Entering Music Industry

In Nashville, Taylor started working with songwriter Liz Rose. Later, she became the youngest artist signed by Sony/ATV publishing house, but left the group at age 14. She believed she was running out of time because she wanted to capture the early years of her life on an album while it still represented what she was going through.

At a showcase in Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe in 2005, Swift caught the attention a record executive who was preparing to form an independent record label, Big Machine Records. She became one of Big Machine’s first signings, with her father purchasing a three percent share of the company.

Taylor then started working on her debut album. Her first lead single “Tim McGraw” was released in June 2006, and Taylor Swift’s self titled album was released later that year, on October 24, 2006. It peaked at number 5 on the US Billboard 200, where it spent 275 weeks. Swift was also the opening act for Brad Paisley’s 2007 tour to promote her album. Throughout 2007 and 2008, Taylor released four more singles from her debut album and all of them appeared on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

Swift released her first two EPs “The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection” and “Beautiful Eyes” in October 2007 and July 2008, respectively, winning accolades for all of her first three projects.

She became the youngest person to be honored with the BMI Songwriter of the Year title in 2007. She won awards at the CMAs, ACMs and AMAs while also securing a nomination for Best New Artist at the 50th Grammy Awards.