19 things you probably didn't know about Taylor Swift
She's so talented!
Taylor Swift is a multi-award winning and history-making artist, having 14 Grammys, two BRIT Awards, including the Global Icon award, and plenty more. Now with 11 albums under her belt, the singer has now wrapped her epic 'Eras Tour' - which here in the UK, saw her bring out surprise guest Ed Sheeran, and premiere a music video. So, it's fair to say there's a LOT to get to know about the singer.
Here we take a look at the incredibly talented and universally beloved pop star Taylor Swift, with 19 things that you probably didn't know about her - from why 13 is her lucky number, to who her cats Olivia and Meredith are named after...
1) What are Taylor Swift's cats called?
Taylor has three cats. Two of the cats are named after famous TV characters. The cats, Meredith and Olivia, are named after Ellen Pompeo's character in Grey's Anatomy, whilst Olivia gets her name from Mariska Hargitay's character in Law & Order: Special Victims.
Taylor's third and newest cat is called Benjamin Button, after Brad Pitt's character in the film of the same name. Taylor met Benjamin on the set of the music video for ME!, a song she duetted on with Panic! at the Disco's Brendon Urie.
2) Does Taylor Swift write her own songs?
Taylor Swift has written or co-written nearly every song that she has released, and Taylor's had a lot of songs! To date she has had 11 albums, plus four re-recordings and over 61 singles as the lead artist!
3) How old was she when she wrote her first song?
Taylor wrote her first song when she was just 12-years-old, it was called 'Lucky You'.
4) How old was Taylor when she got signed?
When Taylor Swift was 14-years-old she was signed to Sony/ATV music publishing, making her the youngest songwriter EVER to be hired by them.
5) Can Taylor Swift play the guitar?
Yes, Taylor Swift can play the guitar. She reportedly learnt how to play a 12-string guitar BEFORE she learnt the 'usual' six-string guitar.
6) Who has Taylor Swift collaborated with?
Taylor has been part of quite a few collaborations over the years, with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran and former One Direction member Zayn Malik - plus many more.
7) Has Taylor Swift ever performed on Broadway?
Taylor auditioned for Broadway shows when she was younger, but never made it onto the stage. However, in 2019 she appeared in the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats as Bombalurina.
8) Why is the song 'Love Story' so special?
Taylor Swift's 2008 song 'Love Story' became the first song ever to reach Number 1 in both the pop and country music charts in the US.
WATCH: Taylor Swift - 'Love Story'
9) Has she broken any records?
When Taylor's sixth album, 'reputation' was released in 2017, she became the only artist to release four consecutive albums which sold more than one million copies in their first week of release. On top of that, in 2024, she made history as the first artist to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year four times.
In July 2023, Taylor's song 'Anti-Hero' surpassed a billion streams on Spotify. Taylor also has three other tracks in the Billions Club - 'Shake It Off', 'Blank Space' and her collab with Zayn Malik, 'I Don't Wanna Live Forever'.
'Anti-Hero' also became the first track from Taylor's album 'Midnights' to receive a BPI certification of 3x Platinum - meaning that its seen over 1.8 MILLION sales in the UK. Not bad going!
Taylor also broke numerous records and made history with her incredible 'Eras Tour' - which you can check out here.
10) What is Taylor Swift's pseudonym?
Taylor normally writes under her own name, but once she used the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg on Calvin Harris' song 'This Is What You Came For' featuring Rihanna . At the time, Calvin and Taylor were dating and it's believed that they didn't want their names to overshadow the song's release.
11) Do Taylor Swift's relationships inspire her songs?
Taylor's ex-boyfriends have been the subject of a number of songs including, her relationship with One Direction singer Harry Styles. She reportedly wrote 'I Knew You Were Trouble' about their relationship.
WATCH: Taylor Swift - 'I Knew You Were Trouble' (Official Video)
12) Hidden messages in her songs and music videos
Taylor often has hidden messages in her music videos, in her video for 'Delicate' fans noticed lot of hidden messages . You can also see all the hidden messages from the 'Look What You Made Me Do' video.
13) Why is the number 13 lucky for Taylor Swift?
Whilst it might be unlucky for many, for Taylor the number 13 is lucky for a number of reasons. In 2009 she told MTV: "I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 on Friday the 13th. My first album went gold in 13 weeks. My first Number 1 song had a 13-second intro. Every time I've won an award I've been seated in either the 13th seat, the 13th row, the 13th section or row M, which is the 13th letter."
14) Taylor's friendship with Blake Lively
Taylor has many celebrity friends and has been close with Blake Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds since 2015. Taylor has written songs about Ryan and Blake's four daughters, even revealing the name of their third child in a song called 'Betty' on her 2020 'Folklore' album.
Taylor and Blake later worked together when they collaborated on Taylor's 'Red (Taylor's Version)' album.
15) Taylor Swift's 'I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor's Version)' music video
Speaking of her friendship with Blake... Taylor's music video for her re-recorded track 'I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor's Version)' was actually directed by her famous friend!
The video premiered on 15th November 2021, with Taylor sharing a clip to her Instagram along with the caption: 'The reddest video EVER is out now. Directed by @blakelively who SMASHED it just like I smashed this cake.'
16) Which song did she perform on SNL?
As part of her 'Red (Taylor's Version)' album, Taylor released a 10-minute version of her song 'All Too Well' which she created for the short film All Too Well: A Short Film, also released starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien.
Taylor performed the song for the first time live when she performed on Saturday Night Live on 13th November.
17) Taylor Swift was 12,000 days old when her album 'Midnights' came out
We all know how Taylor loves to include Easter Eggs in her music releases, and it seems like the release time of 'Midnights' was significant.
Taylor brought out the album at midnight on 21st October 2022, which seemed like a fitting time given the name. But fans on Twitter figured out there was a deeper significance, as Taylor was exactly 12,000 days old at the time of release, which is symbolic of the number 12 and midnight!
18) Taylor has written a film script
We all know that Taylor is a hugely creative person, and can seemingly turn her hand to pretty much any aspect of showbiz at this point. While she's acted in films before, and of course, is fantastic at telling stories, she's never put the two together until now.
Announced in December 2022, Taylor has penned a film script which is being put into production by Searchlight Pictures! Presidents of the company David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield said: "Taylor is a once in a generation artist and storyteller. It is a genuine joy and privilege to collaborate with her as she embarks on this exciting and new creative journey."
19) Taylor made MTV Video Music Awards history
In September 2023, Taylor made VMAs history by becoming the first person to win the Video of the Year award an incredible four times. Taylor won the award for her song 'Anti-Hero', having previously scooped the accolade for 'All Too Well: The Short Film', 'Bad Blood' and 'You Need To Calm Down'.
In total, Taylor won an astonishing nine awards at the 2023 VMAs, scooping a gong in every category she was nominated in.
Taylor Swift's BIGGEST career moments so far:
2002: Taylor Swift performs the National Anthem
In 2002, a young Taylor Swift sang the American National Anthem at a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game. It was clear early on she was destined to be a star.
2004: Taylor Swift signs her first record deal
In 2004, 14-year-old Taylor signed a record deal with Sony/ATV, becoming the youngest signing in the company's history.
2006: Taylor Swift releases her first single and album
By age 16, Taylor was already getting major recognition as an established country artist. She released her first single, 'Tim McGraw', off her self-titled debut album, which was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Her album was released on October 24th 2006 by Big Machine Records. The songstress wrote the best-performing songs 'Teardrops On My Guitar', 'Should've Said No' and 'Picture To Burn' whilst juggling high school with her blossoming music career.
Impressively, the singer-songwriter became the youngest person in history to single-handedly write and perform a Number 1 song on the Hot Country Songs chart with 'Our Song'. 'Teardrops on My Guitar' also performed well commercially, spending 48 weeks in the Billboard chart and became Taylor's first US top 20 hit.
2007: CMT Music Award win
Taylor Swift won the CMT Music Award for Breakthrough Artist, foreshadowing her massively successful career that was to follow. She also performed at the Academy of Country Music Awards, where she won the award for New Female Vocalist of the Year.
2008: Taylor Swift's 'Fearless' album
The super-talented Taylor released her second album, 'Fearless', in 2008. It became the longest Billboard chart-topper by a female country artist. The album held the Number 1 spot for 11 consecutive weeks in the US.
The lead single from this album, 'Love Story', stayed in the Billboard chart for 36 weeks. With the iconic music video re-telling a fairytale love, it became a firm fan favourite and cemented Taylor Swift in the pop scene. 'Love Story' won a number of awards including Song of The Year at BMI's Country Awards.
2009: VMA Best Female Video award
Although this might not typically be a highlight, it did start the complicated relationship that Taylor Swift and Kanye West went on to have. If you don't know what we're talking about then here's a quick recap. During her acceptance speech for her Best Female Video award win, Kanye West interrupted her on stage to speak up for Beyoncé's 'Single Ladies' video, which he believed should have won the award. This event started an infamous feud between the pair that spanned a decade.
Thankfully, Taylor later had the chance to finish her VMA's winner's speech when Beyoncé invited her back on stage during her own win.
Taylor Swift's 2009 was not clouded by this though as this was also the year that she embarked on her debut concert tour 'Fearless'. The tour was named after her second album of the same name. Beginning in Indiana and concluding in Canada, Justin Bieber was one of the support acts for this tour back in 2009.
2010: Taylor makes film debut in Valentine's Day
Taylor Swift proved she is a woman of many talents in her debut film role in the 2010 Valentine's Day. She played Felicia Miller the film, with the plot following a group of characters through their love struggles and relationships on Valentine's Day.
She was also listed as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2010. Unsurprisingly, she made the list in 2015 and 2019 too.
2010: Taylor Swift wins her first Grammy Award
Taylor was awarded her first well-deserved Grammy, during the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. She won Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her song 'White Horse'.
She won three other Grammy awards on that date, Best Country Song, Best Country Album for 'Fearless' and finally, the coveted Album of the Year award.
In her Grammy award acceptance speech, Taylor said, "This is my first Grammy, you guys! I mean this is, this is a Grammy! I live in awe of the people that I was nominated against in this category. I live in awe of my producer, Nathan Chapman, and all of the wonderful incredibly talented musicians in Nashville, and thank you to anyone who was a Grammy voter and decided that it might be a good idea to vote for me for this, because I'm so happy. Thank you so much!"
2011: Taylor Swift releases third studio album 'Speak Now'
2011 was the year that saw Taylor's third album release, 'Speak Now' with it winning Favourite Country Album at the American Music Awards. It also holds the record for Fastest Selling Digital Album by a Female Artist in the Guinness World Records. 'Mean', the best-performing single from the 'Speak Now' album, won two Grammy Awards.
Taylor also embarked on her first international headline tour, 'The Speak Now World Tour' in the same year.
2012: Taylor Swift's fourth album release, 'Red'
'Red' is Taylor's critically acclaimed fourth studio album and was released in 2012. It was her first album to top the UK Album Chart in the UK (with her next five album releases also going on to top the chart).
'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' became the lead single from her 2012 album. The single was Swift's first to peak at Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
Having already conquered the music industry at such young age, she released the iconic '22' song on this album, which took the world by storm and struck a chord with her fanbase.
2013: Taylor Swift's 'Red' tour begins
In 2013, the singer-songwriter embarked on her 'Red' World Tour. During this tour, she became the first female artist in history to sell out the Allianz Stadium in Sydney, Australia (with a 40,900 capacity), since it opened in 1988.
Plus, her hit song 'I Knew You Were Trouble', rumoured to be about her former love, Harry Styles, won Best Female Video at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. In July 2024, it was certified 3x Platinum by the BPI, translating to 1.8 MILLION sales in the UK alone. Wow!
2014: '1989', Taylor's fifth studio album, is released
Taylor released 'Shake It Off', the first single off of her fifth studio album '1989'. Achieving great success, it became her second Billboard Hot 100 Number 1 single in the US and it peaked at Number 2 in the UK Singles Chart. In June 2024, the song was certified 5x Platinum by the BPI, meaning it's seen over 3 million sales in the UK alone!
'1989' debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart with the largest sales week for an album since 2002, selling 1.287 million copies in the week ending November 2nd 2014, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It also went to Number 1 in the UK Albums Chart.
The '1989' album spent a full first year in the Top 10 in the US, making it just the fifth album to spend the first 52 weeks of its release in the Top 10.
2015: Taylor is made into a Madame Tussauds wax work
Taylor Swift gets her own waxwork in the Madame Tussauds gallery in Hollywood. Taylor later became a permanent fixture at the London Madame Tussauds in 2019.
'Bad Blood' achieved Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The epic 'Bad Blood' video premiered on the Billboard Music Awards. It created quite the stir by going viral instantly as it featured her star-studded friendship group including Selena Gomez, Cara Delevingne and Jessica Alba.
2016: Taylor takes home three Grammy awards!
2016 was the year that Taylor won three Grammy Awards. She won Best Music Video with 'Bad Blood', and both best Pop Vocal Album and Album Of The Year with '1989'. She became the first woman to win the Album Of The Year Award twice.
2017: Taylor releases her fifth Number 1 album 'Reputation'
'Reputation' launched after an iconic Instagram deletion and subsequent revamp ahead of its release. 'Reputation' become the super-talented singer's fifth Number 1 album on the Billboard 200 and her third UK Number 1 album. With 1.2 million copies sold in its first week, Taylor became the first artist in Nielsen Music History to do so.
2017: Taylor is one of Time Magazine's 'Silence Breakers'
Taylor's summer court case saw the singer set out to prove a point by requesting only $1 in damages. As a result of her work fighting against sexual assault and harassment, Taylor was among the individuals highlighted.
In the Time interview about the court case, Taylor revealed: "I was angry. In that moment, I decided to forego any courtroom formalities and just answer the questions the way it happened. This man hadn't considered any formalities when he assaulted me, and his lawyer didn't hold back on my mom - why should I be polite? I'm told it was the most amount of times the word 'ass' has ever been said in Colorado Federal Court."
2018: Taylor embarks on her 'Reputation' Stadium Tour
Taylor's 2018 'Reputation' tour was massively successful and broke the US record when it became the highest-grossing tour in US history. To top it off, the 38 tour show brought in ticket sales of over a whopping $2 million!
With all the drama of three stages, a ten-story screen, two lifts and LOTS of snakes, the worldwide tour was certainly a crowd pleaser!
2019: American Music Awards haul as Taylor wins six awards
2019 was the year that saw Taylor smash the record for winning the prestigious American Music Award, Artist Of The Decade, an astonishing six times!
The 'Shake It Off' singer made history at the 2019 AMAs, she became the highest-awarded person in the show's history. With an astonishing 28 total wins under her belt, she beat a record set by Michael Jackson.
2019: Cats song Golden Globe nominee
The singer-songwriter scored a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song for 'Beautiful Ghosts' from the Cats film, in which she also starred as Bombalurina.
2020: Taylor drops surprise albums ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’
2020 saw the surprise release of Taylor's eighth album, 'Folklore', which dropped via social media. It was recorded in lockdown and was just what Swifties needed! Her recent evolutionary journey has taken her to a recent move into folk music.
'Evermore' was the songstresses' second surprise 2020 album, released only five months after 'Folklore'. With 'Folklore' and 'Evermore' described as sister records, 'Evermore' explored the themes of love, marriage and grief, picking up where 'Folklore' left. Selling a million copies globally during its first week, it definitely got the acclaim it deserved!
Taylor's fan base has grown with her own artistic development, like they have been on the journey with her. In 2020, Taylor Swift also broken another record, holding the title for most cumulative weeks spent at Number One for a female artist on the Billboard 200.
2020: Miss Americana Netflix documentary release
Taylor's Netflix documentary Miss Americana premiered at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in 2020. Explaining Taylor Swift's story from her own point of view, it offered insight into her hard-working, busy schedule. With both intimate portrayals of home life with her family and the exciting whirlwind of tours, album releases and recording in the studio.
The film also gave her the chance to address that infamous 2009 VMA's Kanye West feud. She explores the feud and how it caused her subsequent 'cancelling' but how she ultimately bounced back and rose above it!
2021: 'Fearless (Taylor's Version)'
After Taylor re-recorded her multi-million-selling 2008 album 'Fearless', we were all graced with 'Fearless (Taylor's Version) in April 2021.
The re-recording came about after talent manager Scooter Braun acquired the rights to Taylor's master recordings, from her former label Big Machine Label Group, in 2019. Reportedly, this included ownership of the singer's first six albums, from 2006 to 2017.
'Fearless (Taylor's Version)' was released through Republic Records and includes re-recorded versions of all 19 tracks from the platinum edition of 'Fearless', along with six additional 'from the vault' tracks that weren't included on the original album in 2008. Songs on the 2021 release include the iconic 'Love Story' and the world-renowned 'You Belong with Me'.
2021: BRIT Awards 2021 Global Icon
Taylor won the Global Icon Award at the BRIT Awards 2021, becoming the first female artist to ever take home the gong. In her acceptance speech, Taylor said she was "proud to be part of a musical community, especially in a year where we've needed music so much." She also paid tribute to the key workers in the audience.
2021: 'Red (Taylor's Version)'
Taylor released 'Red (Taylor's Version)' in November 2021, with rerecorded versions of the original album's songs and a 30 song track list.
The album includes a 10-minute version of 'All Too Well', and Taylor also directed a short film to accompany the song. She performed this version of the song live for the first time on SNL on 13th November.
Taylor also released her 'I Bet You Think About Me' music video directed by Blake Lively on 15th November.
2022: Taylor Swift receives an honorary doctorate
Taylor Swift received an honorary doctorate in fine arts at New York University. She also gave the commencement speech at the ceremony which was held at the Yankee Stadium.
2022: Taylor Swift confirms 'Midnights' tour
In October, the official Taylor Swift website confirmed that fans who pre-ordered her 'Midnights' album would get pre-sale access to 'forthcoming and yet to be announced Taylor Swift UK show dates'.
Fans were surprised and thrilled by the news and jumped at the chance to see her perform live, resulting in the website crashing hours after the announcement.
2022: Taylor stars in film Amsterdam
In June 2021 it was announced that Taylor was set to star in film Amsterdam alongside the likes of Margot Robbie, Christian Bale, Robert De Niro, Rami Malek and Mike Myers. It was released in October 2022 to rave reviews!
2022: Taylor has written a film script
In December 2022, it was announced that Taylor has actually penned a film script which is being put into production! Presidents of Searchlight Pictures David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield said: "Taylor is a once in a generation artist and storyteller. It is a genuine joy and privilege to collaborate with her as she embarks on this exciting and new creative journey."
2023: Grammy Award win
Taylor won a Grammy Award in February 2023, taking home the Best Music Video gong for 'All Too Well: The Short Film'!
2023: Taylor Swift announces UK dates for her 'Eras' tour
Taylor Swift announced UK dates for her 'Eras' tour in June 2023. The singer announced that she will be performing in Liverpool, Edinburgh, Cardiff and London in June 2024, before returning for more dates in London in August.
July 2023 - 'Anti-Hero' hits a billion streams
In July 2023, Taylor's song 'Anti-Hero' surpassed a billion streams on Spotify. Taylor also has three other tracks in the Billions Club - 'Shake It Off' and 'Blank Space' from the album 1989, and her collab with Zayn Malik, 'I Don't Wanna Live Forever'.
September 2023: Taylor wins nine awards at the MTV Video Music Awards
Taylor won an incredible nine awards at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, winning an award in every category she was nominated in. The win took Taylor to an astonishing 18 VMA Awards in total, just two behind the overall record held by Madonna.
October 2023: Taylor releases '1989' (Taylor's Version) and 'Eras Tour' film
In August 2023, Taylor confirmed the highly-anticipated release date for '1989' (Taylor's Version). The re-recording of her 2014 album was then released on 27th October, featuring five previously unreleased tracks.
October 2023 also saw the release of her 'Eras Tour' movie, with the concert film hitting cinemas across the world. The film returned to the big screen later in December - 13th, to be exact - on Taylor's birthday. You can now stream the 'Eras Tour' film on Disney+.
December 2023: 'Eras Tour' achieves numerous Guinness World Records
By December 2023, Taylor had achieved a total of 118 Guinness World Records - including a whopping seven for the 'Eras Tour' alone! The tour became the first in history to surpass $1 billion in revenue - bagging Guinness World Records in 2023 for the following: Highest-grossing Concert or Performance film at the Global Box office, Highest-grossing Music Tour, Highest-grossing Music Tour by a Female Artist, Highest-grossing Music Tour in a Single Year, Highest-grossing Music Tour by a Female Artist, Highest-grossing Music Tour by a Solo Artist and Highest-grossing Music Tour Per Concert by a Female Artist.
Find out all of the records it broke by the time the tour wrapped.
February 2024: Historic Grammy win
Taylor Swift picked up two Grammy Awards at the prestigious ceremony in 2024, following a whopping six nominations. The singer won awards for Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year - making history at the event as this is the first time an artist has won the Album of the Year award four times.
February 2024: 'The Tortured Poets Department' album announcement
Not only did Taylor make history at the Grammy Awards 2024, but she announced the huge news that her 11th studio album was on the way. In her acceptance speech for Best Pop Vocal Album, she revealed she had been keeping a 'secret' for two years, going on to announce her 11th studio album 'The Tortured Poets Department' was on the way and was set for release on 19th April 2024.
April 2024: Taylor releases 'The Tortured Poets Department'
Taylor's 11th studio album 'The Tortured Poets Department' was released on Friday 19th April 2024, to huge acclaim from both fans and critics alike. One week after its release, it was certified Gold by the BPI - translating to 100,000 sales in the UK alone; and two weeks after release, was certified Platinum... Meaning 300,000 sales in the UK. Wow!
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