At the young age of 14, Taylor Swift signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music and in 2006 she released her self-titled debut CD on Big Machine Records. At 17, she became the youngest person to ever single-handedly write and sing a number-one country single entirely on her own (“Our Song” spent six consecutive weeks at #1 atop Billboard’s Country Singles Chart). She is also the first female solo artist in country music history to write or co-write every song on a platinum-selling debut CD - Taylor Swift.  In addition, Swift wrote or co-wrote every song on her blockbuster Fearless album, released in 2008. Fearless sold more than 5 million copies, fueled by the multi-genre domestic and international success of chart-topping singles including “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me.”

At the time of this award, Swift had sold more than 13 million albums and had numerous awards and accolades to add to her long list of accomplishments, including being the top-selling digital artist in music history, receiving the Artist of the Year Award at the American Music Awards, having the #1 best-selling album in any genre of music in both 2009 and 2008, and to be the first female solo country artist to ever win the all-genre GRAMMY award for Album of the Year. This year alone (2010) she took home four GRAMMY awards - in addition to Album of the Year, she was honored for Country Album of the Year, Best Country Song and Best Country Female Vocal Performance.

All bios appear as they were submitted in the year of induction or award presentation.