Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ Celebrates Its First Birthday

One year ago today, Taylor Swift’s 1989 blessed the world with its presence and, according to Swift, began the “best year of my life.” We obviously agree.

So how has 1989 made Swift’s past year so incredible? Let us count the ways.

To begin, we have to mention that 1989 has earned Swift the honor of having the fifth album ever to spend all 52 weeks since its release in the top ten. This puts Swift in the ranks of Adele’s 21, Celine Dion’s Falling Into You, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, and Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The U.S.A. In the first week alone, Swift managed to sell almost 1.3 million copies, although industry experts only predicted 650,000. After only 36 weeks on the charts, it sold 5 million copies, making Swift’s 1989 the quickest album to reach that number in more than a decade.

At MTV’s Video Music Awards this year, Swift managed to nab the coveted award everyone wants: Video of the Year. Swift’s video for “Bad Blood,” which brought forth the #SquadGoals trend, was the video that won her the award. The video features Swift and basically everyone she knows, giving them each fierce nicknames. Swift beat out Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, and Bruno Mars for the award. She beat out Beyonce. Just saying. Of course, Swift’s squad was there to congratulate her on her win as well as to accompany her onstage as she gave her acceptance speech, in which Swift thanked every woman who appeared in the “Bad Blood” video.

“These women helped create their parts, helped write their roles and decide what they wanted to be. And, I mean, there are two women in the video who I’ve named cats after.”

Swift also gave a nod to MTV’s creation of a rainbow-colored moon man trophy.

“I’m just happy that, in 2015, we live in a world where boys can play princesses, and girls can play soldiers.”

At those same VMAs, Swift managed to prove to the world that her so-called Twitter feud with Nicki Minaj was squashed, as she performed with the “Anaconda” singer for “The Night Is Still Young” before breaking into a performance of “Bad Blood.”

That wasn’t Swift’s only collaboration this past year. During her 1989 World Tour, Swift brought a multitude of guests onto the stage with her, including Miranda Lambert, John Legend, Wiz Khalifa, Tove Lo, and so many more. There were also many guests who didn’t perform but walked the catwalk at Swift’s concerts, such as Ellen Degeneres.

Let’s not forget the covers, either. Swift’s catchy 1989 has inspired so many other artists to pay tribute, because after all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Kelly Clarkson hopped on her cover of “Shake It Off” the first weekend after Swift’s album dropped, and Ryan Adams delivered an almost eerie cover of the entire album. Although it’s not a cover, did Swift inspire the One Direction song “Perfect?” The lyrics to the song leave fans wondering if, in fact, the song is a ballad about Swift’s short-lived romance with Harry Styles, as it hints at Swift’s trademark muses.

“If you’re looking for someone to write your breakup songs about, baby, I’m perfect.”

Since it’s 1989‘s birthday, you should know that Twitter is abuzz with their responses to the date and their well wishes for Swift. The tag #HappyBirthday1989 is trending right now, and fans are showing Swift support and even thanking her for the album.

@taylorswift13 In all seriousness, thank you for everything you've done with this album. The videos, the tour, all of it. #HappyBirthday1989

— Alex Goldschmidt (parody) (@alexandergold) October 27, 2015

If you want to get in on the celebration, tweet to Swift with the #HappyBirthday1989 tag, put 1989 on repeat, and make sure to bust a move to “Shake It Off.”

Happy birthday, 1989!

[Featured image courtesy of Frazer Harrison for Getty Images.]