Taylor Alison Swift ( Taylor Swift born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 14 to pursue a career in country music. Swift signed with the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. Her self-titled debut album was released in 2006, and was certified five-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Its third single, “Our Song”, made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number one song on the Hot Country Songs chart.
Swift’s second album, Fearless, was released in 2008 and became the best-selling album of 2009 in the United States. The album won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest Album of the Year winner. Her third studio album, Speak Now, was released in 2010, and spawned the hit singles “Mine” and “Back to December”. In 2012, she released her fourth studio album, Red, which spawned three hit singles, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”, “I Knew You Were Trouble”, and “22”. In 2014, her fifth album, 1989, was released and became the best-selling album of the year, with sales of over 3.7 million copies.
Swift has received multiple awards and nominations, including seven Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, twenty-seven Billboard Music Awards, eleven Country Music Association Awards, and eight Academy of Country Music Awards. She is also the recipient of ten Guinness World Records, including the most awarded female artist of all time. Swift has sold more than 50 million albums and 150 million singles worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. In addition to her music, Swift has appeared in a variety of films, television shows, and advertisements. She is also an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and an active supporter of the Time’s Up movement.