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''Taylor Swift'' is the debut
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by American singer-songwriter
Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...
. It was released by
Big Machine Records Big Machine Records is an American independent record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Specializing in country and pop artists, Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by fo ...
on October 24, 2006, in the United States and Canada, and March 18, 2008, internationally. Swift had signed with Sony/ATV Tree publishing house in 2004, at age 14, to pursue a career as a
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
musician. Her contract with Big Machine in 2005 enabled her to work on the album during her first high school year. Swift wrote or co-wrote 11 of the album's tracks, including three by herself;
Robert Ellis Orrall Robert Ellis Orrall (born May 4, 1955) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Signed to RCA Records in 1980, Orrall debuted that year with the album "Fixation". His first Top 40 single was "I Couldn't Say No", a duet with Carlene ...
, Brian Maher,
Angelo Petraglia Angelo Petraglia (born May 5, 1954) is an American record producer and songwriter. He was a member of the new wave band Face to Face and is best known for his work with Kings of Leon. Early life He was born in the Bronx and grew up in Pelham, N ...
, and
Liz Rose Elisabeth Wagner (born September 6, 1957), known professionally as Liz Rose, is an American country music songwriter, best known for her work with Taylor Swift. She has co-written seventeen of Swift's officially released songs, including "You Bel ...
have co-writing credits. Drawing on her personal life, the songs reflect Swift's outlook on life as a teenager, dealing with romantic relationships, friendships, and insecurity. Produced by Orrall and Nathan Chapman, ''Taylor Swift'' is a country record with pop and
pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...
elements, incorporating acoustic instruments such as guitars,
banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
s, and
fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
s. Five
singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...
supported ''Taylor Swift'', including the
Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...
number-ones " Our Song" and " Should've Said No", and Swift's first top-15 entry on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, "
Teardrops on My Guitar "Teardrops on My Guitar" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her self-titled debut album (2006). Swift wrote the song with Liz Rose, and Nathan Chapman produced it. Big Machine Records released "Teardrops on My Gui ...
". Swift promoted the album through social network Myspace, which journalists found atypical for a country musician's marketing strategy. She embarked on a six-month radio tour in 2006, and opened tours for other country artists throughout 2006 and 2007. Critics praised the album's mainstream sensibility and Swift's songwriting at a young age for earnestly depicting adolescent sentiments. ''Taylor Swift'' was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2008 Academy of Country Music Awards and helped Swift earn accolades including a
Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
nomination for
Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...
. The album spent 24 weeks at number one on
Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales a ...
and peaked at number five on the ''Billboard'' 200, becoming the longest-charting album of the 2000s decade. Certified seven times Platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA), it made Swift the first solo female country artist to write or co-write every song on a platinum debut album. Journalists attributed ''Taylor Swift'' success to Swift's online marketing via Myspace, which ushered in a younger demographic in country audiences who had mainly consisted of middle-aged listeners. The album's
crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...
appeal shaped the
country pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...
style of Swift's next two albums, and its autobiographical narratives about love and heartbreak inspired a subsequent generation of singer-songwriters.


Background

Taylor Swift developed an early interest in the
performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...
. After watching a documentary about
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
singer
Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer and actress. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. Hill' ...
, Swift felt sure she needed to move to
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
—widely regarded as the home of country music—to pursue a career as a country singer. At age eleven, Swift traveled to Nashville with her mother to pitch
demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
tapes of karaoke covers to
record labels A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produc ...
for a
contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...
. She was rejected because record labels believed country music's middle-aged demographic would not listen to music by a teenage girl, which Swift firmly disbelieved. Returning to her home town in
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, Swift realized she had to distinguish herself from other aspiring country singers. To this end, at age 12, she started writing songs herself, and learned to play the guitar with the help of a computer repairman who had fixed her family's computer on one occasion. Swift's love for country music alienated her from her peers. Her performance of "
The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...
" at the 2003 US Open caught the attention of music manager Dan Dymtrow, who helped 13-year-old Swift get an
artist development deal An artist development deal (also known as a demo deal) is a recording artist contract with a record label or music publisher that promises to develop the skills and public profile Notability is the property of being worthy of notice, having fa ...
with
RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
in Nashville. To assist Swift's artistic endeavors, her father transferred his job to Nashville, and her family relocated to Hendersonville, a city close to Nashville, in 2004.


Development and production

Among Swift's inspirations were 1990s female country musicians—
Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( , ; née Edwards; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-s ...
,
the Chicks The Chicks (previously known as Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. Since 1995, the band has consisted of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and E ...
,
Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer and actress. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. Hill' ...
, and
LeAnn Rimes Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (born August 28, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She originally rose to success as a country music artist at age 13 with 1996's "Blue". She has since crossed over into pop, contemporary Chris ...
. She signed with the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house at age 14 to become a professional songwriter, the youngest signee in its history. After the signing, Swift commuted from Hendersonville to Nashville every afternoon to practice with experienced
Music Row Music Row is a historic district located southwest of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Widely considered the heart of Nashville's entertainment industry, Music Row has also become a metonymous nickname for the music industry as a w ...
songwriters.
Liz Rose Elisabeth Wagner (born September 6, 1957), known professionally as Liz Rose, is an American country music songwriter, best known for her work with Taylor Swift. She has co-written seventeen of Swift's officially released songs, including "You Bel ...
became an important collaborator and formed a lasting working relationship with Swift in her future career. Swift had productive sessions with Rose because she respected Swift's vision and did not want to put her in the "Nashville cookie-cutter songwriting mold". Rose spoke highly of Swift's songwriting abilities: "Basically, I was just her editor...She had such a clear vision of what she was trying to say. And she'd come in with the most incredible hooks." After one year on RCA's development deal, Swift was held off an official record deal; she felt the label was not confident in her self-written material. Swift parted ways with RCA: "I figured if they didn't believe in me then, they weren't ever going to believe in me." She recalled in 2009 in ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'': "I genuinely felt that I was running out of time. I wanted to capture these years of my life on an album while they still represented what I was going through." At an industry showcase at Nashville's
Bluebird Café The Bluebird Café is a 90-seat music club in Nashville, Tennessee that opened in 1982. The club features acoustic music performed by both established singer-songwriters, and cover artists. The Bluebird receives over 70,000 visitors annually. T ...
in 2005, Swift caught the attention of
Scott Borchetta Scott Borchetta (born July 3, 1962) is an American record executive and founder of the Big Machine Label Group. He started the label in 2005 with 13 employees, as its president/CEO and encompasses four imprints: Big Machine Records, BMLG Record ...
, a
DreamWorks Records DreamWorks Records (often referred in copyright notices as SKG Music, LLC) was an American record label founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures. The label operated until 200 ...
executive who was preparing to form an independent record label,
Big Machine Records Big Machine Records is an American independent record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Specializing in country and pop artists, Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by fo ...
. She had first met Borchetta in 2004. Swift became one of Big Machine's first signings, and her father purchased a three-percent stake in the company. Of the standard edition's eleven songs, Swift is the sole writer of three, and a co-writer of eight. Rose shares the writing credit on seven.
Robert Ellis Orrall Robert Ellis Orrall (born May 4, 1955) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Signed to RCA Records in 1980, Orrall debuted that year with the album "Fixation". His first Top 40 single was "I Couldn't Say No", a duet with Carlene ...
and
Angelo Petraglia Angelo Petraglia (born May 5, 1954) is an American record producer and songwriter. He was a member of the new wave band Face to Face and is best known for his work with Kings of Leon. Early life He was born in the Bronx and grew up in Pelham, N ...
co-wrote "A Place in This World", and Brian Maher co-wrote "Mary's Song (Oh My My My)". After experimenting with different producers, Swift persuaded Big Machine to recruit Nathan Chapman, who had produced her
demo album Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
in a "little shed" behind the Sony/ATV offices. Big Machine was skeptical about hiring Chapman because he had never produced a commercially released studio album, but ultimately agreed because Swift felt they had the "right chemistry". Before approaching Chapman, Swift conceptualized how her songs should sound: "I know exactly where I want the hook to be and ... what instruments I want to use." Chapman was confident in Swift's abilities, saying that she "knows what she wants to say with her music". He has sole production credits on all songs but one, "The Outside", on which he is credited as an additional producer, and Orrall as the main producer. Recording took place during a four-month period near the end of 2005. When the recording and production wrapped, Swift had finished her first high school year.


Composition


Lyrics

Swift wrote ''Taylor Swift'' from her personal life experiences as a teenager. While she adhered to the confessional songwriting associated with country music, she did not write about stereotypical themes such as "
tractors A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...
and hay bales because that's not really the way I grew up". She instead wrote about her observations and reflections on matters from romantic relationships to friendships, striving to convey her teenage perspectives as honestly and personally as possible. Because her inspirations came from immediate feelings and emotions, Swift wrote songs anytime and anywhere, from studio sessions to school breaks. The result is straightforward lyrics, which ''The Daily Telegraph'' noted to be "brimmed with an earnest
naiveté Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may b ...
". The songs on ''Taylor Swift'' are from the perspectives of a girl in an American small town, within the extends from high school hallways to rural backroads; ''Billboard'' noted that Swift's personal thoughts within a small confinement fosters a contemplative nature. Most songs on the album are about romantic relationships, some of which were based on Swift's observations rather than real experiences. The lead single and first track, "
Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, four for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those album ...
", was inspired by Swift's relationship with a senior boyfriend during her first year of high school. The song is about Swift's hope that the boyfriend, after ending the relationship and leaving for college, would reminisce about her every time he hears their mutual favorite
Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, four for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those album ...
song; according to Swift, "Tim McGraw" was inspired by McGraw's 2004 song "
Can't Tell Me Nothin' "Can't Tell Me Nothing" is a song by American rapper Kanye West from his third studio album, ''Graduation (album), Graduation'' (2007). The song contains additional vocals from Young Jeezy and Connie Mitchell. It was produced by West with DJ T ...
". Swift wrote " Our Song" for her high school
talent show A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...
. She talked about the inspiration: "I wrote it about this guy I was dating, and how we didn't have a song. So I went ahead and wrote us one." The songs "
Picture to Burn "Picture to Burn" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her self-titled debut studio album (2006). Swift and Liz Rose wrote the track, which was produced by Nathan Chapman. The song was released as the album's four ...
" and " Should've Said No" depict a vengeful attitude toward those who do not reciprocate the protagonist's feelings; on "Picture to Burn", Swift sings about burning photographic evidence of an ex-boyfriend's existence. The original version included the lyrics, "Go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy / That's fine; I'll tell mine you're gay." On the
radio edit In music, a radio edit or radio mix is a modification, typically truncated or censored, intended to make a song more suitable for airplay, whether it be adjusted for length, profanity, subject matter, instrumentation, or form. Radio edits may als ...
and subsequent versions, Swift modified the lyric to "That's fine; You won't mind if I say." Heartbreak is another aspect Swift explored—"
Teardrops on My Guitar "Teardrops on My Guitar" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her self-titled debut album (2006). Swift wrote the song with Liz Rose, and Nathan Chapman produced it. Big Machine Records released "Teardrops on My Gui ...
" was about her experience with a classmate whom she had feelings for, but this classmate was in love with someone else. On "Cold as You", Swift laments a fruitless relationship: "I've never been anywhere cold as you." She said it was her favorite song lyrically on the album: "I love a line in a song where afterward you're just like... burn." On other songs, Swift sings about insecurity and self-consciousness. "The Outside", which Swift wrote at age 12, describes the loneliness she felt when her love of country music alienated her from her peers. In a similar sentiment, "A Place in This World" expresses Swift's uncertainty about where she truly belongs. Swift wrote "Tied Together with a Smile" the day she learned one of her best friends had an
eating disorder An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that negatively affect a person's physical or mental health. Only one eating disorder can be diagnosed at a given time. Types of eating disorders include binge eating d ...
. The lyrics describe a girl hiding her inner turbulence; Swift commented, "I always thought that one of the biggest overlooked problems American girls face is insecurity."


Music

Musically, ''Taylor Swift'' incorporates country music elements, including
twang Twang is an onomatopoeia originally used to describe the sound of a vibrating bow string after the arrow is released.Hensleigh Wedgwood, ''A Dictionary of English Etymology: Q - Z'' (1865), p. 433. By extension it applies to the similar vibrati ...
vocal delivery and acoustic instruments such as
fiddles A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, ...
,
guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, and
banjos The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
. According to ''
American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwri ...
'''s Michael Kosser, Chapman's production was a distinctive sound hard to categorize into a particular
genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
; Big Machine marketed the album to
country radio Country radio refers to radio stations that play country music. Most country radio stations are commercial radio stations. Most country radio stations usually play only music which has been officially released to country radio by record labels. The ...
regardless. Reviews from ''
The Palm Beach Post ''The Palm Beach Post'' is an American daily newspaper serving Palm Beach County in South Florida, and parts of the Treasure Coast. On March 18, 2018, in a deal worth US$42.35 million, ''The Palm Beach Post'' and ''The Palm Beach Daily News'' we ...
'' and the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' categorized ''Taylor Swift'' as country music. Elements of
crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...
pop are apparent on many songs. In retrospective articles, critics disagreed on to what extent the ''Taylor Swift'' songs are fully country.
Jon Caramanica Jon Caramanica (born 1975) is an American journalist and pop music critic who writes for ''The New York Times''. He is also known for writing about hip hop music. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, Caramanica received his ba ...
from ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called it a " pop-minded country" album, while ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' critic Chuck Eddy observed that ''Taylor Swift'' blended "
pop-rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and ...
and Dixie Chicks-style twang". Another album review on ''Rolling Stone'', meanwhile, felt the songs were inflected with
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
. Grady Smith from the same magazine listed the singles "Tim McGraw", "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", and "Picture to Burn" among Swift's "countriest songs", which evoke "classic country" in terms of instrumentation, themes, and
song structure Song structure is the arrangement of a song, and is a part of the songwriting process. It is typically sectional, which uses repeating forms in songs. Common forms include bar form, 32-bar form, verse–chorus form, ternary form, strophic form, and ...
. J. Freedom du Lac from ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' noted that the "
rhythmic Rhythmic may refer to: * Related to rhythm * Rhythmic contemporary, a radio format * Rhythmic adult contemporary, a radio format * Rhythmic gymnastics, a form of gymnastics * Rhythmic (chart) The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and ...
,
rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
-influenced phrasing" on "Our Song" was atypical to country music. James E. Perone, an academic in music, cited "Tim McGraw" as an example of Swift's crossover appeal. "Tim McGraw" follows the I-vi-IV-V
chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...
, which is typically found in late-1950s and early-1960s
rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
. The
refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...
consists of repeated motives built within a small pitch range, which gives the song a catchy tune. Additionally, the refrain—and to a lesser degree, the verses—makes heavy use of
syncopation In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "place ...
at the
sixteenth-note Figure 1. A 16th note with stem facing up, a 16th note with stem facing down, and a 16th rest. Figure 2. Four 16th notes beamed together. In music, a 1/16, sixteenth note ( American) or semiquaver (British) is a note played for half the dur ...
level, which brings about a production reminiscent to non-country genres such as
alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
and hip hop. Perone argued that these melodic qualities laid the groundwork to Swift's pop radio-friendly discography enjoyed by both pop and country audiences.


Release and promotion

''Taylor Swift'' was released on October 24, 2006, through Big Machine Records. Swift was involved in the album packaging, designing doodle graphics herself. She included hidden messages with hints at the subjects of her songs in the lyrics printed in the
liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...
, inspired by
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
' hiding secret messages in their records. She executed the same technique on her subsequent albums. Swift said the messages could be interpreted by tracking the capital letters in the order they appear in the lyrics printed in the liner notes. In addition to the eleven-track standard edition, a 15-track deluxe edition contains three new original songs—"I'm Only Me When I'm with You", "Invisible", and "A Perfectly Good Heart", and an alternate version of "Teardrops on My Guitar". An "enhanced version", which includes the
music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
s for "Teardrops on My Guitar" and "Tim McGraw", was released on March 18, 2008. The album was preceded by the lead single "Tim McGraw", which was released on June 19, 2006. The single peaked at number 40 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number six on the
Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...
chart, marking Swift's debut appearance on both charts. It was certified
double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA). Swift promoted the album performing on televised programs including ''
Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
'', ''
The Megan Mullally Show ''The Megan Mullally Show'' is an American talk show hosted by Megan Mullally that debuted in syndication on September 18, 2006, and was cancelled in January 2007 due to its low ratings.09 January 2007Megan Mullally Show Cancelled MSNBC News. Earl ...
'', ''
America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...
'', ''
Total Request Live ''Total Request Live'' (known commonly as ''TRL'') was an American television program broadcast on MTV that premiered on September 14, 1998. TRL featured popular music videos played during its countdown, and was also used as a promotion tool by ...
'', the
CMT Music Awards The CMT Music Awards is a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances. The awards ceremony is held every year in Nashville, Tennessee, and broadcast live on the CMT (Country Music Television) channel. Voting takes p ...
, and the
Academy of Country Music Awards The Academy of Country Music Awards, also known as the ACM Awards, were first held in 1966, honoring the industry's accomplishments during the previous year. It was the first country music awards program held by a major organization. The academy ...
. To maintain her presence on country radio, Swift embarked on a radio tour during a six-month run in 2006. Swift also promoted the album by performing as an opening act for other country artists'
concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...
s. She opened for
Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second cousi ...
from October 19 to November 3, 2006. Throughout 2007, she opened for
George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for ...
,
Brad Paisley Bradley Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting with his 1999 debut album ''Who Needs Pictures'', he has released eleven studio albums and a Christmas compilation on the Arista Nashvil ...
, and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's joint tour,
Soul2Soul II Tour The Soul2Soul II Tour was the second co-headlining concert tour between American country music singers, and husband and wife, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Beginning as the Soul2Soul II Tour 2006, its shows featured elaborate production values usin ...
. In addition to traditional radio promotion, Swift extensively used her Myspace profile to communicate with her audiences, sharing her daily blogs and song information. Her online marketing strategy boosted the album's popularity among teenagers and young adults. Swift and Big Machine decided to release "Our Song" as a single because of the positive feedback it received on Myspace. Throughout 2007 and 2008, four more singles supported ''Taylor Swift'': "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn", and "Should've Said No", all of which peaked within the top forty of the Hot 100 and the top ten of the Hot Country Songs chart. "Teardrops on My Guitar" peaked at number two on the Hot Country Songs chart and had a crossover release to
pop radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...
; it peaked at number seven on the
Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...
(Pop Songs) chart, and number 13 on the Hot 100. "Our Song" and "Should've Said No" reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart. With "Our Song", Swift became the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a Hot Country Songs number one. All singles were certified platinum or more by the RIAA, with "Teardrops on My Guitar" (3× Platinum) and "Our Song" (4× Platinum) selling over three million copies each. From August 2019 to January 2020 Big Machine released 4,000 copies of each of the singles from ''Taylor Swift'' on vinyl for the 13th anniversary of the album. This was met with immediate backlash in light of the purchase of the masters of Taylor Swift's first six studio albums.


Critical reception

''Taylor Swift'' received generally positive reviews from critics. Though some deemed the lyrical themes unsophisticated and lacking depth, most critics praised Swift's songwriting for using familiar techniques in ways that sounded original and novel. On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns an aggregated score out of 100 to reviews from publications, the album earned a score of 67, based on five reviews. In a review for ''
Country Weekly ''Nash Country Weekly'' was an American lifestyle weekly magazine about country artists and their music. It was in circulation between April 1994 and May 2016. The publisher, Cumulus Media, now maintains the site ''Nash Country Daily''. Overvie ...
'', Chris Neal deemed Swift a success compared to previous aspiring teenage country singers because of her "honesty, intelligence and idealism". Reviewers were impressed by Swift's maturity while retaining a sense of youthful innocence in her lyrics, including Ken Rosenbaum of ''
The Toledo Blade ''The Blade'', also known as the ''Toledo Blade'', is a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio published daily online and printed Thursday and Sunday by Block Communications. The newspaper was first published on December 19, 1835. Overview The first issue o ...
'', Nick Cristiano of ''
The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...
'',
Jeff Tamarkin Jeff Tamarkin is an American editor, author and historian specializing in music and popular culture. Career For 15 years Tamarkin was editor of '' Goldmine'', a magazine for record and CD collectors. Prior to that, he served as the first editor ...
of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, and ''Rolling Stone''. In a review for ''The Palm Beach Post'', James Fontaine felt Swift's honest depiction of her teenage experience made the album compelling, and lauded the "musical maturity" for effectively communicating the sentiments. ''
The Morning Call ''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883, it is the second longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley, after ''The Express-Times''. In 2020, the newspaper permanently closed its Al ...
'' Keith Groller said that the album was not groundbreaking but could appeal to a wide-ranging audience with its adolescent earnestness. Critics commented on the album's pop sensibility—Neal and ''Rolling Stone'' found it appealing to a mainstream audience. Tamarkin commented that Swift's "considerably strong voice" straddled the precarious boundary between country and pop, and criticized producer Chapman for applying "a gloss that not all ongsreally require". In the ''Chicago Tribune'', Chrissie Dickinson described ''Taylor Swift'' as "a slick package, pleasant enough but devoid of anything resembling gritty traction". In a mixed review for ''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'', Roger Holland complimented the production quality of certain tracks, but deemed the album overall a misstep for Swift's true appeal: "It's to be hoped that when she finds both her place and her full grown voice, she's able to find an accommodation between the country tradition and her very obvious pop sensibilities."
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
rated the album a "cut" score (), and selected "Tim McGraw" and "Picture to Burn" as highlights. ''Taylor Swift'' helped Swift earned a nomination for New Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2007 Academy of Country Music Awards, a Horizon Award at the
2007 Country Music Association Awards The 2007 Country Music Association Award, 41st Ceremony, was held on November 7, 2007, at the Sommet Center (later the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville, Tennessee. The ceremony did not feature a host, but artists and guests introduced and presented a ...
, and a nomination for the
Grammy Award for Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...
at the
50th Annual Grammy Awards The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 10, 2008. It honored musical achievement of 2007 in which albums were released between October 1, 2006, through September 30, 2007. The primary ceremonies ...
(2008). The album itself was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2008 Academy of Country Music Awards. Retrospective reviews have remained favorable toward Swift's early songwriting.
Maura Johnston Maura K. Johnston (born May 28, 1975) is a writer, editor and music critic. A member of Boston College's journalism faculty, she has written for ''Rolling Stone'', ''The Boston Globe'', ''Pitchfork'', ''The Awl'', ''The New York Times'', ''Spin' ...
from ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'' described the album as an honest record about teenage perspectives, which set Swift apart from the manufactured albums that "weighed down former teen sensations". Jonathan Bradley from ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' lauded how Swift captured immediate emotions and feelings with "details... so sharp at so small a scale". In July 2022, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked ''Taylor Swift'' at number 32 on its list of the "100 Best Debut Albums of All Time".


Commercial performance

''Taylor Swift'' was a sleeper success in the United States. It debuted at number 19 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart dated November 11, 2006, with first-week sales of 40,000 copies. Because albums often drop in sales after their initial release, Swift did not expect her album to remain long on the chart: "I would be incredibly lucky to see this album certified Gold." Contrary to her expectations, ''Taylor Swift'' kept selling at a fairly consistent pace. By November 2007, the album had sold over a million copies. It reached its highest sales week on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart dated January 5, 2008, when it sold 187,000 copies and charted at number eight. The album reached its peak at number five on the chart dated January 19, 2008, in its 63rd week of charting. Spending 157 weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200 by October 2009, ''Taylor Swift'' marked the longest stay on the chart by any album released in the 2000s decade. It had spent a total of 275 weeks on the chart by November 2014. On
Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales a ...
, ''Taylor Swift'' peaked at number one for 24 non-consecutive weeks. By October 2020, the album had sold 5.75 million pure copies in the United States. It was certified seven times Platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) for earning over seven million
album-equivalent units The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...
in the nation. In Canada, ''Taylor Swift'' peaked at number 14 on the
Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocea ...
and was
certified Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...
Platinum by
Music Canada Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It a ...
(MC). The album peaked at number 33 on the
Australian Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...
in March 2010, and was certified Platinum by the
Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...
(ARIA). In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number 81 on the
Albums Chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...
and was certified Gold by the
British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...
(BPI) for sales of more than 100,000 copies. The album had sold 198,000 copies in the United Kingdom by October 2022. It appeared on albums charts in
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
(peaking at number 38),
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
(53),
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
(59) and
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
(71).


Impact and legacy

''Taylor Swift'' was released in a time when female country artists were gaining momentum in popularity. Nashville industry experts nonetheless disapproved of Swift's debut as a teenager because they considered the album's adolescent themes inappropriate for country music's middle-aged
key demographic The key demographic or target demographic is a term in commercial broadcasting that refers to the most desirable demographic group to a given advertiser. Key demographics vary by outlet, time of day, and programming type, but they are generally co ...
.
Jim Malec Jim Malec is an American journalist and pop music critic known for writing about country music. Malec attended State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, where he worked as an editor for the college's student newspaper and was involved in a cen ...
of ''American Songwriter'' observed that contrary to industry expectations,''Taylor Swift''s success on country radio, particularly with the track "Our Song", established Swift as one of the few teenage female artists to be equally successful with male counterparts in a format dominated by men. Though critics questioned the album's country-music categorization, ''Rolling Stone'' remarked that following the Dixie Chicks' 2003 controversy, which left "a huge space opened up in the heart of the country audience", Swift "has completely filled it ... with a sound that's not just rock-informed but teen-poppy too".
Jon Caramanica Jon Caramanica (born 1975) is an American journalist and pop music critic who writes for ''The New York Times''. He is also known for writing about hip hop music. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, Caramanica received his ba ...
of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' observed that, although the country-pop crossover sound was facilitated by previous successful singers, Swift was the first country artist to embrace the status of a pop star. ''Taylor Swift'' made her the first female solo artist in country music to write or co-write every song on a platinum-certified debut album. Its production laid the groundwork to Swift's subsequent country-pop discography, whose chart success straddled the perceived boundary between the two genres. Music journalists attributed the album's success to Swift's songwriting and online marketing strategy. While online promotion was familiar to pop and hip hop artists, she was the first country artist to promote her songs on
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
services like Myspace; she also relied on social media to promote her subsequent releases, which brought her a loyal fan base. Her social media presence ushered in a younger audience consisted of mostly teenage girls who listened to country music—a previously unheard demographic. The autobiographical narratives on ''Taylor Swift'' defined Swift's songwriting over the next decade, which ''Billboard'' noted to inspire a new generation of aspiring singer-songwriters. ''Consequence'' stated ''Taylor Swift'' was the blueprint for songs focused on unrequited love and suffering, paving the way for "future teenie boppers" such as
Conan Gray Conan Lee Gray (born December 5, 1998) is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Lemon Grove, California and raised in Georgetown, Texas, he began uploading vlogs, Cover version, covers and original songs to YouTube as a teenager. Gray sig ...
's " Heather" (2020) and
Olivia Rodrigo Olivia Isabel Rodrigo (born February 20, 2003) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She gained recognition in the late 2010s with her lead roles on the Disney television programs ''Bizaardvark'' and '' High School Musical: The Music ...
's "
Drivers License A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public ...
" (2021). ''Rolling Stone'' opined, "if Taylor Swift retired right after dropping her debut album, she'd still be remembered as a legend today ..Taylor debuted with complete mastery of a genre she was also completely transforming." According to ''Entertainment Weekly'', the commercial success of her debut helped the infant Big Machine go on to sign
Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the co ...
and Jewel.


Track listing

Except when noted, all tracks were produced by Nathan Chapman.


Notes


Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes *
Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...
 – lead vocals, background vocals,
songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
,
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
* Nathan Chapman – acoustic guitar,
banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
, bass,
drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
,
electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...
,
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
, background vocals,
mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
,
production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...
*
Scott Borchetta Scott Borchetta (born July 3, 1962) is an American record executive and founder of the Big Machine Label Group. He started the label in 2005 with 13 employees, as its president/CEO and encompasses four imprints: Big Machine Records, BMLG Record ...
 –
executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
*
Chuck Ainlay Chuck Ainlay is an American record producer and audio engineer. He has worked with Mark Knopfler on much of Knopfler's solo work, in addition to some Dire Straits material. He has 4 Grammy Awards and 5 nominations. Along with Knopfler and Bob ...
 – mixing * Jeff Balding – mixing *
Bruce Bouton Bruce Bouton is an American guitarist, session musician, producer, and songwriter. His pedal steel guitar has been featured on many country music recordings, and he helped reintroduce the pedal steel guitar to the forefront of the Nashville sound ...
 –
dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...
* Mike Brignardello – bass guitar * Nick Buda – drums * Gary Brunette – electric guitar * Jason Campbell – production coordination * Chason Carlson – engineer * Aaron Chmielewski – assistant engineer *
Eric Darken Eric A. Darken is an American percussionist, composer, and programmer. Biography Drawing inspiration from his grandfather, a band leader. Darken began playing drums at age 12, and played timpani and mallets in high school. Darken attended ...
 –
percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
* Allen Ditto – engineer *
Dan Dugmore Dan Dugmore is an American session musician known primarily for playing the pedal steel guitar Born in 1949, Dugmore was raised in Pasadena, California. Influenced by the Flying Burrito Brothers, he learned to play steel guitar after Flying B ...
 –
pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can p ...
*
Shannon Forrest Shannon Forrest (born August 22, 1973 in Easley, South Carolina) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. As a session drummer, he has contributed to the work of many well-known artists, and he is also a pr ...
 – drums * Rob Hajacos –
fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
* Gordon Hammon – assistant engineer * Tony Harrell –
keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...
* Jeffrey Hyde – banjo * Scott Kidd – mixing assistant * Greg Lawrence – mixing assistant *
Andy Leftwich Kentucky Thunder, or Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, is the band that plays with American country and bluegrass singer Ricky Skaggs. Many members of the band have won numerous awards. Bandleader Ricky Skaggs plays mandolin and is the le ...
 – fiddle,
mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
* Liana Manis – background vocals * Tim Marks – bass *
Robert Ellis Orrall Robert Ellis Orrall (born May 4, 1955) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Signed to RCA Records in 1980, Orrall debuted that year with the album "Fixation". His first Top 40 single was "I Couldn't Say No", a duet with Carlene ...
 – background vocals, producer * Lex Price – mandolin * Lee Ann Ramey –
graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...
* Joshua Whitmore – dobro, pedal steel * Clarke Schleicher – engineer * Steve Short – assistant engineer * Sandi Spika – engineer * Whitney Sutton – production coordination *
Ilya Toshinsky Bering Strait was a Russian country music band, whose style was sometimes called "redgrass". In 2003, the band was nominated for a Grammy Award and appeared on the TV show ''60 Minutes''. The group disbanded in 2006. The lineup on their first alb ...
 – acoustic guitar, banjo * Wanda Vick – fiddle * Hank Williams – mastering * John Willis – banjo, mandolin, hi string acoustic guitar


Charts


Weekly charts

''Taylor Swift'' reached its peak position in various countries at different points of its chart runs.


Year-end charts


Decade-end charts


All-time charts


Certifications and sales


Release history


Footnotes


References


Citations


Cited sources

* * *


External links

* {{Good article 2006 debut albums Big Machine Records albums Taylor Swift albums Albums produced by Nathan Chapman (record producer) Country albums by American artists Albums produced by Robert Ellis Orrall Albums produced by Angelo Petraglia