At 17, Taylor became the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a number-one country single entirely on her own ("Our Song" spent 6 consecutive weeks at #1 atop Billboard's Country Singles Chart), and she is the first female solo artist in country music history to write or co-write every song on a platinum-selling debut CD. At 14, she signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music, and in 2006 released her self-titled debut CD on Big Machine Records. Taylor Swift has surpassed quadruple-platinum (4 million sales) status and spent more than 20 weeks in the #1 position atop Billboard's Country CD Sales Chart. Taylor is consistently ranked Country's #1 artist on MySpace, and was named Country Music's Hottest Female Artist by AOL Music and Best New Artist by the editors of iTunes.
In 2009 Taylor was awarded the Academy of Country Music's Crystal Milestone Award, given for Outstanding Achievement in Country Music. Taylor was the 4th artist in history to receive this prestigious award -- recipients in past years were Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Also this year, Taylor won CMT Music Awards for Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year, awards she was also honored with in 2008. Taylor was named 2008's Favorite Female Country Artist at the American Music Awards, Top New Female Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music, and won 2008 CMT Music Awards for Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year. She was named Choice Breakout Artist at the 2008 Teen Choice Awards, and was as the 2008 Superstar of Tomorrow at the 10th Annual Young Hollywood Awards, making her the first musician to ever receive this prestigious award. In 2007 she won the CMA Horizon Award, as well as the Nashville Songwriters Association International's Songwriter / Artist of the Year, and she received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. Taylor has been featured on the covers of Rolling Stone (twice), Billboard (twice), Allure, Blender, USA Weekend, Seventeen (twice), Redbook, Self, Us Weekly, CosmoGirl, Girl's Life, Teen Vogue, Women's Health, First, Your Prom, and Southwest Airlines Spirit magazine. She was featured in a Vanity Fair spotlight, was named one of People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People of 2008, was Cosmopolitan magazine's Fun Fearless Female of December, 2008, was Allure's Face of December, was named a Style Star of 2008 by the editors of Seventeen, and was featured on Maxim's 2008 Hot 100 list. She recently appeared on Saturday Night Live.
Taylor launched her first-ever headlining tour this spring, the TAYLOR SWIFT FEARLESS 2009 TOUR. In the past she has toured with Rascal Flatts, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw & Faith Hill and Brad Paisley.
