Taylor’s Version of Country, Part 1

Summary

---

Hit Parade: Taylor’s Version of Country, Part 1

Podcast: Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
Host: Chris Molanphy (Slate Podcasts)
Date: April 17, 2021

---

Overview

In this episode, Chris Molanphy embarks on an in-depth exploration of Taylor Swift’s remarkable transformation from a precocious teenage country star to an unprecedented crossover pop icon. Through storytelling and music clips, Molanphy not only tracks Swift's chart achievements but also places her journey in context with other notable (and often less successful) country-to-pop crossovers, highlighting the unique care and strategy behind Swift’s rise. The episode zeroes in on how Taylor's early country years set the foundation for her domination of the pop landscape, with comparisons to legends like Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes, and The Chicks.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Taylor Swift’s Unique Dual Success in Country and Pop

• Early Success and Chart History:

  • Swift, unlike most crossover artists, managed sustained success at both country and pop radio.
  • Songs like “Our Song” and “Love Story” testified to her country credibility, while tracks like “Style” saw her comfortable at pop’s summit.
  • [04:17] “Taylor Swift career is basically unprecedented… she is the only artist to not only cross over from country music, but also attain pop success commensurate with her country success—in some ways, bigger.” — Chris Molanphy

• Re-recording the Past (“Taylor’s Version”):

  • Swift’s re-recording of “Love Story” reignited discussions about master ownership and artistry.
  • [02:11] “She’d rather we consume this version, which she’s even titled ‘Love Story (Taylor’s Version)’... As you may have heard, Swift has begun re-recording all of her early albums as part of a dispute over ownership of her master recordings.” — Chris Molanphy

• Country Roots & Musical Markers:

  • Even her earliest hits were steeped in classic country tropes, with notable instruments (like the banjo) signaling her origins.
  • [03:17] “That’s a banjo, generally an instrument that indicates you’re listening to a country song, which indeed you are.” — Chris Molanphy

Historical Comparisons and Context

• Dolly Parton Parallels and Limitations:

  • Dolly Parton managed to top the country charts with two different versions of “I Will Always Love You,” a feat Swift matched with “Love Story.”
  • However, Parton’s broader pop crossover remained limited compared to her towering country presence.
  • [13:01] “Jolene, now well known… was only a number 60 hit on the Hot 100. Parton had remarkably few pop crossover hits.” — Chris Molanphy

• True Crossovers Are Rare:

  • Even the icons seldom maintained simultaneous dominance in both genres.
  • Molanphy challenges listeners to name more than five Dolly Parton pop hits as a way to illustrate how exceptional enduring mainstream crossover really is.
  • [16:12] “True, abiding and long-lasting crossover from country music to pop music is extraordinarily rare and devilishly hard to maintain, even for a country icon.” — Chris Molanphy

• Other Notable Country-Pop Transitions:

  • Shania Twain: Gradually morphed from country into pop superstardom.
    • [22:13] Twain’s “Come on Over” was a worldwide phenomenon, with the album remixed for different genres.
  • LeAnn Rimes: Hit big as a young country singer but her pop success was rapid and unsustained.
    • [25:43] “How Do I Live” stayed on the Hot 100 for 69 weeks, but Rimes “never returned to the pop top 10.”
  • The Chicks: Reached great pop heights, but political controversy led to blacklisting from country radio.
    • [31:30] After their 2003 controversy, “The Chicks appeared primarily on the pop charts, not the country charts.”

Taylor’s Intentional and Gradual Pivot

• Strategic Crossover:

  • Swift observed from afar the pitfalls faced by Shania, LeAnn, and The Chicks.
  • She embedded herself in Nashville, working within the system and growing a wide base before branching out.
  • [32:58] Inspiration from Faith Hill and a strong family support system led her to Nashville at 12.
  • [38:27] Quoting a young Taylor: “Country music does not have a young demographic… but I kept thinking that can’t be accurate because I listen to country music and I know there have to be other girls who listen…”

• Teenage Songwriting Standout:

  • She broke records as the youngest sole writer and performer of a country #1.
  • [37:59] “When it reached number one on Hot Country Songs in December 2007, a week after Swift’s 18th birthday, she became the youngest artist ever to both write and sing a country number one single by herself.”

• Chart Trajectory:

  • Early singles (“Tim McGraw,” “Teardrops on My Guitar,” “Our Song”) each inched further up country and pop charts.
  • Success was achieved “by degrees,” consciously avoiding alienating either audience.

Breakthrough Albums and Monster Hits

• Fearless Era Crossover:

  • “Fearless” marked her true entrance into mainstream stardom (multiple top 10 debuts, massive sales).
  • Notable for hit singles that performed shockingly well across both country and pop charts.
  • [44:28] “‘Fearless’ spent 11 weeks at number one on the Billboard 200. To this day, that’s still the longest run by any of Swift’s albums…”

• Radio Ubiquity and the “You Belong With Me” Milestone:

  • “Love Story” reached #1 on the country airplay chart and later topped the pop airplay chart—a historic first.
  • “You Belong With Me” followed, spending nearly a year on the Hot 100, being the most-played song on American radio across all formats at one point.
  • [47:22] “…the most played song on American radio was a country tune.”

Navigating Industry and Cultural Shifts

• Media Embrace:

  • MTV invited Swift to the VMA red carpet at a time when country wasn’t typically on their radar.
  • [40:31] “The cool thing about being here is that all three of us are actually nominated for the Best New Artist VMA…”
  • Foreshadowing: This appearance, years before her famed feud with Katy Perry, showcases Swift’s early media savvy.

• Learning from Predecessors:

  • Care in crossing to pop—learning from Shania’s “overreach,” LeAnn’s fleeting fame, and The Chicks’ industry blacklisting.
  • Early reluctance to discuss politics due to The Chicks’ backlash.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [04:17] “Taylor Swift career is basically unprecedented. Now a chart-topping pop star, she is the only artist to not only cross over from country music, but also attain pop success commensurate with her country success—in some ways, bigger.” — Chris Molanphy

• [16:12] “True, abiding and long-lasting crossover from country music to pop music is extraordinarily rare and devilishly hard to maintain, even for a country icon.” — Chris Molanphy

• [32:58] “Taylor convinced her parents to take her down to Nashville so she could make the rounds on Music Row to try to get herself signed.” — Chris Molanphy

• [38:27] “Country music does not have a young demographic. So you, being a teenager, are not going to fit into country music because the only people that listen to country music on country radio are 35-year-old females...I just kept thinking that can’t be accurate because I listen to country music and I know there have to be other girls who listen to country music and want some music that is maybe directed more towards them.” — Taylor Swift

• [47:22] “For the first time probably since ‘Islands in the Stream’ in 1983, the most played song on American radio was a country tune.” — Chris Molanphy

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Taylor and Master Recordings – Introduction and “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)”

  • [01:35] – [04:00]

• Country-to-Pop Crossovers: Parton, Twain, Rimes, The Chicks

  • [08:00] – [32:00]

• Taylor’s Nashville Origins and Early Singles

  • [32:00] – [38:27]

• Strategic Teen Success and Country Demographics

  • [38:27] – [44:00]

• Fearless Era, Crossover Chart Success, and VMA Milestones

  • [44:00] – [48:00]

---

Episode Tone & Style

Chris Molanphy’s delivery is insightful, playful, and heavy with trivia—inviting listeners to reflect while reinforcing the episode’s data-driven approach to music history. There’s admiration for Taylor Swift’s artistry, strategic sense, and the rarity of her career arc.

---

For Next Time

The episode ends with a cliffhanger: Taylor’s triumphant 2009 VMA performance sets up the notorious interruption that will be discussed in Part 2.

“Neither the performance nor the win is what’s still remembered about the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards a dozen years later.” — Chris Molanphy [48:00]

---

In summary:
This episode offers a richly detailed journey through Taylor Swift’s calculated country-to-pop crossover, making clear why her career is not just successful, but nearly sui generis in music history. Through chart milestones, comparisons, and Swift’s own voice, Molanphy crafts an essential primer ahead of Part 2.

---

Transcript

[Taylor Swift]

You're listening ad free on Amazon Music.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Hey there Hip Parade listeners. What you're about to hear is Part one of this episode. Part two will arrive in your podcast feed at the end of the month. Would you like to hear this episode all at once? Sign up for Slate Plus. It supports not only this show, but all of Slate's journalism and podcasts. Just go to slate.com hitparadeplus you'll get to hear every Hit Parade episode in full. Then the day it arrives. Plus Hit Parade the Bridge, our bonus episodes with guest interviews, deeper dives on our episode topics, and pop chart trivia. Once again to join, that's slate.com hitparadeplus thanks and now please enjoy part one of this hit Parade episode. Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfy, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number one? Series. On today's show, you're listening to one of the biggest hits from a woman who has been far and away the top album seller of the last 15 years. And I feel I need to say this. This is the original version of this song recorded in 2008. Let's add some vocals.

[Taylor Swift]

Little did I know that you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles and my daddy said stay away from Juliet.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Love Story is one of the top selling singles by Taylor Swift. It's certified a stunning eight times platinum by the Recording Industry association of America. And by the way, those 8 million copies are mostly dollar downloads, not streams. However, if it were up to Taylor, this single won't go nine or ten times platinum. She hopes we never buy or stream it again. She'd rather we consume this version, which she's even titled Love Story. Taylor's version. As you may have heard, Swift has begun re recording all of her early albums as part of a dispute over ownership of her master recordings. However, inside Baseball her reasons for this gambit. It's a fascinating artistic exercise to hear a 31 year old Swift retake songs she wrote and recorded as a teenager. But there's something else that's notable to hear on a Taylor Swift recording in 2021. Hear that?

[Taylor Swift]

That.

[Chris Mulanfi]

That's a banjo, generally an instrument that indicates you're listening to a country song, which indeed you are. This is not just a reminder of what a great songwriter Taylor Swift was from her very earliest days. It's a reminder that she was a country megastar back then.

[Taylor Swift]

Our song is a slam and scream door Sneaking out tapping on your window when we're on the phone and you talk real slow cause it's late and your mama don't know.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Singles like our so sounded true to the country format and they topped the country charts for weeks. They're what made Swift a star in the first half decade of her career. It's been easy to forget this as over most of the last decade, Taylor's hits have come to sound more like this.

[Taylor Swift]

You got that dream team daydream look in your eye and I got that red lip classic thing that you like.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Taylor Swift career is basically unprecedented. Now a chart topping pop star, she is the only artist to not only cross over from country music, but also attain pop success commensurate with her country success in some ways bigger. But to this day, Most of Taylor Swift's all time best sellers remain the CDs she released during her early years when she was topping Billboard's hot country songs on the regular, scoring hits that were twangy before she turned 20.

[Taylor Swift]

You should have said no baby and you might still have me.

[Chris Mulanfi]

You have to go back to country legends like Wynonna Judd, Brenda Lee, or Tanya Tucker to find a teenager who broke that big on the charts that early. But even within Taylor Swift's own lifetime, there were young country stars who crossed pop in a major way.

[Taylor Swift]

How do I leave without you I want you to know.

[Chris Mulanfi]

But then found it hard to stay atop either the pop or country charts. Which might explain why Swift was so careful and so deliberate in her crossover to pop, doing it by degrees over several albums and many hits, until the lines between her pop and country hits had really blurred. Even before she made these final moves toward pop. In the tension back in the aughts when she still sounded like a country star, Swift was already infiltrating the world of pop, hanging out with fellow teen starlets, making mainstream TV appearances, even winning awards on shows that don't normally give prizes to country stars. Although that came with pitfalls.

[Taylor Swift]

Yo, Taylor.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Yeah, we'll talk about that moment, but more about what Taylor was achieving than what that boorish gentleman was saying. What's gotten lost in over a decade of headlines about Taylor Swift are the cultural milestones she was achieving, finding a place in the hearts of young people who weren't necessarily tuning in to country radio.

[Taylor Swift]

He's a reason for the teardrops on my guitar the only thing that keeps me wishing.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Today on Hit Parade, just like the star herself, we're revisiting Taylor Swift's country years and asking How'd she pull it off? How'd she make that pivot from country to pop seem so effortless? Hint it wasn't effortless. And how did she bring pop fans to her before she traveled to them? There were many hints early on that Taylor was going to pull this off, but the biggest one in her first half decade was a hit that dominated both country and pop radio in the final year of the aughts. And that's where your hit parade marches today, the week ending October 3, 2009. When you belong with Me by Taylor Swift, a number two Hot 100 hit, topped Billboard's Radio Songs, a chart encompassing all radio formats, including country and pop. Belong's achievement was a big deal unprecedented in Billboard history, and it was a sign that Taylor came to play. She was going to dominate all corners of the music world, all the charts and all stations on the radio dial.

[Taylor Swift]

She wears high heels, I wear sneakers, she's cheer captain, and I'm on the bleachers.

[Chris Mulanfi]

About two months ago, right after Taylor Swift began releasing the first of her re recorded material, Billboard revealed a remarkable chart statistic. And it involved a recording icon of much longer standing than swift. Ms. Dolly Parton.

[Taylor Swift]

If I should stay, I would only be in your way.

[Chris Mulanfi]

I Will always Love youe, quite possibly the most famous song Dolly Parton ever wrote, although there is competition for that title, holds a unique distinction in Hot Country Songs chart history. It's the first song to be taken to number one twice by the same artist, Dolly herself. This recording is the original I Will Always Love youe written by Parton in the wake of her emotional parting from longtime TV show mentor and duet partner Porter Wagner. Parton took this this version of I Will Always Love youe to number one in 1974. And then just eight years later, that's.

[Taylor Swift]

All I have and all I'm taking with me.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Dolly recorded this second version of I Will Always Love youe in 1982 for the soundtrack of her movie the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. It also topped the hot country chart. This is a remarkable feat on any chart, country or otherwise. Though quite a few songs have topped the hot 100 twice. That second version has always been a cover by a different artist, like, say, Mariah Carey's 1992 cover of the Jackson 5's I'll Be There or the 1986 banana Rama cover of the shocking blues Venus. For a long time, Parton's I Will Always Love youe was the only song to pull off this rare country chart feat. The but that changed in February of this year when the song we led off our show with matched it. Taylor Swift's new version of Love Story entered Billboard's hot country songs at number one, instantly becoming Taylor's second chart topping version of the same song. Her original version of Love Story topped the hot country chart back in 2008. The new Love Story managed to deepen debut so high thanks to heavy streaming and digital sales chart factors that didn't exist in Dolly Parton's heyday. So the comparison between Dolly and Taylor is a bit of apples and pears. Still, the fact that both women wrote their repeat hits each by herself is also remarkable. But there are other distinctions between these two chart titans.

[Taylor Swift]

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene I'm begging of you, please don't take my man.

[Chris Mulanfi]

If you're like most Americans, me included, you have tremendous affection and admiration for Dolly Parton. And if you're a longtime country fan, you can probably rattle off at least a dozen Dolly Parton hits. A staggering 25 of them went to number one on the Hot country chart, including, including this one, her masterpiece.

[Taylor Swift]

Jolene Smile is like a breath of spring. Your voice is soft like summer rain. And I cannot compete with you, Jolene.

[Chris Mulanfi]

For the record, Jolene, now well known to the general public, including pop fans, was only a number 60 hit on the Hot 100 in 1974. Parton had remarked remarkably few pop crossover hits. In fact, here's a quick quiz and country fans sit this one out. It'll be way too easy for you. My fellow pop chart fans, how many more Dolly Parton hits can you name besides I Will Always Love youe or Jolene? Could you even get to five? I'll bet it's harder than you think.

[Taylor Swift]

Working nine to five.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Okay, nine to five. Everybody knows this one. It's Dolly's only solo song to top both the country chart and the Hot 100. I say solo because she had one other Hot 100 number one, but it was a duet. Of course, I'm Talking about her 1983 smash with Kenny Rogers, Islands in the Stream.

[Taylor Swift]

Islands in the stream. That is what we are, no one in between. How can we be wrong?

[Chris Mulanfi]

Parton didn't write that one. As we discussed in our Bee Gees episode of Hit Parade, Islands in the Stream is a composition by Barry Gibb and his brothers written for Kenny, who then brought in his friend Dolly. Here's one more Dolly crossover she didn't write, and it's probably best known by people my age or older. Older because it doesn't get as much oldies radio airplay as it used to. Her 1977 number one country number three pop hit here youe Come Again, This one was penned by the classic Brill Building songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Wilde. And by the way, we're now already out of major pop hits for Dolly Parton. Nothing else she did cracked the Hot 100's top 10. Very little of her work even made the pop top 40. And as for the aforementioned I Will Always Love youe unless you're a country radio listener or you're Kevin Costner, likely the first version of that song you knew is the legendary cover by Costner's bodyguard co star Whitney Houston. Perhaps blue Staters like me who downloaded the acclaimed Dolly Parton's America podcast might now be acquainted with other Dolly country smashes like her tear jerked coat of Many Colors or her awe inspiring cover of Mule Skinner Blues. Or even one or two of her deep country classics like Joshua or Dumb Blonde.

[Taylor Swift]

Just because I'm blonde don't think I'm dumb Cause this dumb blonde ain't nobody's fool.

[Chris Mulanfi]

But let's be real, Even if you're one of those Americans now demanding that statues of the Dolly Parton be erected in town squares to replace toppled Confederate monuments, unless you're a serious country fan, you'll have a hard time naming more than maybe five or six Dolly hits. I say all this not to throw even a bit of shade at the mighty miss Parton, or to discourage new fans from getting to know more of her amazing body of work. My point is this true, abiding and long lasting crossover from country music to pop music is extraordinarily rare and devilishly hard to maintain, even for a country icon. And speaking of icons, fellow pop fans, I'll bet you can rattle off a half dozen or more Taylor Swift hits.

[Taylor Swift]

Cause the players wanna play, play, play, play, play and my haters gonna hate, hate, hate hate hate Baby I'm just gonna say shake shake shake shake shake shake.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Taylor still has a way to go before she has attained the cultural sainthood of Dolly. But to reiterate what I said at the top of our show, what Swift pulled off really has very few parallels in country to pop crossover history. You have to look beyond legendary figures like Parton, Kenny Rogers, Loretta Lynn or Johnny Cash, or later legends like Garth Brooks, who, as I noted in our November episode of Hit Parade, strenuously avoided pop crossover for the bulk of his career. By the way, Taylor Swift was born just a week after this song. If Tomorrow Night Never Comes became Garth's first country number one in December 1989. To find real parallels to Swift's singular career, you have to consider some more improbable hitmakers, folks who maybe weren't obvious candidates for country stardom before Taylor was born. The 70s and 80s spawned several young female country stars who broke into country from outside of the American south, sometimes far outside. These included Utah born Marie Osmond, sister to the All Brother Osmonds family band, who was nudged toward country by her family and scored an instant country number one in 1973 when Marie was all of 14 years old with Paper Roses. Osmond's Paper Roses even scored a 1974 Grammy nomination for Best Country Vocal Performance Female, but she lost that Grammy to a country singer from an even more improbable place. We talked about the British born Australia raised Olivia Newton John in our prior country hit Parade episode last November. Newton John is a much closer model for Taylor Swift because she crossed over in a big way to pop but did so gradually. By degrees, she was a pop and country double threat on smashes like I Honestly Love Love you.

[Taylor Swift]

I honestly love you.

[Chris Mulanfi]

And then in 1978, after Olivia's hit movie musical Grease with John Travolta pulled her further away from country, She committed more fully to pop after scoring her final top 30 country hit in 1979.

[Taylor Swift]

Round and round.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Olivia's hits came to sound more like this, her sultry 1981 post disco smash magic.

[Taylor Swift]

You have to believe we are magic. Nothing can stand in our way.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Years later, Taylor Swift would claim inspiration for her foray into country by three major 90s acts who experienced pop peaks and valleys. The first of these acts to break big on the charts was Shania Twain, who pulled a stunning eight singles from her 1995 album The Woman in Me, four of them country number ones. But Shania's uber blockbuster was her 1997 follow up, Come on over, one of the best selling albums in chart history, certified for sales of 20 million copies in America alone, equal to Fleetwood Mac's rumors. Come on over spent nearly three years spinning off hits not only to country radio, where it generated the expected string of number ones like Love Gets Me Every Time.

[Taylor Swift]

My Heart Changed My Mind and I Called Dar Gone and Done it down and Done It.

[Chris Mulanfi]

But to the pop charts, where Twain scored an unprecedented number of top 40 hits, including the top 10 ballads, you're still the one and from this Moment.

[Taylor Swift]

On, from this moment as long as I live I would you I promise.

[Chris Mulanfi]

You this spunky man, tweaking talkers like that don't impress me much.

[Asha Solujan]

Okay, so you're Brad Pitt.

[Taylor Swift]

That don't impress me much.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Stadium rockers a specialty of her then husband, producer and songwriter Robert John Mutt Lang, these were disguised as country music, like the fist pumping exclamation point slinging. Man, I feel like a woman. The young Taylor Swift, growing up in Pennsylvania, regarded Shania Twain as a primary influence for her budding interest in country music. Swift later told the Guardian that Twain's songs make you want to just run around the block four times and daydream about everything. Arguably an even bigger influence on Swift was LeAnn Rimes, who like Twain, spent the late 90s trying to prove she could do it all. Like Swift, Rhymes broke into the business at a precociously young age. Her debut hit came at age 13 with Blue, a recording that echoed the 50s 60s country politan sound of Patsy Cline. Blue cracked the country top 10 in the summer of 96 and made an instant impression on a young Taylor Swift quote. One of my first memories of country music was when I was six years old and my parents took me to see leanne Rimes in concert, swift would later tell her own concert audience.

[Taylor Swift]

Realized Those we.

[Chris Mulanfi]

By 1997, Leanne Rimes was one of the biggest acts in music, country or pop, as she scored backto back number one albums. One CD was filled with her childhood recordings like the standard Unchained Melody, the other themed around Christian or inspirational songs such as her hit cover of Debbie Boone's you Light Up My Life and.

[Taylor Swift]

You Light Up My Life. You Give me hope.

[Chris Mulanfi]

But what made LeAnn Rimes go supernova was a track she recorded for the soundtrack to the summer blockbuster Con Air. The Diane Warren penned How Do I Live.

[Taylor Swift]

How Do I Live without you?

[Chris Mulanfi]

I Want to Know this more pop than country ballad debuted on the Hot 100 in the summer of 97 and stayed there most of 98, a staggering 69 weeks, a record for the Hot 100 that would stand for more than a decade. Within just two years of her country breakthrough, LeAnn Rimes was now a full blown pop star and still in her teens. She moved quickly to build upon that stardom. She recorded tracks with the likes of pop elder statesman Elton John. And she scored another soundtrack hit, Can't Fight the the moonlight from 2000's Coyote Ugly. Clearly, young Taylor Swift was taking mental notes of Shania of leann and of a harmonizing trio who broke big on the charts at the end of the 90s.

[Taylor Swift]

The chicks she needs Wide Open Spaces.

[Chris Mulanfi]

After the multi instrumentalist sisters Marty and Emily Irwin, later Marty McGuire and Emily Strayer, added the powerhouse Texas vocalist Natalie Maines to their combo, the Chicks became the biggest group in country music and one of the biggest groups in pop. Both their 1998 album Wide Open Spaces and its 1999 follow up Fly. We're certified diamond for 10 million in sales, fly topped the country and pop album charts and generated nine country hits, about half of which made the pop top 40. By 2002, they even cracked the pop top 10 with their string band style cover of Fleetwood Mac's Landslide.

[Taylor Swift]

And I saw My reflection in the snow covered hills where the landslide Broadening.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Down By the early 2000s, these three female acts, Twain Rhymes and the Chicks, all nurtured by country music, seemed to be having their pop cake and eating it too. But one by one, they ran into career trouble. By the middle of the decade, Shania Twain and her then husband Mutt Lang may simply have overreached. Now one of the biggest global music stars, period, Twain had even scored hits across the uk, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. She and Mutt tripled down with her 2002 CD Up. It was issued in three versions, color coded by genre a green country CD, red pop CD and blue international disc. Any given track, such as the lead single I'm Gonna get yout Good, was remixed or re recorded for each audience, whether country. Or pop or international, which had a specifically South Asian Bollywood style flavor. Up sold quickly and strongly, but its total sales were less than half those of Come on over, and its singles did nowhere near as well on the charts. No country number ones and no pop top 10s. For personal as much as professional reasons, Shania and Mutt had a bitter divorce in 2008. Twain would wind up sidelined from the music business for the better part of a decade. LeAnn Rimes managed to keep working, but her pop crossover foundered pretty quickly after How Do I Live? Rhymes never returned to the pop top 10, and by the mid aughts she had reverted back to pure country music. Fortunately, her original audience welcomed her back, giving her a number two country hit in 2006 with Something's Gotta Give Me. And the Chicks. They were not as lucky when it came to the country audience. Infamously, they were blacklisted by Country Radio in 2003 when Natalie Maines expressed her disdain for the Iraq war and President George W. Bush in front of a London concert audience, their then current country hit, the number one Travelin Soldier. Plummeted off of Billboard's hot country songs in just two weeks. The chicks would never score a top 10 country radio hit on their own again. When they returned with their Grammy winning 2006 album taking the Long Way and its wounded single, Not Ready to Make Nice.

[Taylor Swift]

I'm not ready to make nice I'm not ready to back down I'm still mad as hell and I don't have time to go round and round and round.

[Chris Mulanfi]

The Chicks appeared primarily on the pop charts, not the country charts. Taylor Swift observed all of these goings on watchfully. More than a decade later, long after she'd become a star, Swift revealed that her early wariness at even discussing politics was motivated by what happened to the Chicks. And she couldn't help but notice that all of her heroes rapid moves toward the pop charts, especially Shania's and Leanne's, led to pushback from the Nashville establishment. That might help explain why Taylor Swift's very first single was not only pure country, it was even named after a country superst.

[Taylor Swift]

Favorite song, the one we dance to.

[Chris Mulanfi]

The story of Taylor Swift's upbringing has been exhaustively told mostly by Taylor herself, who would later title one of her albums after the year of her birth. 1989. Born to a stockbroker father and a mutual fund marketer turned homemaker mother and named after singer songwriter James Taylor, Swift wrote her first songs by age 12. And after watching a VH1 behind the Music special about country megastar Faith Hill.

[Taylor Swift]

I can feel you breathe Watching over me and suddenly I'm melting into you.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Taylor convinced her parents to take her down to Nashville so she could make the rounds on Music Row to try to get herself signed.

[Asha Solujan]

And I had this little demo cd me singing songs by Dolly Parton and the Dixie Chicks and leann Rimes marched up and down Music Row with these demo CDs and walk in and hand them to the receptionist while my mom and little brother were parked outside in a rental car.

[Taylor Swift]

You went in all by yourself?

[Chris Mulanfi]

Yeah.

[Taylor Swift]

That is so brave. Thank you.

[Asha Solujan]

I don't think I knew any better.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Eventually, around 2004, Swift's family relocated to a Nashville suburb. She signed a publishing contract at age 14, and after a performance at the famed Bluebird Cafe, seen by Nashville record executive Scott Borchetta, she signed a recording contract at age 15 with Borchetta's upstart country label, Big Machine Records. Taylor's first single, written during her freshman year of high school, could not have been more Nashville friendly. It was named after this guy gave forgiveness.

[Taylor Swift]

I've been denying.

[Chris Mulanfi]

And he said, someday I I hope you get the chance.

[Taylor Swift]

To live like you were dying.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Tim McGraw one of the top artists in country and incidentally one half of Nashville's ultimate recording power couple with his wife faith Hill, Taylor Swift's Tim McGraw was a sharp eyed entree into the world of country. A wistful song about a summer romance now ended that the singer will end always conjure up when hearing her favorite song by McGraw, Swift toiled for her first hit, touring and glad handing country radio programmers. Released in the summer of 2006, Taylor's Tim McGraw took six months to climb the charts, peaking in January 2007 at number six on Hot Country Songs and number 40 on the Hot 100. Swift emerged at a promising moment for young female country singers just as a small wave of young voices was breaking. The two most prominent both coincidentally discovered via televised singing competitions or were singer, songwriter and Nashville star contestant Miranda Lambert.

[Taylor Swift]

Forget your hot society, I'm soaking in kerosene.

[Chris Mulanfi]

And 2005American Idol competitor Carrie Underwood, who won the Fox TV juggernaut's fourth season and became the show's first country winner. Underwood's Before He Cheats, a sharp tongued revenge song, and Carrie's third single was an especially well timed breakthrough. After a long run on the country charts in 2006 culminating in a month at number one before he sheets very gradually crossed to pop radio by the spring of 2007, I dug my key.

[Taylor Swift]

Into the side of his pretty little souped up four wheel drive.

[Chris Mulanfi]

It eventually reached number eight on the Hot 100, notably in its twangy original version without any kind of pop remix. It was a signal to Team Taylor that pop crossover was possible without losing a country audience. Just as Before He Cheats was peaking, Swift released her second single, the very pop friendly ballad Teardrops on My Guitar. By August 2007. Teardrops was a number two country hit. Six months later, following the Before He Cheats playbook, teardrops reached number 13 on the Hot 100. During those intervening months, Swift issued a third single that finally made her a chart topper, the Jaunty Hour Song. Unlike Tim McGraw and teardrops on My Guitar, both of which Swift co wrote with Nashville songwriter Liz Rose, Swift composed our song alone when it reached number one on Hot Country Songs in December 2007, a week after Swift's 18th birthday, she became the youngest artist ever to both write and sing a country number one single by herself. This was part of Swift's plan all along to prove country music had all kinds of fans and would embrace a teen star. She said as much in an interview with Country Music Television.

[Asha Solujan]

The thing that I heard the most is country music does not have a young demographic. So you being a teenager are not going to fit into country music because the only people that listen to country music on country radio are 35 year old females. And I just kept thinking that can't be accurate because I listen to country music and I know know there have to be other girls who listen to country music and want some some music that is maybe directed more towards them.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Quietly and gradually, Swift's 2006 self titled debut album kept selling deep into 2007. The Taylor Swift CD reached number one on the Country Albums chart in its 39th week, went double platinum by Christmas, and cracked the top five on the Billboard 200 pop chart in January 20, 2008. In its 63rd week, it was still spinning off hits deep into that year. Its final single, should have said no reached number one on the country chart in August 2008 and number 33 on the Hot 100. It was around this time in September 08 that MTV started taking notice of Swift. Even after Carrie Underwood's American Idol win and her pop crossover with Before He Cheats. The youth oriented channel had never had much interaction with a country star before. But after Swift's singles started crossing over to teen pop fans and with expectations for Swift's forthcoming second album, album Sky High, Big Machine got MTV to invite Taylor to work the red carpet at the 2008 Video Music Awards. At one point, she even interviewed her new besties, Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus.

[Asha Solujan]

I'm here on the red carpet, fashion central. We've got two beautiful ladies who actually showed up together. We've got Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Hi.

[Asha Solujan]

And the cool thing about being here is that all three of us are actually nominated for the Best New Artist vma. And I think that if we weren't all like crazy about each other, that would be awkward. But it's not. Because I love Katy Perry and I love Miley Cyrus.

[Taylor Swift]

We love Taylor Swift.

[Chris Mulanfi]

The layers of irony here are fairly delicious. Years before, Swift got into a long feud with Katy Perry. Without question, at this moment in 2008, both Perry and Cyrus were the bigger stars. Perry was enjoying her first wave of big hits like I Kissed a Girl and Hot and Cold. And Cyrus, whom we discussed in depth in our May 2018 episode of Hit Parade, was defining her own lane. The daughter of country star Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley broke through as a TV character Hannah Montana and had her first wave of hits as that teen rock singer character.

[Taylor Swift]

If we were a movie, you'd be the right guy.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Now pivoting to recording under her own name, Miley had just scored her first big hit as Miley Cyrus. See you again.

[Taylor Swift]

The last time I freaked out I just kept looking down I sister stuttering.

[Chris Mulanfi]

But she was also trying to pull Taylor Swift's crossover trick from the opposite direction, reaching the top five on the country chart in a duet with her dad called Ready, Set, Don't Go. A few months after after the 2008 VMAs, Miley would even score a pop and country hit of her own with a song from the Hannah Montana movie the Climb. Taylor Swift would never be a sideshow at the VMAs again. And as she interviewed other celebrities on MTV's red carpet, she was already quietly infiltrating the charts with her next wave of hits, not just the country chart, the Hot 100.

[Taylor Swift]

Because these things will change can you feel it now? These are all that they put up to hold us back we'll fall down.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Change, though not not remembered as one of Swift's big hits, was her first pop top 10, debuting at number 10 on the Hot 100 in August 2008, fueled by 99 cent downloads, anticipation for her next CD was so high, fans bought 131,000 copies of its first single. Even without significant radio airplay on the country chart, where downloads still didn't count, Change peaked at number 57, an indication that Swift's fan base was going younger and more mainstream. Swift's sophomore album would be called Fearless, and she spent the fall dropping advanced tracks to build anticipation, including its title track, which entered the pop chart at number nine.

[Taylor Swift]

Better than you Take My Hand and Drag Me Head First.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Fearless, you're not sorry, a number 11 hit.

[Taylor Swift]

You don't have to call anymore I won't pick up the phone this is the last Stride, Don't Want to hurt.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Anymore and White Horse, which entered at number 13. The same week White Horse arrived, so did the Fearless album, and it was a monster opening to 592,000 copies, including, including a record number of album downloads. The first radio single from Fearless, Love Story, was already number one on the country chart. The album's opening sales number was much higher than any debut ever from Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, even Carrie Underwood. This was a Garth and Shania level number. The Same week the CD arrived on the Hot 100, Swift debuted six new singles and seven total tracks, including the Future, number 23 hit 15.

[Taylor Swift]

Somebody tells you they love you, you.

[Chris Mulanfi]

Gotta As 2008 turned to 2009, Taylor Swift was now one of the biggest artists in current music of any genre. Fearless spent 11 weeks at number one on the Billboard 200. To this day, that's still the longest run by any of Swift's albums. Over the next 18 months, the album would be certified Sex Tuples platinum. A decade later, Fearless would be certified diamond for 10 million in sales plus streams. Swift's new status was affirmed by the pop crossover by the album's lead single, Love Story. Three months after it topped the country chart in the winter of 2009, Love Story reached number four on the Hot 100 and More Remarkable, number one on Billboard's mainstream pop chart, a radio chart devoted to airplay at top 40 pop stations.

[Taylor Swift]

We were both young when I first saw you I closed my eyes and the flashback starts I'm standing there.

[Chris Mulanfi]

To this day, Love Story remains the only single by anybody to be number one in country airplay. One week, pop airplay another. Its follow up single did in a way even better. First issued in the fall of 08 as one of the teaser singles ahead of Fearless, you Belong With Me would spend nearly a year on the Hot 100. Unsurprisingly, the sprightly single, a deeply relatable tale of a high school crush on a boy distracted by another girl, followed Love story to number one on Hot Country Songs in August 2009. That same week, you Belong With Me peaked at number two on the Hot 100. And just over a month later, The song reached number one on Billboard's Radio Songs chart, which tracks airplay across all radio formats. For the first time probably since Islands in the stream in 1983, the most played song on American radio was a country tune. In the middle of this remarkable rhyme In September 2009, Swift traveled to New York City to perform her smash crossover hit on the 2009 MTV VMAs. As both a show of how game she was and a gesture of welcome to New York, Taylor performed you'd Belong With Me live in the New York City subway system, accompanied by an army of fans following her as she sang through a station, onto a train, out at another station, and onto the street in front of Radio City Music Hall. It was was a Broadway level extravaganza that added pizzazz to the Video Music Awards. Taylor Swift was having a pretty great night. When we come back, Taylor Swift follows her triumphant VMAs live performance with a win in a major category. But neither the performance nor the win is what's still remembered about the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards a dozen years later. Non Slate plus listeners will hear the rest of this episode in two weeks. For now, I hope you've been enjoying this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Mulanfi. That's me. My producer is Asha Solujan, and we also had help from Rosemary Belson. June Thomas is the senior managing producer and Gabriel Roth, the editorial director of Slate Podcasts. Check out their roster of [e-mail] podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. And if you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way. We'll see you for part two in a couple of weeks. Until then, keep on marching on the one. I'm Chris Melanfy.