Taylor Swift has become one of the youngest and most popular women in country and pop music for the early 2000s. She began her career in 2006 at the age of 16 when she released her first album. At age 11, she sang The Star-Spangled Banner at a Philadelphia 76ers game and by age 12 she was playing the guitar several hours every day, modeling after artists like the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain. She first started performing in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, as a member of the childrens theater troupe. The manager persuaded her to embark on a music career and Swift began singing karaoke songs at the mall and followed up by open-mike nights. Swifts parents realized her devotion to music and started taking her to Nashville, TN, where she performed and socialized with songwriters.

The family soon made Nashville their home and while singing in a café, Swift caught the attention of a music industry professional. She signed to Big Machine Records and released her first single Tim McGraw in 2006 off her first self-titled album. She attained new stardom with a string of hits including five Top Ten singles, breaking records for a female solo artist. With the release of her 2008 album Fearless, she became the most popular artist of any genre and the highest-grossing artist of 2008. The album became gold in its first week, then went multi-platinum and earned her a collection of awards. By 2009, Fearless was the years top-selling album and Swifts music had topped the pop charts and marked her as a major crossover artist.