Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop singer-songwriter, guitarist and actress. In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", which preceded the release of her self-titled debut album. Taylor Swift produced five hit singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts and has been certified 3× Multi-Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Swift released her second album, Fearless, in November 2008. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Swift is the highest-selling artist of 2008 in the United States with combined sales of more than four million albums. Swift's Fearless and her self-titled album finished 2008 at number three and number six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. Fearless has topped the Billboard 200 in 11 non-consecutive weeks, a feat no album has spent more time at number one since 1999-2000. With combined singles from her two albums, she is the female artist with the most top 40 hits this decade. According to the 2009 issue of Forbes, Swift is ranked as the 69th most powerful celebrity with over $18 million in earnings this year. In 2010, Swift will make her feature film debut in the film Valentine's Day.

Swift was born in the borough of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Scott Swift, a stock broker, and his wife Andrea, a homemaker. She has a younger brother, Austin. When she was in fourth grade, Swift won a national poetry contest with a three page poem entitled "Monster In My Closet".