Additional Coverage:
Before Taylor Swift became a global superstar filling stadiums and selling out arena tours, she was just a ninth-grade student in Hendersonville, Tennessee, searching for a catchy tune to perform at her high school talent show.
That tune was “Our Song,” a track Swift wrote entirely on her own in about 20 minutes during her freshman year. Inspired by the fact that she and her boyfriend didn’t have “a song” of their own-unlike many couples in popular music-Swift crafted the melody and lyrics herself. She performed it for her classmates with no plans to release it commercially.
However, the song caught on quickly. Friends kept singing it weeks later, prompting Swift to convince her label, Big Machine Records, to include the track on her self-titled debut album, released in October 2006.
The journey to the top of the charts wasn’t immediate. It wasn’t until September 2007 that “Our Song” was sent to country radio, where it steadily gained momentum. In December of that year, it made an impressive leap from No. 6 to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart-the largest single-week jump to the top since 1998.
At just 18 years old, Swift became the youngest artist ever to write and perform a No. 1 hit on that chart alone. “Our Song” stayed at No. 1 for six weeks, crossed over into the Hot 100’s top 20, and earned a four-times Platinum certification from the RIAA. It also won Female Video of the Year at the 2008 CMT Music Awards.
Nearly 20 years later, “Our Song” remains a defining milestone in Taylor Swift’s rise to stardom, a humble beginning to a remarkable career.