Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and cultural impact, Swift is one of the world's best-selling artists, the highest-grossing performer, the richest female musician, and the first billionaire with music as the main income.
She dated Harry Styles for four months, starting in 2012. They split in early January 2013. She collaborated with Zayn Malik on the single "I Don't Wanna Live Forever", released in December 2016.
Background
Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania. She is named after the singer-songwriter James Taylor. Her father, Scott, was a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch. Her mother, Andrea, worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. Swift's younger brother, Austin, is an actor.
At 11, Swift began focusing on music, moving to Nashville with her mother to visit record labels and submit demo tapes. She was rejected, which led her to focus on songwriting. She started learning guitar at 12. In 2003, Swift and her parents started working with talent manager Dan Dymtrow. With his help, Swift modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch and had an original song included on a Maybelline compilation CD. After performing original songs at an RCA Records showcase, 13-year-old Swift was given an artist development deal. To help Swift break into the country music scene, the family relocated to Tennessee. At 14, Swift became the youngest artist signed by Sony/ATV Tree Music Publishing. She left RCA Records due to the label's lack of care. She was also concerned that development deals can shelve artists and recalled: "I genuinely felt that I was running out of time. I wanted to capture these years of my life on an album while they still represented what I was going through."
With her first three albums - Self Titled, Fearless and Speak Now - Swift established herself as a country music superstar. She gradually transitioned into pop music as of her fourth album, Red, which blended country and pop. Her fifth album, 1989, released in 2014, marked a complete crossover into pop. 1989 was one of the biggest selling albums of all time. After considerable time out of the spotlight and several personal and professional setbacks, Swift's sixth album Reputation (stylized as reputation) was the United States best selling album of 2017. In November 2018, Swift parted ways with Big Machine Records and signed a new deal with Universal Music Group. The contract included a provision for Swift to maintain ownership of her masters. Swift's first album with Republic Records, Lover, was released in 2019. Lover was 2019's best selling album in the US and best selling album by a solo artist worldwide. While promoting Lover in 2019, Swift became embroiled in a public dispute with the talent manager Scooter Braun after he purchased Big Machine Records, including the masters of her first six albums. Swift said she had been trying to buy the masters, but Big Machine would allow her to do so only if she exchanged one new album for each older one under a new contract, which she refused to sign. She also stated Braun had orchestrated bullying campaigns against her in 2016, posting to her Instagram a photo of Braun, Justin Bieber and Kanye West on a video call with her, laughing at her.
In February 2020, Swift signed a global publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group after her 16-year contract with Sony/ATV expired. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020, Swift surprise-released Folklore in July and Evermore in December. Folklore was the bestselling album of 2020 in the US and, together with "Cardigan", made Swift the first artist to debut a US number-one album and a number-one song in the same week; she achieved the feat again with Evermore and "Willow". Folklore made Swift the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year three times.
In November 2020, Swift began re-recording her first six albums, which enabled her to own the new masters and the licensing of her songs for commercial use. At the same time, Braun sold Swift's early catalog to private equity firm Shamrock Holdings. Swift initially considered working with them to buy her masters back but refused upon finding out Braun was still earning royalties from them. Swift's re-recordings of her first six studio albums began with Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version), which were released in April and November 2021. Red (Taylor's Version) was supported by "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)", which became the longest song in history to top the Hot 100. Swift's next two re-recorded albums, Speak Now (Taylor's Version) and 1989 (Taylor's Version), were released in July and October 2023.
Swift's tenth studio album, Midnights, was released in October 2022. In the US, Midnights was her fifth to open atop the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of over one million copies. Globally, the album broke the record for the most single-day streams and most single-week streams on Spotify. The album saw Swift win her fourth Album of the Year Grammy in 2024. In March 2023, Swift embarked on the Eras Tour, a retrospective tour covering all her studio albums. Its US leg broke the record for the most tickets sold in a day. Ticketmaster received public and political criticisms for mishandling the tour's ticket sales, with US lawmakers, including attorneys general and members of Congress, took notice of the issue, which became the focus of multiple state, federal and congressional inquiries, and an antitrust lawsuit. The Eras Tour became the highest-grossing tour in history.
Swift's eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, was released on April 19, 2024. Topping charts globally, the album broke a string of records: it marked the first album ever to amass 1 billion Spotify streams in a week; sold 2.6 million units in its first week in the US, and went on to spend 17 weeks atop the Billboard 200; Swift's longest-running number-one album on the chart. The lead single, "Fortnight", featuring Post Malone, became Swift's 12th number-one song on the Hot 100.
In May 2025, Swift announced on her website that she had purchased the masters of her first six albums, as well as videos, concert films, art, photography, unreleased content and other related materials, after Shamrock Holdings offered her fairer terms. She attributed the success of the sale to the positive reception of her re-recordings and the Eras Tour. Swift clarified that she had already finished re-recording her debut album but she had not "even re-recorded a quarter" of Reputation; both the re-recording of Taylor Swift and the vault tracks of Reputation currently remain up for a possible release, but Swift was uncertain about when and how to carry them out. Swift thanked Shamrock for giving her the opportunity to purchase every aspect of her career work, "with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy."
Personal Life
Swift dated Jonas Brothers singer Joe Jonas from July to October 2008. On an episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Swift famously revealed Joe broke up with her in 20 seconds over the phone. Swift and Jonas repaired their friendship in 2015. Swift dated actor Taylor Lautner from October to December 2009, after starring in the film Valentine's Day together. The two remain friends today. Launter featured in Swift's 2023 music video for "I Can See You". Swift dated musician John Mayer in late 2009, when she was 19 and he was 32. Swift has since addressed the age gap and power imbalance in the songs "Dear John" and "Would've Could've Should've". Swift dated actor Jake Gyllenhaal from October 2010 to approximately 2011. Her "Red" album covers their relationship and breakup, with Swift stating Red is "an album that I wrote specifically about pure, absolute, to the core, heartbreak". Swift dated political heir Conor Kennedy from July to September 2012, then dated Harry Styles from October 2012 to January 2013. In late 2014, Swift had a brief relationship with The 1975 frontman, Matty Healy.
In March 2015, Swift began dating Scottish DJ/producer Calvin Harris. In June 2015, they were ranked as the richest celebrity couple by Forbes, with combined earnings of over $146 million. They split in May 2016. Swift began dating British actor Tom Hiddleston soon after[1]. Through July 2016, the pair traveled to numerous international locations, sparking media frenzy in each country they visited. They split in August 2016[2]. Swift referenced the relationship in her 2017 music video for "Look What You Made Me Do", with back-up dancers wearing "I Heart T.S" shirts, a shirt Hiddleston was publicly derided for wearing. The song "Getaway Car", on her 2017 album reputation, confirmed the relationship as a rebound after her split from Harris.
Swift dated British actor Joe Alwyn from September 2016 to March 2023. After years of media scrutiny surrounding her love life, Swift kept her relationship with Alwyn extremely private. Alwyn had creative involvement in the Folklore and Evermore albums, co-writing a number of songs with Swift in lockdown during the 2020 pandemic. After splitting from Alwyn in March 2023, Swift briefly reunited with Matty Healy, nine years after their 2014 fling. The relationship was shortlived and marred with controversy, as numerous Swift fans expressed anger at past offensive comments made by Healy, even penning an open letter to Swift asking her to publicly denounce Healy's comments or end the relationship. Swift and Healy split in June 2023. Swift addressed the relationship on her Tortured Poets album, revealing Healy built up the idea of a fated reunion for several years then abandoned her a few weeks after they got back together. She addressed the fan controversy on "But Daddy I Love Him" condeming those who try to dictate her love life. She also addressed her split from Alwyn on "So Long London", stating his emotional abandonment, unwillingness to get married and resentment of her success contributed to the relationship ending.
On 8 July 2023, American footballer Travis Kelce attended the second Kansas City Eras Tour concert and attempted to meet Swift backstage, to give her a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it. Swift was not allowing guests after the show as she needed vocal rest. Kelce lamented the missed opportunity on his New Heights podcast on July 26. Swift called him days later and the pair began dating soon after. They made their relationship public knowledge when Swift attended his 24 September football match. Kelce appeared on stage with Swift at a June 2024 concert during the UK leg of the Eras Tour.
Taylor relocated from Nashville to New York City in 2014. She owns three cats, Olivia Benson, Meredith Grey and Benjamin Button. Olivia can be seen in the "Blank Space" music video. Benjamin was adopted by Swift in 2019 after he was hired for her "ME!" music video, and also appears in her "Lover" music video. Swift owns homes in Rhode Island, Nashville, New York, London and Los Angeles. Taylor is close friends with British singer Ed Sheeran. Sheeran was her opening act for the Red world tour. They collaborated on "Everything Has Changed" from 2012 album Red and "End Game" from reputation. A previously unreleased collaboration with Sheeran, "Run", featured on Swift's 2021 re-record of Red. American singer and actress Selena Gomez has referred to Swift as her longest famous friend. Swift also shares close friendships with Paramore's Hayley Williams, American band HAIM, her primary music producer Jack Antonoff, American rapper Ice Spice, and is godmother to actors Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds three children.
Connections to One Direction
Swift originally met One Direction at the Kids Choice Awards on March 31, 2012. Media speculated there was mutual romantic interest between Swift and Harry Styles for months afterward. However in July, she began dating Conor Kennedy. In October 2012, numerous fans spotted Swift and Styles in New York together. In November 2012, Taylor was photographed wearing a paper airplane necklace identical to the one Harry wore at the time. Taylor and Harry were photographed by paparazzi while on dates in New York City. Swift attended the afterparty for One Direction's sold-out Madison Square Garden concerts, along with mutual friend Ed Sheeran. It is rumoured Styles and Swift may have collaborated on a song around this time but nothing has surfaced. The pair visited each other's hometowns and went on a skiing vacation in December. During the trip, they were involved in a snowmobile accident that Swift described as "my life flashed before my eyes" and left Harry with stitches in his chin. Swift references the crash in her 2015 single "Out Of The Woods". To end 2012, the couple shared a New Years Eve kiss in Times Square at midnight. In January 2013, Swift and Styles split during a vacation, as Taylor flew home alone and tweeted "Til you put me down"; a lyric from her 2012 single "I Knew You Were Trouble". Harry returned to the United Kingdom days later, and their split was confirmed. Neither have elaborated on the reason for their split but Swift has referred to their time together as "full of anxiety and roadblocks". Subsequent lyrics from both Swift and Styles suggest the two continued seeing each other on a more casual and private basis beyond their January breakup.
Harry and Taylor posed for a picture together with Ed Sheeran at the 2013 MTV VMAs. In 2014, Taylor confirmed songs from her fifth album, 1989, would detail her relationship with Harry, specifically Style and Out Of The Woods. Style alluded to a more casual arrangement post-breakup and Swift explained it was about "someone you're never really finished with". The album's hidden messages talk of a former lover returning. When asked, Harry said he did not mind being written about, as it is to be expected of songwriters. Harry would go on to co-write Perfect with Louis Tomlinson in 2015, featuring the lyric "If you're looking for someone to write your break-up songs about", which media took as a reference to Swift. It is also speculated, but unconfirmed, that Harry penned One DirectIon's song "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" and his solo single "Two Ghosts" about his break-up with Swift. Some unreleased tracks of Styles were leaked from 2016-2017 and appear to reference Swift.
In December 2016, Taylor surprise released a duet with former One Direction member Zayn Malik, titled "I Don't Wanna Live Forever", for the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack. The single was a worldwide hit, peaking at #2 in the US and #5 in the UK. In 2017, Zayn and Taylor won the MTV VMA Award for Best Collaboration and the song was nominated for a Grammy Award.
On 18 April 2017, in a Rolling Stone interview, Harry addressed his relationship with Swift for the first time. When asked to comment, Styles stated: "When I see photos from [their December 2012 dates], I think...relationships are hard, at any age. Adding in that you don't really understand exactly how it works when you're 18, trying to navigate all that stuff didn't make it easier. I mean, you're a little bit awkward. You're on a date with someone you really like. It should be that simple, right? It was a learning experience for sure. But at the heart of it, I just wanted it to be a normal date. I don't know if [Style and Out Of The Woods] are about me or not, but the issue is, she's so good, they're bloody everywhere. I write from my experiences; everyone does that. I'm lucky if everything [we went through] helped create those songs. That's what hits your heart. That's the stuff that's hardest to say, and it's the stuff I talk least about. That's the part that's about the two people. I'm never going to tell anybody everything. She doesn't need me to tell her the [songs] are great. They're great songs. It's the most amazing unspoken dialogue ever. Certain things don't work out. There's a lot of things that can be right, and it's still wrong. In writing songs about stuff like that, I like tipping a hat to the time together. You're celebrating the fact it was powerful and made you feel something, rather than 'this didn't work out, and that's bad.' And if you run into that person, maybe it's awkward, maybe you have to get drunk ... but you shared something. Meeting someone new, sharing those experiences, it's the best shit ever. So thank you[3]."
Swift and Styles remain friendly as of 2023. The two were seen chatting at both the 2021 and 2023 Grammy Awards.
On 22 June 2018, Niall Horan was Taylor's special guest during her Reputation Stadium Tour in London. They performed his single "Slow Hands" together. Horan referred to Swift's single "Lover" as one of the best songs he had ever heard, and regularly praises her music.
Swift's 2020 album track "Coney Island" appears to briefly reference Harry with the lyric "When I got into the accident/The sight that flashed before me was your face". Other surrounding lines appear to reference three other exes of Swift's leading to the speculation this line is referencing Styles and Swift's snowmobile accident in 2012. Swift's 2022 album track "Question...?" features a sample from Out of the Woods and is rumored to be addressing Harry, asking for clarity about how and why things ended between them.
Several unreleased tracks from the 1989 recording sessions were released as part of Swift's re-record of the album, in 2023. The songs "Say Don't Go", "Slut!", "Is It Over Now?" "Suburban Legends" and "Now That We Don't Talk" all appear to allude to the relationship with Styles, stating an uncertainty around his ability or desire to commit to her, anxiety regarding media scrutiny, and difficulty moving on after an ambiguous split.
Awards and Achievements
Swift has won 14 Grammy Awards (including four for Album of the Year—the most won by an artist), an Emmy Award, 40 American Music Awards (the most won by an artist), 49 Billboard Music Awards (the most won by an artist), 118 Guinness World Records, 30 MTV Video Music Awards (including five Video of the Year wins), 12 Country Music Association Awards (including the Pinnacle Award), eight Academy of Country Music Awards, and two Brit Awards. As a songwriter, she has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the National Music Publishers' Association and was the youngest person on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time in 2015. At the 64th BMI Awards in 2016, Swift was the first woman to be honored with an award named after its recipient.
From available data, Swift has amassed over 50 million album sales and 150 million single sales as of 2019, and 114 million units globally, including 78 billion streams as of 2021. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry ranked her as the Global Recording Artist of the Year for a record five times (2014, 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024). Swift remains the world's highest-grossing touring act ever, with cumulative ticket sales at $3.12 billion as of December 2024, per Pollstar. Beginning with Fearless, each of her studio albums have opened with over one million global units.
In the US, Swift has sold over 37.3 million albums as of 2019, when Billboard placed her eighth on its Greatest of All Time Artists Chart. Twelve of her songs have topped the Billboard Hot 100. She is the longest-reigning and the first act to spend at least 100 weeks atop the Billboard Artist 100 (124 weeks); the soloist with the most cumulative weeks atop and in the top ten of the Billboard 200 (84 and 425); the woman with the most Billboard 200 number-ones (14), Hot 100 entries (total and single-week: 264 and 32), number-one debuts (7), top-ten songs (59), top-five songs (36), Streaming Songs chart-toppers (9), and weeks atop the Top Country Albums chart (101); and the act with the most number-one songs on Pop Airplay and Digital Songs (29). Swift is the first woman to simultaneously chart five albums in the top 10 and eleven albums on the entire Billboard 200; and the first act to occupy the top four spots and chart seven albums in the top 10 on the Top Album Sales chart. She is the third highest-certified female digital singles artist (and seventh overall) in the US, with 137.5 million total units certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the first woman to have both an album (Fearless) and a song ("Shake It Off") certified Diamond. Swift is the only artist in Luminate history to have seven albums sell over a million copies in a week.
Swift has appeared in various power listings. Time included her on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in 2010, 2015, and 2019. She was one of the "Silence Breakers" that the magazine spotlighted as Person of the Year in 2017 for speaking up about sexual assault, and she received the honor again in 2023 for her cultural domination that year. Time described Swift as the first Person of the Year to be recognized for "achievement in the arts", as well as the first woman to be recognized and appear on a Person of the Year cover more than once. She received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from New York University and served as its commencement speaker on May 18, 2022.
Trivia
- She was raised on a Christmas tree farm, and released a single titled "Christmas Tree Farm" in December 2019.
- She can be briefly seen holding Harry's paper plane necklace in the beginning and end of the music video for Style.
- Fans commonly believed "I Knew You Were Trouble" to be about Harry Styles, particularly because the music video's love interest has a similar ship tattoo to Harry's. However, the song was written before they dated, and he got the tattoo after the video premiered.
- She attended her first concert, LeeAnn Rimes, when she was eight years old.
- After seeing Faith Hill talk about moving to Nashville, Swift begged her parents to do the same.
- She helped pass a law to help keep children safe from online predators.
- Politically, she supports the American Democratic party, endorsing both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris during their bids for US president.
- She used social media to get to know fans, often meeting them after concerts. She was one of the first artists to utilise MySpace as a platform for communication with fans.
- She often leaves "easter eggs" or clues, in her music videos, usually hinting toward future singles or other releases.
- She held secret listening sessions for fans at her homes for the albums Red, 1989, Reputation and Lover.
- Upon launching, Apple Music were not going to pay artists during the first three months of the service going online. Swift felt this was unfair to independent artists who were not financially secure. She penned an open letter to Apple, posting it on her official social media. Within 24 hours, Apple agreed to change their policy, and would pay artists their royalties as soon as the streaming service began. Swift announced she would distribute her music with Apple shortly after. Her move was widely considered one of the biggest displays of power and influence from an artist in the entertainment industry.[4] She felt similarly about Spotify and did not distribute her full catalog with them until June 2017.
- During an interview with David Letterman, she stated she learns some phrases in every language of every nation she visits, then demonstrated her impressive ability to speak Japanese. [5] She spoke French in her 2019 music video for Me!.
- Swift wrote Calvin Harris's 2016 hit single "This Is What You Came For" under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg. Her vocals briefly appear on the track, alongside main vocalist Rihanna. This information was revealed in July 2016, with confirmation from Swift's representatives, and Harris on his official Twitter. A gravestone for Sjoberg can be seen in the Look What You Made Me Do video.
- She revealed an eating disorder in her Miss Americana documentary, stating that paparazzi pictures and diet blogs had made her starve herself in the past. Throughout 2019, she criticised unrealistic body standards placed on women.
- Swift played Bombalurina in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats (2019), for which she co-wrote and recorded the Golden Globe-nominated original song "Beautiful Ghosts".
- For the soundtrack of the film Where the Crawdads Sing (2022), she wrote and recorded "Carolina", which received nominations for Best Original Song at the Golden Globes and Best Song Written for Visual Media at the Grammy Awards.
Gallery
External Links
- @taylorswift13 - Official Twitter
- @taylorswift - Official Instagram
- Official Tumblr