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Timeline : Taylor Swift

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December 13, 1989

Taylor Swift is born in Reading, Pennsylvania. She is raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, and moves to Nashville at age 14, where she discovers her knack for turning heartache into hit singles.More

April 21, 2006

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw kick off their Soul2Soul II tour in Columbus, Ohio, which becomes the highest-grossing country tour of all time. On some dates, their opening act is a young singer named Taylor Swift.

October 24, 2006

Taylor Swift releases her self-titled debut album, a collection of country-pop tunes the singer wrote during her freshman year of high school. Led by the Top 20 single "Tim McGraw," it peaks at #5 on the Albums chart and becomes the longest-charting album of the 2000s in the US, logging 157 weeks by 2009.

April 12, 2007

In Omaha, Nebraska, Kenny Chesney launches his Flip Flop Summer tour. 17-year-old Taylor Swift was going to be an opening act on the tour but had to bow out when Cruzan Rum came on as a sponsor. Chesney makes it up to her with a note of encouragement and a big check that helps line up her own tour in 2009.

May 15, 2007

During her performance of her debut single "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards, teenaged Taylor Swift goes into the audience and introduces herself to McGraw and his wife, Faith Hill.More

November 11, 2008

Eighteen-year-old Taylor Swift releases her second album, Fearless, which goes on to sell over 10 million copies in America. Standout tracks include "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me."

September 13, 2009

When Taylor Swift wins for Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West comes on stage and commandeers the microphone, explaining that Beyoncé deserved the award for her "Single Ladies" video. When Beyoncé does win for Video of the Year later that night, she brings Taylor on stage to finish her speech.More

January 31, 2010

Taylor Swift and Beyoncé sweep the Grammy Awards with record-breaking wins. Earning Album of the Year for Fearless at age 19, Swift is the youngest artist to ever win the award. Beyoncé wins six out of ten nominations - including Song of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) " - giving her the most wins in one night of any female artist.More

October 25, 2010

Taylor Swift releases her third album, Speak Now. One of the more confessional songs is "Mean," where she takes aim at her critics, including industry insider Bob Lefsetz, who wrote that Swift was "too young and dumb to understand the mistake she made" in performing with Stevie Nicks at the Grammy Awards.

November 13, 2010

Taylor Swift sets a record by becoming the first female artist to place 11 songs on the Hot 100 at the same time.More

November 22, 2011

At her concert in Madison Square Garden, Taylor Swift brings out James Taylor - whom she's named after - to perform "Fire And Rain" and "Fifteen."

August 21, 2012

With 623,000 digital copies sold, Taylor Swift's hit "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" becomes the single with the most digital sales for a female artist.

September 22, 2012

Taylor Swift's single "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" notches its third week at #1 on the Hot 100. Swift is still considered a country artist (the song also hits #1 on the Country chart), which puts her in company with Kenny Rogers in terms of crossover appeal; the last country song to spend at least three weeks at #1 was Rogers' "Lady" back in 1980.

October 22, 2012

Taylor Swift releases her fourth album, Red. The first single is the #1 "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," a kiss-off to an ex she refuses to name.

December 14, 2012

Stalker Jacob Nicholas Kulke is arrested outside a residence belonging to Taylor Swift and is charged with trespassing. Kulke claims that he had been in touch with Swift through social media and had been planning to show up and "surprise her for her birthday." Though the singer had just had her birthday the previous day, she'd been overseas at the time and likely wouldn't be too happy with Kulke scaling her fence.

June 2, 2013

Taylor Swift poses for photos with KYGO radio DJ David Mueller before her concert in Denver. She later accuses him of putting his hand up her dress, and Mueller is fired. In 2015, he sues her, but Swift countersues and wins a sexual assault case against him. "He grabbed my bare ass," she says in her testimony.

July 27, 2013

At Gillette Stadium in Boston, Taylor Swift brings out Carly Simon to sing with her on "You're So Vain," which like many of Swift's hits, takes aim at a famous ex. Swift claims that backstage after the show, Simon whispered in her ear the identity of the man she was singing about in "Vain."

October 27, 2014

Taylor Swift issues 1989, her biggest-selling album. The first two singles are monster hits: "Shake It Off" and "Blank Space."More

October 25, 2014

Taylor Swift applies to trademark several phrases related to her album 1989, including "Party Like It's 1989," "This Sick Beat" and "Cause We Never Go Out Of Style." When granted, this would give her exclusive rights to use the phrases on an array of items, including pot holders, ornaments and removable tattoos.

November 29, 2014

Taylor Swift replaces herself at #1 on the Hot 100 when "Blank Space" knocks "Shake It Off" from the top spot, making Swift the first female artist to do so.

January 27, 2015

Taylor Swift's Twitter and Instagram accounts are hacked, resulting in bogus tweets to her 51 million followers (the fourth-largest Twitter account). Swift takes to Tumblr, where she posts: "Hackers gonna hack hack hack hack hack." She also assures fans that no nude photos exist.

June 21, 2015

As Apple readies to launch its new streaming platform, Apple Music, Taylor Swift writes an open letter to the company threatening to withhold her album 1989 if artists aren't paid their deserved royalties.More

June 13, 2015

Rachel Platten is vaulted into the limelight when Taylor Swift brings her on stage to perform "Fight Song" during her concert in Philadelphia.More

February 15, 2016

In her Grammy acceptance speech for Album of the Year, Taylor Swift warns of "people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame." This is in response to Kanye West, who rapped about Swift, "I made that bitch famous" in his song "Famous."More

February 12, 2016

Kanye West drops "Famous," with the lyric: I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex Why? I made that bitch famous West claims that he got Taylor Swift's blessing before releasing the song, but she clearly doesn't expect it. Her spokesperson says she was never told the actual lyric, and takes issue with it.

June 24, 2016

Kanye West debuts the video for "Famous," which shows him in bed with nude likenesses of his wife Kim Kardashian, Donald Trump, Bill Cosby, Rihanna, and other celebrities and associates. West appears next to a likeness of Taylor Swift, who is derisively mentioned in the lyrics, "I made that bitch famous." West calls the video "a comment on fame."

July 17, 2016

Kim Kardashian posts a video on her Snapchat account of a phone call between Kanye West and Taylor Swift where Kanye recites the line, "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex," from his song "Famous," and she seems OK with it. Swift responds on Instagram by posting, "Where is the video of Kanye telling me he was going to call me 'that bitch' in his song? It doesn't exist because it never happened."More

October 20, 2016

Little Big Town release the single "Better Man," which they later reveal was written by Taylor Swift, marking the first time she pitched a song to another artist.

August 27, 2017

Kendrick Lamar wins Video of the Year for HUMBLE. at the MTV Video Music Awards, where Taylor Swift debuts her video for "Look What You Made Me Do."More

August 18, 2017

Taylor Swift wipes clean her social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, personal YouTube). Three days later, she begins posting video of a snake to tease her scathing song "Look What You Made Me Do," which is released on August 25.

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