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This article is about the musician. For her self-titled debut album, see Taylor Swift(album).

Taylor Swift

Swift performing on Speak Now tour, June 2011.

Background information

Birth name Taylor Alison Swift

BornDecember 13, 1989 (age 22)Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.[1]

GenresCountry pop,[2]pop,[3]country, dance-pop[4]

Occupations

Singer-songwriter, musician, record

producer, actress

InstrumentsVocals, guitar,ganjo, piano,[5]

ukulele[6]

Years active 2006present

Labels Big Machine

Associated

actsNathan Chapman,Liz Rose

Website

TaylorSwift.com

Taylor Swift's signature

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country popsinger-songwriter, musician and actress.

In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then herself-titled debut album,which was subsequently certifiedmulti-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of

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America. In November 2008, Swift released her second album,Fearless, and the recordingearned Swift fourGrammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, at the 52nd GrammyAwards.Fearless and Taylor Swiftfinished 2008 at number-three and number-sixrespectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million.[7]Fearless topped theBillboard200 for 11non-consecutive weeks.[8]Swift was namedArtist of the YearbyBillboardMagazine in

2009.[9]

Swift released her third album Speak Nowon October 25, 2010, which sold1,047,000 copies in its first week.[1]

In 2008, her albums sold a combined four million copies, making her the best-sellingmusician of the year in the United States, according toNielsen SoundScan.Forbes rankedSwift 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $18 million,[10] 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million[11] and 2011's 7th-most powerfulcelebrity with earnings of $45 million, too.[12]Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the2000s byBillboard.[13] In January 2010Nielsen SoundScan listed Swift as the mostsuccessful digital artist in music history with over 34.3 million digital tracks sold. [14] OnJune 2011, renowned site The Boot named Swift and Carrie UnderwoodThe Country

Royalty, as they were the only female country artists to be ranked onRolling Stone'sQueens of Pop list.[15] As of March 2011, she has sold over 20 million albums and34.3 million singles worldwide.[14][16] She has been listed in the 2012Guinness Book OfWorld Records as the Fastest Selling Digital Album by a Female Artist for her albumSpeak Now, and Most Simultaneous U.S. Hot 100 Hits by a Female Artist.[17] In 2011,Billboardnamed her woman of the year.[18]

Contents

[hide]

1 Early life 2 Music career

o 2.1 20002005: musical beginnings

o 2.2 20062008: Taylor Swift

o 2.3 20082010: Fearless and MTV VMA incident

o 2.4 2010present: Speak Now

3 Songwriting style 4 Other work

o 4.1 Acting

o 4.2 Cover model and recognition

o 4.3 Merchandise

o 4.4 Philanthropy 5 Personal life 6 Filmography 7 Discography

o 7.1 Albums

8 Awards and nominations 9 Tours

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10 References

11 External links

Early life

Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, and raised inWyomissing, Pennsylvania.[1] She is the daughter of Andrea Gardner (ne Finlay), ahomemakerwho previously worked in finance, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a stockbroker.Her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (ne Moehlenkamp), was an opera singer.[19][20]

Swift has a younger brother, Austin.[21]She grew up on a Christmas-tree farm.[1]

When Swift was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem,"Monster in My Closet".[20][22] At the age of ten, a computer repairman showed her how toplay three chords on a guitar, sparking her interest in learning the instrument. Afterwards,Swift wrote her first song, "Lucky You".[23]When Swift was 12, she devoted an entire

summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished.[24]She began writingsongs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in atschool. Swift was a victim ofbullying, and spent her time writing songs to express heremotions.[25] She also started performing at local karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs.

Swift began to regularly visitNashville, Tennessee, and work with local songwriters. Whenshe was 14, her family relocated to Nashville.[26] Her first major show was a well-receivedperformance at the Bloomsburg Fair.[27] In Tennessee, Swift attended Hendersonville HighSchool, but was subsequently homeschooled for her junior and senior years. In 2008, sheearned herhigh school diploma.[28]

Swift's greatest musical influence isShania Twain.[29] Her other influences includeLeAnnRimes, Tina Turner,Dolly Parton, and Swift's grandmother. Although her grandmotherwas a professional opera singer,[30] Swift's tastes always leaned more toward country music.In her younger years, she developed a love forPatsy Cline and Dolly Parton.[31]She alsocredits the Dixie Chicks for demonstrating the impact that one can have by "stretchingboundaries".[32]

Music career

20002005: musical beginnings

At age 11, Swift made her first trip toNashville, hoping to obtain a record deal bydistributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every labelin town,[33] but was rejected.[34] After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to singat the US Open tennistournament, where her rendition of the national anthem receivedmuch attention.[35]

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When Swift was 15, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep heron an artist development deal.[36] After performing at Nashville's songwriters' venue,TheBluebird Caf, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, [37] who signed her to his newlyformed record label,Big Machine Records. At age 14, she became the youngest staffsongwriter ever hired by theSony/ATV Tree publishing house.[38]

Swift performing at a caf with a koa wood guitar in June 2006. Swift continues to performwith custom-made Taylor guitars.[39]

20062008: Taylor Swift

Main article: Taylor Swift (album)

Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching No.6 onBillboardmagazine's Hot Country Songs chart.[40]Herself-titled debut albumwas later released onOctober 24, 2006.[41]Debuting high on theBillboard200, the album sold 39,000 copiesduring its first week.[42] It peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and No.5on theBillboard200.[43] Her debut album spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of theTop Country Albums charts[44] and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks.[45] The only

other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks ormore areThe Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood.[46] The music video for "Tim McGraw"won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards.[47] Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006.[48] On May 15,2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at theAcademy of Country Music Awards. Swifthas been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on theirSoul2Soul 2007tour. Shehas opened in the past forGeorge Strait,Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts as well.[49] Thesecond single from the Taylor Swiftalbum, "Teardrops on My Guitar", was releasedFebruary 24, 2007. In mid-2007, the song peaked at No.2 on Billboard's Hot CountrySongs chart and No.33 on theBillboardHot 100. The song was re-released with a pop

remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to No.13 on the Hot 100 and No.11 on thePop 100. In October 2007, Swift was awarded Songwriter/Artist of the Year by theNashville Songwriters Assn. Intl., making her the youngest artist ever to win the award.[50]

Her third song off her debut album, "Our Song" spent six weeks at No.1 on the Countrycharts, peaked at No.16 on theBillboardHot 100, and rose to No.24 on theBillboardPop100. Swift recorded a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift HolidayCollection, which was released exclusively at Target in late 2007. Swift was nominated fora 2008Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost toAmy Winehouse.

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Swift's successful single, "Picture to Burn", was the fourth single from her debut album.The song debuted and soon peaked at No.3 on the Billboard Country chart in spring 2008.

Swift performing at Yahoo HQ in 2007

"Should've Said No" became Swift's second No.1 single. In Summer 2008, Swift releasedBeautiful Eyes, an EP sold exclusively atWal-Mart.[51] In its first week of release, thealbum sold 45,000 copies, debuting at No.1 onBillboard's Top Country Albums chart andNo.9 on theBillboard200. With her self-titled debut album sitting at No.2 during the sameweek, Swift became the first artist since 1997 to hold the Top 2 positions of the TopCountry Albums chart.[52] In October 2008, Swift performed a duet with best selling rockband Def Leppard in a taped show inNashville, Tennessee, and their collaboration was upfor both Performance of the Year and Wide Open Country Video of the Year at the CMTMusic Awards in 2009.[53]

20082010: Fearless and MTV VMA incident

Main article: Fearless (Taylor Swift album)

Swift's second studio album,Fearless, was released in the United States on November 11,2008.[54] The album debuted at No.1 on theBillboard200 Album Chart. Its sales of 592,304were the highest debut of any country artist in 2008. This is also the largest opening U.S.sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overallbehind Lil Wayne, AC/DC andColdplay.[55] Its lead single "Love Story" became a hit onboth the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, more than 129,000 ofSwift's sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any countryalbum in history.[56] It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album sinceNielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004.[57] Through its eighth week of release,Fearless has sold more than 338,467 downloads, making it the bestselling country album indigital history. In second place is Swift's debutTaylor Swiftwith sales of 236,046downloads as of April 18, 2009.[58] In its debut week, seven songs in total onFearless werecharted onBillboardHot 100, tying Swift with Miley Cyrus for the most by a female artistin a single week. With "White Horse" charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut

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of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of theBillboardHot 100. Of the13 tracks onFearless, 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100.[57] "Change", a song fromthe album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008Summer Olympics.[59] The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack ofNBC'sbroadcast package of the Olympics. The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was

released on September 12, 2008. The Fearless album includes the "Love Story" musicvideo which is based onRomeo and Juliet. The song has reached No.2 on iTunes Store TopDownloaded Songs and No.4 on theBillboardHot 100. Fifteen weeks after being added topop radio, "Love Story" also became the first country crossover recording to hit numberone on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of the list, as well asnumber one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart.[60] The second single fromFearless, "WhiteHorse", was released on December 8, 2008. The music video for the song premiered onCMT on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the No.1 spot on Billboard's Hot CountrySongs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the No.1 spot atop the USAToday/Country Aircheck chart (powered by Mediabase) in that week.[61] "Forever &Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singerJoe

Jonas.

[62][63]

She was the first artist in the history ofNielsen SoundScan to have twodifferent albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart.[7] It also was the first album bya female artist in country music history to log eight weeks at No.1 on TheBillboard200. Inmid-January 2009, Swift became the first country artist to top the 2 million mark in paiddownloads with three different songs.[64] Swift isBillboard's Top Country Artist and HotCountry Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008.[65]Swiftranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in2008.Fearless and Taylor Swifttook the No.1 and No.2 slots on 2008 Year-End CanadianCountry Albums Chart.[66] Swift sang theStar-Spangled Bannerat game three of the WorldSeries in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008.

Swift performing as the headlining act at the 2010 Cavendish Beach Music FestivalinPrince Edward Island, Canada.

In January 2009, Swift announced her North AmericanFearless Tourplanned for 52 citiesin 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months.[67] The tourkicked off April 23 inEvansville, Indiana. In the same month, Swift made her first musical

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guest appearance on Saturday Night Live.[68][69] On February 8, 2009, Swift performed hersong "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards. As of the week endingFebruary 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story" became the country song with the most paiddownloads in history.[70][71] Since the release of Swift's second album,Fearless, she hasreleased one new song "Crazier" for the soundtrackof the feature filmHannah Montana:

The Movie. At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked upAlbum of the Year honors as a performer and producer forFearless. Swift is the youngestartist in history to win the ACMAlbum of the Yearaward. The Academy lauded her forcareer achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in anygenre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album, and the worldwide crossoversuccess of her No.1 single "Love Story". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution tohelping country music attract a younger audience.[72] As of late April 2009, Swift has soldmore than 14 million downloads, as well as three Gold Mobile Ringtones.[73]On April 28,2009, Swift gave a free, private concert to students atBishop Ireton High School, a smallCatholic school inAlexandria, Virginia after the school won a national "TXT 2 WIN"contest from Verizon Wireless.[74]The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon

during a roughly one month long contest. Swift played for about an hour during theschool's field day, an annual day-long recess with games and activities. On October 8, 2009Swift's official website announced that her sold-out Fearless Tour would return to NorthAmerica for 37 additional dates in 2010.

West taking the microphone from Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

Scheduled to perform on September 13, 2009, Swift attended the2009 MTV Video MusicAwards. This was her first VMA performance, where she became the first country musicartist to win an MTV Video Music Award.[75] During the show, as Swift was on stageaccepting the award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me," singer/rapperKanye West came on stageand took the microphone from Swift, saying that Beyonc'svideo for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one ofthe best videos of all time," an action that caused the many audience members to boo West.[76][77] He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not

finish her acceptance speech.[76][78]

When Beyonc later won the award for Best Video ofthe Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that shecould finish her acceptance speech.[76][79] Following the awards show, West apologized forhis verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed). [76]He was criticizedby various celebrities for the outburst,[77][80][81][82][83] and even byPresidentBarack Obamawho called West a "jackass" in an "off the record" comment.[84][85][86][87] He later posted asecond apology on his blog and made his first public apology one day after the incident onthe debut episode ofThe Jay Leno Show.[77] On September 15, 2009, Swift talked about the

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matter on The View, where she said she was at first excited to see West on stage and thendisappointed once he acted out.[88][89] She said West had not spoken to her following theincident.[89]Following her appearance on The View, West contacted her to apologizepersonally; Swift said she accepted his apology.[75][89] However, on November 8, 2010, in aninterview with a Minnesota radio station, West seemed to recant a bit of his past apologies

by attempting to describe the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless" and downgrade theperception of disrespect it created.[90][91]Swift would later perform a song at the 2010 VMAcalled "Innocent" which is about the incident and in the song she absolves West of hisactions.[92]

Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards with her award.

On November 11, 2009, Swift became the youngest artist ever to win theCountry MusicAssociation Award for Entertainer of the year, and is one of only six women to win theCountry Music Association's highest honor.[93] On the chart week of November 14, 2009,Swift set a record for the most songs on theBillboardHot 100by a female artist at thesame time with eight singles from the re-release of her 2008 albumFearless namely fivedebut new songs in the top 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The OtherSide of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at No.27 and "Come in With the Rain" at No.30 andthree already-charted songs that were released as singles"You Belong with Me" (#14),"Forever & Always" which re-entered the chart at #34, and "Fifteen" (#46).[94] In addition,the song "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girlswhich features Swift, debuted atNo.80 in the same issue. This gives Swift six debuts in one week, the biggest number ofdebuts by any female artist of all time. It also lifts the number of her simultaneously-charting songs to nine, setting another record for the biggest number of charting songs bythe same female artist in the same week.[95] When "Fifteen" reached No.38 on the chartweek of November 21, 2009, Swift became the female artist with the most Top 40 singlesthis decade, surpassing Beyonc. "Fifteen" became Swift's twentieth Top 40 single overall.[96] "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls and John Mayer's "Half of My Heart"both featured Swift, peaking at No.40 and No.25 respectively. The two songs are her 21stand 22nd Top 40 singles.Fearless was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US with morethan 3.2 millions copies sold in that year. Swift claimed both the No.1 and No.2 positionsatop Nielsen's BDS Top 10 Most Played Songs chart (all genres), with "You Belong With

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Me" and "Love Story," respectively. She also topped the all format 2009 Top 10 ArtistAirplay chart with over 1.29 million song detections, and the Top 10 Artist InternetStreams chart with more than 46 million song plays.[97]

2010present:Speak Now

Main article: Speak Now

Swift performing on Speak Now tour in July 2011.

Swift released the track "Today Was a Fairytale" as a digital download on iTunes onJanuary 19, 2010. The song was featured on the soundtrack for the film Valentine's Day, inwhich she made her feature-film acting debut. The song debuted on the BillboardHot 100at No. 2,[98] becoming her sixth Top 10 and 23rd Top 40 single on that chart. According toNielsen SoundScan, with sales of "Today Was a Fairytale" more than 325,000 in its firstweek, Swift has broken the record for first-week download sales by a female artist. [99] Thesong also debuted at number one on theCanadian Hot 100, making it Swift's first numberone hit in Canada. In February 2010, Swift brought herFearless Tourto 5 cities in

Australia. Opening acts included Gloriana.[100]

In mid-July 2010,Billboardrevealed thatSwift's new album is called Speak Now. It was released on October 25, 2010.[101] She haswritten the album completely by herself in Arkansas, New York, Boston and NashvillewithNathan Chapman serving as co-producer. On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, the leadsingle from the album, "Mine," was leaked onto the internet. Big Machine Records decidedto rush the release of the song to counteract the leak. Swift appeared at the 44th AnnualCountry Music Awards on November 10, 2010.[102] In 2011, Swift visited Singapore as thefirst stop of the Asian leg of her first world tour.[103] Hong Kong is the last stop of the SpeakNow World Tourand Swift will begin the European and American leg afterwards.[104]

Swift's first live album, Speak Now World Tour: Live, featuring all seventeen performancesfrom the North American leg of her concert tour, is scheduled for a November 21, 2011

release.[105]

Many dates on the Speak Now World Tour were cancelled due to Swiftsuffering frombronchitisand was told she is unable to perform.[106] Swift soldapproximately 4,470,000 albums in the US in 2010 (more than any other artist) and sold9.9 million digital tracks.[107] She was ranked second onRolling Stone's lists of Top 16"Queen Of Pops" of the decade.[108] Swift appeared on theHamish & Andy show where sheperformed a new song called "Chaperone Dads", which is dedicated to a select group of herfans.[109]The week following the release of her "Sparks Fly" video Swift jumped fromnineteen to ten on theBillboard's Social 50.[110] Swift has revealed that she has already

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written 25 songs for an untitled follow-up album to Speak Now, set to release in the laterpart of 2012. She commented on them, "Theyre sad. If I'm being honest."[111][112]

On December 23, 2011, Taylor announced via Twitter, "Something I've been VERYexcited about for a VERY long time is going to be happening VERY soon." [113] Several

hours later, Taylor announced that she is featured on The Hunger GamesOfficial MovieSoundtrack. Her song, entitled "Safe and Sound", was the first track released from thealbum. The song was co-written by The Civil Wars, who also co-recorded the song withTaylor.

Songwriting style

Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has said that "If you listen to my albums, itslike reading my diary."[114] For example, the song "Forever & Always" was inspired by herrelationship withJoe Jonas,[62][63] while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a boywhom she toured with in the past.[114] "Fifteen" was written about her freshman year of high

school. It has been said that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl gettingone over on the cheerleaders, or a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her." [115] Shehas also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goalis to never write songs that my fans can't relate to."[116]She parodied her confrontationalstyle of songwriting during her appearance on Saturday Night Live; during her openingmonologue, she performed an original song that featured lines such as "You might think I'dbring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone/ Hey, Joe, I'm doing real well,tonight I'm hosting 'SNL'" referring to her highly publicized relationship with Joe Jonas. [117]

The intensely personal nature of the songs has drawn her attention in the music industry.Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that

the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them." [118] Due tothe autobiographical nature of her songs, some fans have researched the songs' origins.Swift once said, "Every single one of the guys that Ive written songs about has beentracked down on MySpace by my fans."[119]The New York Times described Swift as "one ofpop's finest songwriters, countrys foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her innerlife than most adults".[120]

Other work

Acting

In 2008, Swift made her acting debut in Brad Paisley's music video "Online". In that sameyear Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitledMTV's Once Upon a Prom and adocumentary with Def Leppard forCMT entitled CMT Crossroads, which premiered onNovember 7, 2008.[121] Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D Concert Film,Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience. The film was released on February 27, 2009in North America and brought in $12.7 million on its opening weekend. [122] Swift made herprimetime television acting debut on CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation "Turn, Turn,

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Turn" as Haley Jones on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watchedby 20.8 million viewers.[123] Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's music video"Best Days of Your Life". Swift also appeared inHannah Montana: The Movie credited asherself. The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America.[124] The television showDateline NBC showcased an hour on Swift on May 31, 2009. The episode titledDateline

NBC: On Tour With Taylor Swiftincluded scenes from her tour bus, concert footage, andrehearsals.[125] Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7,2009 episode ofSaturday Night Live.[126] In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debutas Felicia in the filmValentine's Day. For this role she won the Teen Choice Award forMovie Female Breakout.[127] She has been cast to voice the role of Audrey in the animatedfilmThe Lorax, set to be released in 2012.[128] In January 2012, Swift was offered the roleofEponine in thefilm adaptation of the musical,Les Misrables.[129]

Cover model and recognition

Swift at the premiere ofHannah Montana: The Movie, April 2009

Swift has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. She has been a cover girlforBlender, for which she was one of two country artists during the magazines fifteenyear run to be a cover subject.[130] She was included inPeople's annual "100 Most BeautifulPeople" 2008, 2009, and 2010 lists.[131][132] Additionally, she was named number fifty-sevenonMaxim's sexiest women of 2008, number fifty on the 2009 list[133] and number thirty-oneon the 2010 list.[134]CosmoGirlvoted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year".[135] Swift wasnamed byRolling Stone magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change".[136] She was

nominated as a candidate forTIME's "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which isdetermined by online voting.[137]People magazine named Swift one of 25 Most IntriguingPeople of 2009.[138]

Merchandise

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008.[139] Swift has been the face ofL.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008.[140] Swift and the L.e.i. Clothing Line

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made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing, which will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months.[141] However, Swift said she does not want to be called adesigner. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on herown style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swiftdesigner line."[142] In 2009, Swift became theNational Hockey League's newest celebrity

spokesperson. She appears in commercials for theNashville Predators.[143]

In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellersof unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, whereshe demanded a trial by jury, sought a judgement forcompensatory damages,punitivedamages, three times the actual damages sustained, and statutory damages, and sought forrecovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest.[144] Nashville's U.S. District Courtgranted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift'sconcerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to bedestroyed.[145][146][147] On July 15, 2011, Swift's official website announced that she hadpartnered with Elizabeth Arden to launch a fragrance, which is to be released in October

2011.

[dated info]

The fragrance's name, "Wonderstruck", is a reference to the song "Enchanted"featured on herSpeak Now album.[148] Swift is also working with American Greetings, Inc.[149]

Philanthropy

On September 21, 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from onlinepredators.[150] She has teamed up with Tennessee GovernorPhil Bredesen to combatinternet sex crimes.[150] The year-long campaign, in partnership with the TennesseeAssociation of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials toparents and students across the state.[150]In early 2008, Swift donated the pink Chevy pick-

up truck given to her by her record label to the childrens charity, the Victory JunctionGang; in June 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds from her merchandise sales at the 2008Country Music Festival to Red Cross, theNashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fundand theNational American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.[151]

Swift at the 2010Time 100 Gala, where she was honored.

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Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of theIowa flood of 2008.[152] Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware oflistening "responsibly".[153] Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platformunderwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropythrough the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen", is featured in this campaign.[154]

Swift lent her support to theVictorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup atSydney's Sound Reliefconcert,[155] reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artistplaying at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross.[156] Swift donated her prom dress,which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org.[157] On November 20, 2009 after alive performance on BBC's Children in Need night Swift announced to SirTerry Woganshe would donate 13,000 of her own money to the cause.[158]

On December 13, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools aroundthe country which she had either attended or been involved with.[159] Swift has donated apair of her shoes a gently-worn pair of black Betsey Johnson heels with her autograph onthe sole to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to

raise money to benefit women with cancer.

In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a floodrelief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.[160]

On May 23, 2011, Taylor Swift transformed what was to have been the final dressrehearsal for the North American leg of her Speak Now tour into a benefit concert forvictims of recent tornadoes in the United States southeast region. The concert in Nashvilledrew more than 13,000 people and raised more than $750,000 from proceeds from ticketsales, merchandise and other facets of the show. [161] The benefit concert for tornado reliefwas subsequently honored at the 2011 Do Something Awards.[162] In July 2011, Swift

further aided to the cause by donating $250,000 to Alabama football coachNick Saban'scharity Nick's Kids to aid in the tornado relief efforts of West Alabama.[163]

Personal life

In addition to her relationship withJoe Jonas, which ended in October 2008,[62][63][164] Swift'sdating history has included other celebrities: Taylor Lautner, for three months in 2009;[165]

and Jake Gyllenhaal, from late 2010 to early 2011.[166][167][168][169] Swift has also beenromantically linked to John Mayer.[170] There has been speculation that the songs "DearJohn" and "The Story of Us" from her album Speak Now are about Mayer.[171]In October2011, she revealed to Ellen Degenereson her showEllen that, "I don't even have, like, kind

of a boyfriend. I don't have someone that I'm texting that is a guy that someday might bemy boyfriend. There's like nothing going on right now."[172]

In November 2011, Taylor adopted a Scottish fold kitten. She named her Meredith after thecharacterMeredith Grey from the popular ABC drama Grey's Anatomy.[173] The kittenappeared in the official music video for Taylor's songOurs alongside Taylor andFridayNight Lights starZach Gilford.[174]