Chart Rewind: On July 1, 2006, Taylor Swift Made Her Billboard Debut
“Tim McGraw” by Swift, then 16, entered Hot Country Songs.
Taylor Swift during 2006 CMT Music Awards - Arrivals at Curb Event Center at Belmont University in Nashville.
John Shearer/WireImage
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Before the Hot 100 No. 1s, stadium tours and re-recordings, Taylor Swift’s Billboard chart history began with a country song named for one of the format’s biggest stars.
Swift made her first Billboard chart appearance as “Tim McGraw,” her debut single on Big Machine Records, entered Hot Country Songs at No. 60 on July 1, 2006.
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Written by Swift and Liz Rose, “Tim McGraw” introduced Swift, then 16, as both a new country artist and a natural storyteller. Despite its title, the song centers not on McGraw himself, but on Swift hoping that an old boyfriend would think of her whenever he heard one of McGraw’s songs.
“It’s not really about Tim McGraw, and I’m not a stalker,” Swift assured staffers when she performed the song in the kitchen of Billboard’s New York office as she was making her early promotional rounds.
The single went on to reach No. 6 on Hot Country Songs 30 weeks later and helped launch Swift’s self-titled debut album, which arrived later that year, spending 24 weeks at No. 1 on Top Country Albums and hitting No. 5 on the Billboard 200.
Swift’s chart story accelerated quickly from there. Follow-up singles including “Teardrops on My Guitar,” “Our Song” and “Picture To Burn” established her as one of country’s most promising new voices, while 2008’s Fearless helped turn her into a crossover force. It spent 35 weeks at No. 1 on Top Country Albums and led the Billboard 200 for 11 weeks.
Swift’s Billboard chart résumé expanded far beyond country in the years that followed. She has scored 15 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s, 15 Billboard 200 No. 1s — the most leading albums ever among women — and a long list of major chart achievements across streaming, radio, sales surveys and more.
The success has stretched well beyond chart numbers. Swift’s Eras Tour became a record-setting global blockbuster, her re-recordings turned catalog ownership into a mainstream conversation and Forbes estimated her net worth at $2 billion as of March 2026, making her the wealthiest female musician in history.
Plus, in June, Swift — the No. 1 name on Billboard’s Top Artists of the 21st Century retrospective — was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, becoming the youngest woman ever inducted.
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Swift’s country beginnings have taken on renewed relevance two decades later. Her newest single, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” from Toy Story 5, returned her to Billboard’s country charts, as it debuted at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs and No. 8 on Country Airplay. The track also opened at No. 1 on the Hot 100, offering a reminder that the bridge between country narration and pop scale has been part of her chart identity since the start.
What began with “Tim McGraw” on Hot Country Songs in 2006 was not just a debut. It was the first Billboard chart appearance by an artist who would go on to repeatedly redraw the lines between country and pop.
Meanwhile, Swift wrapped her comments about “Tim McGraw” at Billboard that year with words that have yet to go out of style: “This is a song that’s on your charts right now.”
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