Fearless

Swift wrote most of the album while touring in 2007 and 2008, starting from the title song, which she wrote while touring with Brad Paisley in mid-2007. She recorded it within eight months with Nathan Chapman, finishing in October 2008 with Forever & Always, and made her debut as a record producer, co-producing all tracks. The standard edition has 13 tracks because she considered 13 her lucky number, and she wrote seven of them alone. Co-writers were Liz Rose, Hillary Lindsey, Colbie Caillat and John Rich.

Fearless debuted at number one with 592,000 copies, spent 11 weeks at the top and was the best-selling album of 2009 in the United States. It was certified 11-times platinum and has sold 12 million copies worldwide. It won Album of the Year at both the CMA and ACM awards in 2009, and Album of the Year and Best Country Album at the 2010 Grammys. Pitchfork's Hazel Cills said the country elements are minimal. Swift said of stories about your life, "That's what makes me a country artist." A re-recorded version, Fearless (Taylor's Version), was released on April 9, 2021.