her story continues...

(Wikipedia)