At the tender age of fourteen, Taylor Alison Swift became the youngest songwriter ever to be hired by Sony/ATV Publishing House and quickly set to work on her debut album titled Taylor Swift. The release received positive feedback from music fans and critics, with her third single taken from the album - Our Song - resulting in Swift being recognised as the youngest person to write and perform a solo number one song on the Country Chart.
Following her accolades during her early teens, 2008 saw the young singer-songwriter praised at the Grammy Awards; receiving a Best New Artist nomination. Her rise to fame, cemented by a nomination of such magnitude, continued into 2008 as she released her second album Fearless, which became the biggest-selling album of 2009 and won four Grammy Awards. The success of Swift’s music releases grew after third album, Speak Now, sold over one million copies within its first week of release in the US and was celebrated by a thirteen-month Speak Now World Tour.
It was 2012 that saw Taylor Swift blossom into a young superstar, with fourth album Red selling even more in its first week than previous album Speak Now. The 1.2 million record sales in its first week became the highest of such nature in a decade, with Swift becoming the only female solo artist to have two million plus opening weeks following release in the US. Singles We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together and I Knew You Were Trouble became hits around the globe, as well as serving as part of her 2013 Red Tour ensemble.
Swift's fifth studio album 1989 – referencing the year of her birth – is heralded as the defining moment where she makes the full transition from country into pop music. Shake It Off and Blank Space are two of the hit singles from the album, which made Swift the bestselling artist of 2014. Since then, her star has risen to astronomical heights.