Taylor Swift: The life story you may not know

Love her or hate her, there’s no denying that Taylor Swift is one of the most influential musicians of her generation.

Born in 1989, the songstress had a fairly normal childhood, spending her early years on a Christmas tree farm with her parents and younger brother. At 14, the family moved to Nashville, Tennessee, so Swift could pursue her dreams of becoming a country musician.

Within a year, she had signed a songwriting deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing, becoming the youngest person to ever do so.

Not long after, she had an official record deal with Big Machine Records. The rest, as they say, is history.

Swift has sold over 200 million albums as of August 2022, making her one of the bestselling musicians of all time. Her nine studio albums—”Taylor Swift,” “Fearless,” “Speak Now,” “Red,” “1989,” “Reputation,” “Lover,” “Folklore,” and “Evermore” as well as several re-recordings—span multiple genres, from country to pop.

As her style has evolved, so, too, has her fan base, ensuring almost anything she touches turns to gold. But even though she’s one of the most famous people in the world, it’s unlikely that you know everything there is to know about Swift.

Online ticket marketplace Vivid Seats has put together a timeline of Swift’s life, including milestones that many fans might not be aware of. Sources for these milestones run the gamut from the singer’s official website to mainstream media coverage.

From her early days as a child model to her 58 Guinness World Records, these facts are sure to inspire newfound respect for the musician.

2004: ‘Rising Stars’ & ‘Chicks with Atтιтude’
Although Swift wanted to be a musician before she even hit double digits, it wasn’t until 2004 that she captured the public’s attention. In the early ’00s, Swift’s then-manager Dan Dymtrow helped her secure two major gigs, including a spot in Abercrombie & Fitch’s “Rising Stars” campaign, which saw Swift highlighting her talents as a singer-songwriter while modeling for the clothing brand.

Later that same year, Swift recorded an original song, “The Outside, for Maybelline Cosmetics’ promotional “Chicks with Atтιтude” CD, which introduced her music to a much wider audience.

2004: The Bluebird Cafe & Scott Borchetta
Those ad campaigns paid off; in late 2004, Swift met label head Scott Borchetta while playing in an invitation-only, industry showcase at Nashville’s Bluebird Café (the same venue where country music greats like Garth Brooks and Faith Hill were discovered). Borchetta was just starting Big Machine Records and went out of his way to ensure the teenage country singer was one of the first acts he signed.

The pair’s relationship would become a significant one, for better and worse: The songstress would release her first six studio albums under the label, but disputes about music ownership would cause a falling out and garner global attention.

2009: Swift hosts ‘Saturday Night Live’
By 2009, Swift was a well-known celebrity (even more so after being infamously interrupted on stage by Kanye West at that year’s MTV Video Music Awards). When she was asked to host an episode of “Saturday Night Live,” Swift raised the bar for future guests when she became the first celebrity to write—or rather, sing—her own opening monologue.

In the two-minute song, Swift sings about everything from ex-boyfriends who wronged her to current flings to her stolen VMA glory. Her self-awareness went a long way in endearing her to plenty of non-country music fans who’d previously been ambivalent toward Swift and her mus

2010: Setting a Guinness World Record
A year after appearing on the late-night variety show, Swift set a Guinness World Record with the release of her third studio album, “Speak Now.” The pop-country album, for which she wrote all the songs single-handedly, became the fastest-selling digital album by a female artist of all time, selling an impressive 278,000 digital copies in its first week.

Her follow-up was another runaway hit: the fastest-selling digital single, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” reached the #1 spot on Apple Music in just 50 minutes. These speedy successes proved just how wide of an audience the pop star was reaching.

2022: Carbon emissions controversy
In the summer of 2022, Swift found herself in the headlines for a reason totally unrelated to her work or oft-discussed love life: her carbon fuel emissions.

Many fans were aghast when a report published claimed that, in the first six months of the year, Swift’s private jet had taken 170 flights and emitted 8,293.54 tonnes of emissions. The songstress regularly speaks out about caring for the planet and reducing footprints, so for many, the data felt like a slap in the face.

For her part, however, Swift reasoned that not all the flights were hers, as she regularly loans the jet out.