Party like it's 1989! Taylor Swift and her Top 10 pop moments

Taylor Swift is back and about to unleash her fifth album 1989 on the world. We celebrate some of her big pop moments so far and have a sneaky look at her bestselling singles.

As we eagerly await the release of 1989 on Monday, we take a nosey back at Taylor Swift’s top pop moments. From that Kanye stage invasion to a screaming goat via styling out a very public breakup, we’ve got all you need to know about Taylor in 10.

Taylor braves a Kanye stage invasion – and Bey saves the day

Taylor’s first big taste of controversy – and an event which made her headline news all around the world – would be a pretty big pop moment for anyone. At the 2009 MTV VMAs, Taylor’s Love Story was named Best Female Video.

Rapper Kanye West took exception to this, and stormed the stage to say he believed Beyoncé should have won, with his famous “Imma let you finish” speech. Poor Taylor was too gobsmacked to object, but one lady sititng in the audience was determined Taylor would get her say.

When Beyoncé did eventually win the Video Of The Year award for Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It), she called a halt to her own celebrations to get Taylor back on stage to say her thank yous. Bey stood by while Taylor finally got her moment to bask in a post-win glow. Basically: You. Do. Not. Mess. With. Beyoncé.

Haylor

Taylor and One Direction dreamboat Harry Styles were already pretty huge stars by the time they met, but when they got together, things went supernova. An initial attempt at romance in early 2012 didn’t get off the ground, and Taylor’s massive hit I Knew You Were Trouble is said to talk of that time.

Another go of it later in the year sent the media into overdrive. Cameras flashed, hearts melted and everybody went Haylor-crazy. We imagined duets, photoshoots, interviews as a couple, weddings – well, we got a bit carried away. Luckily, the shop was very understanding and exchanged the wedding suit we bought for something else instead, as Haylor was all over by early 2013.

Breaking up is hard to do but, if anything, Taylor always looks on the bright side and incorporates her life experiences into her music. While We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together isn’t about Taylor’s former beau, Swifty couldn’t resist a little joke as she performed the song at the 2013 Grammys.

In the spoken part of the song, Taylor blurted out “I still love you” in an accent that certainly wasn’t her own – and sounded rather like a curly-haired guy we all know and love. There were no hard feelings, though – Harry went out for dinner with Taylor and pal Ed Sheeran that night and said after that he “likes a joke as much as the next guy”. Oh, you two. Are you really sure it’s “never ever”?

Red album

Taylor had enjoyed success in the UK since 2009, when debut hit Love Story reached Number 2, kept off the top by Kelly Clarkson’s My Life Would Suck Without You. A couple more modest hits followed, and albums Fearless and Speak Now went Top 10, but it was 2012’s Red that saw Taylor transformed from star to superstar.

The eagerly anticipated album, led by We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, produced a total of eight Top 40 entries. Four tracks made the Top 10: the lead single (4), I Knew You Were Trouble (2), Ed Sheeran duet Everything Has Changed (7), and 22 (peaking at Number 9). That’s pretty impressive. It’s also her bestselling album – over 500,000 copies sold in the UK.

Biggest hit

Who knew that Taylor’s biggest UK hit would be an experiment with dubstep? Well, Taylor, probably, and that’s why I Knew You Were Trouble came about. Spending nearly six months in the Top 40, the track has sold over 790,000 copies and peaked at Number 2. And it’s amazing, of course. Taylor gave a storming performance of I Knew You Were Trouble at the 2013 BRIT Awards.

As a little bonus, here’s Taylor’s Top 10 bestselling singles:

	SONG	PEAK POSITION	YEAR
1	I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE	2	2012
2	LOVE STORY	2	2009
3	WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER	4	2012
4	SHAKE IT OFF	2	2014
5	EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED (WITH ED SHEERAN)	7	2013
6	22	9	2013
7	YOU BELONG WITH ME	30	2009
8	TEARDROPS ON MY GUITAR	51	2009
9	MINE	30	2009
10	BOTH OF US (with BOB)	22	2012

Performing Jenny From The Block with J-Lo

Now Taylor may be a huge star, but she’s an even huger fangirl for pop music, and she’s not afraid to goof out and gush about her favourite tunes. On her Red tour, Taylor had a variety of guest stars up on stage, including Cher Lloyd, Ellie Goulding, Carly Simon and Sam Smith.

But it was one night in August at an LA date that Taylor really showed her true pop fandom, admitting that the song she’d love to sing along to in her bedroom – into a hairbrush, of course – was Jennifer Lopez’s classic Jenny From The Block. Oh, and as an extra treat, she even got J-Lo herself on the stage to sing it with her.

Karaoke with Prince William

She’s not just friends with loads of popstars, like Ed Sheeran, Selena Gomez and Ellie Goulding, Taylor’s got royal connections too. At a special gala in late 2013, Taylor took to the stage to join Jon Bon Jovi for a rendition of Livin’ On A Prayer, with none other than Prince William.

Yep, HRH was a little nervous about laying down some vocals, so Taylor was a princess for the night, escorting the Prince on stage and joining in for the chorus – and the best bits – of the song. We reckon William shows promise – is it too late to do a duet for a special edition of the album?

Surprise-releasing Shake It Off

Sure we knew Taylor was working away on her new album, and when we heard she was to do an online announcement, we figured we’d get the album title and a release date – artwork if we were lucky. Well, while we certainly got all that, we also got, erm, a brand new song, complete with ready-to-go video and – amazing – we could buy it right away!

If that’s not a top pop moment, we don’t know what is. And you agree – Shake It Off went straight in at Number 4 in under a full week on sale. It has only left the Top 5 once, scoring a new peak position of Number 2 this week. It is already Taylor’s fourth bestselling single in the UK, with over 365,000 copies sold. And as for the album…

1989

You know you’re on the cusp of something big when a star drops a new song and video on your lap overnight (hello Beyoncé) and it looks like Taylor’s next album 1989 is going to the real game-changer. Taylor has said that this will be her first “pure pop” album and teased track Out Of The Woods’ epic electro rock feel certainly suggests Taylor’s taking a break from her country roots.

Second single Welcome To New York is another euphoric electro stomper, so it looks like we’ll be swapping our cowboy hats for dancing shoes for 1989. (Not that we wore cowboy hats before, but you get the drift.)

Listening parties at Swifty Mansions

Speaking of that there album… if there’s one thing Taylor loves, it’s her fans and, boy, does she show it. Never mind listening parties full of journalists snaffling the last canapés off the tray (not us obviously) – Taylor gets up close and personal with her nifty Swifties.

She held some super secret, select listening sessions at her house – yes, her house! – for her devoted fans. Taylor posed for pics, gave them a grand tour of her pad and was generally pretty decent throughout. When will your faves?

Yes we are ladylike. #1989SecretSessions

A photo posted by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Oct 5, 2014 at 12:21am PDT

Tonight was #1989SecretSessions in NYC and @John_grande6 came up with this next level pose.

A photo posted by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Oct 3, 2014 at 8:32pm PDT

The screaming goat

OK, so not strictly a top pop moment for Taylor, but there’s no harm in one of your songs going viral – even if it does have an unexpected guest appearance from a goat who, erm, screams like a human.

Taylor said she loved the “special edition” of I Knew You Were Trouble, showing it to everyone on her tour. We love it, but we’re pretty glad it’s only 30 seconds long. Altogether now: Arrrrrrrrgghhh! Arrrrrrrrgghhh! Trouble trouble trouble.