Pop icon Taylor Swift has added another feather to her hat. On Thursday, she was inducted into the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame. At 36, she is the youngest woman ever to be part of the elite club, which features some of the most iconic and celebrated musicians and songwriters in American music history.
Taylor Swift dethrones Carole Bayer Sager
Taylor Swift broke the long-held record of Carole Bayer Sager, who was 43 when she joined the Hall of Fame in 1987. Other icons like Mariah Carey and Dolly Parton were in their 50s when they entered.
Stevie Wonder remains the youngest person ever admitted, at age 32 in 1983. Artists become eligible for the Hall of Fame 20 years after the release of their first commercial track. For Taylor Swift, that was Tim McGraw, released in June 2006.
In the two decades since, Taylor has firmly established herself as the pre-eminent musical star of her generation. She has recorded 12 albums spanning country, pop, and folk, which have earned her 14 Grammy Awards, including a record four Album of the Year trophies. More than the critical acclaim, it’s her global popularity that has made her an icon. Estimates put Taylor Swift’s worldwide sales at over 250 million album-equivalents. Her most recent tour, The Eras Tour, brought in a record sum of around $2 billion in revenue. Taylor is also the female artist with the most songs ever to reach the top 10 list compiled by Billboard, the leading US music magazine.
Taylor appeared on the red carpet in New York on Thursday wearing a strapless black dress with floral motifs ahead of the naming ceremony. Canadian singer Alanis Morissette, inescapable in the 1990s, and American record producer Walter Afanasieff were also among the total of nine songwriters joining the Hall of Fame this year. Also inducted on Thursday were Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS, the band behind hits such as Rock and Roll All Nite and Detroit Rock City.
Why was Taylor Swift inducted?
The Hall of Fame recognised Taylor’s ‘ability to shapeshift as a songwriter, to inhabit different sonic landscapes and write as credibly in the world of one genre as she does another is part of her superpower as a songwriter’. Her bio on their website further reads: “It also represents the boldness and bravery of her artistry: to explore new frontiers when the most practical next step would be to keep mining the material that has gotten you the success in the first place.”