A Swift Triumph!

Taylor Swift is set to become one of the youngest people ever to enter the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Taylor Swift attends the 67th Annual Grammy Awards on February 2, 2025.

Swifties have something to celebrate! In 2026, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. At age 36, she’s the second-youngest person ever to receive this honor.

Swift will enter the hall of fame along with several other songwriters, including Alanis Morrisette, Kenny Loggins, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, and Christopher “Tricky” Stewart. Swift is a standout because songwriters usually aren’t inducted into the hall of fame until they are at least 40. Only one other songwriter, Stevie Wonder, was younger than Swift when the hall of fame welcomed him in 1983. Wonder was 32 at the time.

A fan exchanges friendship bracelets with Taylor Swift during a 2023 concert in Brazil.

Although she is young, Swift has already had a long career. Her first album, which was called Taylor Swift, came out in 2006. Since then, she has released 11 more studio albums, re-recorded and re-released four of them, won 14 Grammy Awards, and sold out many concert tours. She also has a talent for writing hit songs, including “Shake It Off,” “Love Story, and “The Fate of Ophelia.”

Taylor Swift poses with high school students from Nashville, Tennessee, at the opening of the Taylor Swift Education Center. Partly funded by Swift, the Center offers music, art, and dance classes for young people and their families.

Swift described her songwriting process in 2022, when she was honored at the Nashville Songwriter Awards.

“[Songwriters are] a bunch of people…who live for that rare, pure moment when a magical cloud floats down right in front of you in the form of an idea for a song, and all you have to do is grab it. Then shape it like clay,” she said. “And then wish on every lucky star…that it might find its way out into the world and make someone feel seen, feel understood, feel joined in their grief or heartbreak or joy for just a moment.”

Swift is scheduled to enter the Songwriters Hall of Fame in June.

Fun Fact!

Taylor Swift wrote “Our Song” for a high school talent show when she was in 9th grade. The song ended up on her first album.

Music’s Great Wonder

Stevie Wonder performed at a 2015 music festival in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder entered the Songwriters Hall of Fame when he was just 32. At that age, most musicians are still fairly early in their careers. But Wonder was already an experienced and accomplished songwriter.

Born Steveland Morris in 1950, Wonder became totally blind when he was a baby. As a kid, he focused heavily on music and showed remarkable talent at an early age. By the time he was 9, he could sing and play piano, harmonica, and drums. Wonder’s talent caught the attention of Motown Records, which signed him to a record deal and changed his name to “Little Stevie Wonder.” (Wonder would later delete the word “little” from his name.) In 1963, his song “Fingertips, Part 2” became the number one selling record in the United States. Wonder was just 13 years old.

Taken in the early 1960s, this photo shows Stevie Wonder when he was about 12 years old.

Although Wonder didn’t write “Fingertips,” he would go on to compose his own songs using a style that combines rhythm and blues, soul, funk, rock, and jazz. By the time he was 18, he had already written several hit songs. Wonder’s compositions include “I Was Made to Love Her,” “My Cherie Amour,” “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours,” “Higher Ground,” and “I Just Called to Say I Love You.”

Music Mashup

© Vinyls/Alamy, © Lukas Stritesky, Mark Herreid/Dreamstime.com, © Kevin Mazur—WireImage/Getty Images, © T/stock.adobe.com, © Charles Ciccioni—Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images; Photo composite Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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