Celebrate Taylor Swift’s Birthday by the Numbers: 3 Pet Cats, 14 Grammy Wins and Everything Else Between 1 and 35

1 Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts From NYU

In May 2022, the pop star donned purple robes to accept an honorary doctoral degree from New York University. Swift also addressed the class of 2022 during their graduation at Yankee Stadium.

Her commencement speech referenced a few of her hits — like the fittingly titled “Welcome to New York” and “22” — and recalled the lessons she’s learned living in the spotlight. As she advised her fellow grads to “learn to live alongside cringe,” the singer poked fun at her past style choices: “I had a phase where, for the entirely of 2012, I dressed like a 1950s housewife. But you know what? I was having fun,” she shared.

2 ‘Time’ Person of the Year Covers

Time profiled Swift solo for its 2023 Person of the Year cover story as the first artist to take the spot. She’d previously appeared the cover in 2017 with other “silence breakers” who spoke out about sexual assault and harassment. The “All Too Well” singer posed alongside strawberry picker Isabel Pascual (who used a pseudonym), lobbyist Adama Iwu, actress Ashley Judd and software engineer Susan Fowler.

3 Pet Cats

The cat-lover is a doting mother to three famous felines. Swift adopted her first Scottish Fold, Meredith Grey, in 2011 and named her after Ellen Pompeo‘s Grey’s Anatomy character. A few years later, Meredith got a sister, another Scottish Fold with a TV-inspired moniker, Olivia Benson, for Mariska Hargitay‘s character on Law & Order: SVU.

Swift’s third cat joined the family in 2019, blazing his own trail as a Ragdoll breed with a movie character’s name: Benjamin Button.

The trio has made several notable appearances alongside Swift in her music videos, in her Miss Americana documentary film and on social media. Benjamin Button can be seen posing around his mom’s neck on her Time Person of the Year cover.

4 Re-Recorded Albums

After Scott Borchetta sold Swift’s masters to Scooter Braun, the prolific songwriter set out on a mission to re-record and reclaim her first six albums. So far, she’s released Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version), leaving two more to go: her sixth album, Reputation, and her self-titled debut.

5 Feature Film Appearances

The artist has nabbed a few big-screen roles over the years. In 2010, she played a lovestruck teen alongside then-boyfriend Taylor Lautner in Valentine’s Day. She lent her voice to the animated adaptation of The Lorax in 2012, and in 2014, she joined the likes of Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges and Alexander Skarsgård with a cameo in The Giver (pictured).

Swift tapped into her melodic talents and passion for the feline kind in the 2019 adaptation of the musical Cats. She even co-wrote the original song “Beautiful Ghosts” with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the film. Most recently, she was seen in Amsterdam for a cameo alongside Christian Bale, John David Washington and Margot Robbie.

6 Tours

Starting with her sophomore studio album Fearless, Swift has taken her albums on tour six times. Her latest, the iconic Eras Tour, spans across her songbook with an impressive 44-song setlist.

7 Weeks with “Blank Space” at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100

Swift’s hottest single off 1989 reigned at the top of the Billboard 100 chart for seven weeks. “Blank Space” remained her longest running No. 1 single until January 2023, when her Midnights hit “Anti-Hero” beat it with an eight-week run. Swift reacted to the achievement on her Instagram Story, writing, “What on earth,” and thanking her fans.

8 Appearances on ‘Saturday Night Live’

Over the course of her career, the superstar has appeared on SNL to host the show, to perform as a musical guest and to make a few surprise appearances.

9 Songs Performed for Movie Soundtracks

Swift has graced many movie soundtracks with her gift of song, from her Grammy-winning work for The Hunger Games to her iconic collaboration with Zayn Malik, “I Don’t Want to Live Forever,” written for Fifty Shades Darker.

(Swift wrote two songs for Hannah Montana: The Movie, but only performed “Crazier.” Miley Cyrus sang the Swift-penned “You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home.”)

10 Minutes of “All Too Well”

The emotional, fan-favorite track unfurled into a 10-minute long ballad “From the Vault” when Swift released Red (Taylor’s Version) in 2021. Swift even directed an “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” short film starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien, which won the Grammy for best video.

Swift — who performed her longest song in full each night of The Eras Tour — has never confirmed the song’s subject, but fans have long suspected “All Too Well” tells the story of her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal.

11 Weeks at the Top of the Billboard 200 Chart

Both 1989 and Fearless spent 11 weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 Chart.The Tortured Poets Department would ultimately surpass the 11 week mark and on Dec. 8, 2024 hit its 16th nonconsecutive week.

12 No. 1 Songs on Billboard Hot 100 Charts

Swift has claimed the top spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart a total of 12 times, most recently with her pop hit “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone off of her most recent album, The Tortured Poets Department.

13 is Taylor’s Lucky Number

It’s no secret that the star, born on Dec. 13, is all about the notoriously “unlucky” numeral. And she’s got good reason to believe in numerology: besides her birthdate, Swift has noted how her first album went gold in 13 weeks and her first No. 1 song had a 13-second introduction. In 2009, she told Jay Leno that every time she’d won at an award show, she was seated in the 13th row.

14 Grammy Wins

Highly decorated is an understatement: the songstress has won 14 of the 58 Grammy Awards for which she’s been nominated. She’s taken home golden gramophones for album of the year four times — first for Fearless in 2010, for 1989 in 2016, for Folklore in 2021 and for Midnights in 2024. The feat also made her the first female artist to win album of the year four times (she also the first to do it three times.)

15 Studio Albums

Between her re-recordings and the original albums, the “Cruel Summer” singer has released 15 studio albums total.

16 Years Old When Her First Album Came Out

Swift was just a teen when the country album Taylor Swift hit shelves in 2006.

17 Star Cameos in the ‘Bad Blood’ Music Video

Swift recruited some of her close friends to feature in the music video for her “Bad Blood” remix with Kendrick Lamar in 2015. In addition to the featured rapper, the singer was joined by the likes of Selena Gomez, Gigi Hadid, Mariska Hargitay, Cindy Crawford, Lena Dunham, Ellie Goulding and more in the killer video.

18 Songs on ‘Lover’

Among the tracks on her first album with Republic Records, “Lover,” were “Me!” “Cornelia Street” and “The Man.”

19 Songs on the Reputation Stadium Tour Setlist

While songs varied between performances, Swift sang 19 hits during her first stop on the tour in May 2018. Four of the setlist songs were medleys that mixed in parts of her earlier music.

Like on her Eras Tour, the “Don’t Blame Me” singer kept fans on their toes with a number of surprise songs added as she toured the world.

20 U.S. Cities Hosted The Eras Tour in 2023

During the first 10 months of her Eras Tour, Swift visited 20 cities across the United States, starting in Glendale, Arizona and ending in Los Angeles. For most of her stateside stints, the “Love Story” singer sold out two or three concerts, performing on consecutive nights. However on her final stop in SoCal, Swift performed her three-and-a-half hour set for six nights in a row.

21 Months Spent on the Eras Tour

When Swift closed out The Eras Tour on Dec. 8. 2024, it marked 21 months since she first embarked on the record-breaking tour in March 2023.

Over the course of the nearly two-year stint, Swift played 149 shows in front of 10,168,008 people and sold $2,077,618,725 in total tickets — making it the bestselling tour of all time, The New York Times reported.

22, the Age That Inspired a ‘Red’ Single

In this high-energy single, Swift sings about “dressing up like hipsters” with her friends and “making fun of our exes.”

23 Other Artists Featured on Taylor Swift’s Songs

Swift has invited some of musics’ biggest names to feature on her tracks, from Florence Welch to Bon Iver to Shawn Mendes. She’s also drafted fellow artists to sing on her tracks “From the Vault,” including Hayley Williams, Maren Morris and Phoebe Bridgers, to give new voices to old, unreleased lyrics.

24, the Number of Times Taylor Sings the Word ‘Karma’

On the original Midnights track, Swift says the word “karma” 24 times, sometimes referring to a purring cat in her lap, other times the breeze in her hair on the weekend. Down in Buenos Aires, karma was once “the guy on the Chiefs” when Swift changed the lyrics for her beau Travis Kelce in the audience.

25% of Billboard Hot 100 Dominated by ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’

The industry icon demonstrated just how much she rules the industry when she released her third re-recorded album in July 2023 and took up a quarter of Billboard’s Hot 100 list. All 22 tracks from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) made the chart, plus Swift’s continuously performing songs “Cruel Summer,” “Anti-Hero” and “Karma.”

26 Songs Released ‘From the Vault’ So Far

With each re-recording, the lyricist includes previously axed songs intended for her previous eras. When Swift dropped Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), she released a music video for “I Can See You (From the Vault),” which starred her ex-boyfriend Taylor Lautner, Joey King and Presley Cash. (King and Cash both appeared in Swift’s “Mean” music video from the 2010 version of Speak Now.)

All three of her video’s stars joined the Grammy winner on stage during her Eras Tour concert in Kansas City, where they premiered the spy-inspired video.

27 (ish) Seconds on the Phone with Joe Jonas

Following Swift and Joe Jonas’ split back in 2008, the superstar appeared onThe Ellen DeGeneres Show and shared that the Jonas Brother musician had ended their relationship “over the phone in 25 seconds.”

Jonas later referenced the “’27 second’ phone call” in a post to MySpace while sharing his perspective of what happened.

Years later, Swift told DeGeneres that her comments on the matter back in the day were “too much.”

“I was 18. We laugh about it now, but that was mouthy … just teenage stuff there,” she explained.

28, the Number of Times Taylor Sings ‘Mr.’ in ‘Mr. Perfectly Fine’

With Fearless (Taylor’s Version) came “Mr. Perfectly Fine,” a “Vault” song inspired by her short-lived romance Jonas in 2008. Swift sings the word “Mr.” 28 times, which disproves any theories that she might still be hung up over Jonas’ aforementioned 27-second phone call breaking up with her way back when.

In fact, there was no “Bad Blood” between Swift and Jonas when she released the song, and his then-wife Sophie Turner shared her appreciation for the track. Later, when Turner and Jonas split in 2023, his two blonde exes struck up a friendship of their own.

29 No. 1 songs on Billboard’s US Digital Song Sales Chart

In May 2024, Swift secured the Guinness Book of World Records title for artist with the most most No. 1s on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart when her song “Fortnight” with Post Malone landed the coveted spot. Swift has quite the lead over her competition as second place sits with Nicki Minaj who has 17 No. 1s on the list.

30 VMA Wins

Since her first win in 2009, the “You Belong with Me” singer has nabbed a total of 30 Video Music Awards. In 2024, following her 7 award sweep, she surpassed Beyoncé‘s record of most VMA wins ever.

31-Point Win By the Chiefs on Taylor’s First Game Day

Swift first showed up to support Travis Kelce on Sept. 24, 2023, when he and his Kansas City Chiefs played a home game against the Chicago Bears. She proved to be his good luck charm, too, as the team won big time with an ending score of 41-10.

$32 Million Earned Internationally During ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour”s Opening Weekend

In addition to making more than $90 million domestically during its opening weekend, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour brought in $32 million internationally, CNN reported per AMC.

33 Million Puzzles to Open the Vault

Swift tried to test her fans’ puzzle-solving skills before revealing the “Vault” songs off 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Keen participants were told to search “Taylor Swift” on Google and solve one of 89 available world puzzles that became available after clicking on a blue vault that showed up. Once 33 million puzzles were completed, the singer vowed to unveil her new song names.

Not for the first time, Swift broke the internet and Google crashed, leaving fans frustrated and confused when the blue vault failed to show. The company even sent out a message, writing, “Swifties, the vault is jammed! But don’t worry, there are no blank spaces inside. We’re in our fix-it era and will be out of the woods soon.”

34, the Spot “No Body, No Crime” Debuts at on the Billboard Hot 100

Swift’s collaboration with Haim off of 2020’s Evermore debuted at No. 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The quartet later performed the song during The Eras Tour stop at at SoFi Stadium in 2023.

35 years of Taylor Swift

Happy birthday, Taylor Swift! “Long Live” the genre-bending, era-hopping pop sensation!