While the number ‘13’ may have a bad or unlucky connotation for some, for popstar Taylor Swift, things are a little different.
Taylor Swift considers the number 13 to be her lucky number, and she has said that she holds a special connection with it since various important dates or occurrences in her life revolve around the same number.
She has one of the biggest names in the music industry, with an international reach and having won multiple renowned awards, including 10 Grammys as of 2019. Since making her mark on the scene in 2008 with albums Taylor Swift and Fearless from ‘06 to ‘09, let’s take a look at why the number 13 holds such a substantial place in her heart.
Her Lucky Number From The Very Start
Quite literally from the beginning of Swift’s life, the digit has played an important role, as she was born on the 13th of December. When she turned 13 years old in 2002, her birthday was on Friday the 13th.
From there, the number continued to show up throughout both her personal and professional life.
“Basically whenever a 13 comes up in my life, it’s a good thing,” she told MTV News in 2009.
In the early days of her career, the number continued to make an appearance.
She became interested in music at an early age, performing at the Berks Youth Theater Academy, and she eventually released her first single “Tim Mcgraw” in 2006. Following that was her album, Taylor Swift, which was published also in 2006.
This debut album garnered lots of attention, and soon enough it received international recognition, reaching No. 5 on the US Billboard 200 charts. In relation to her lucky number, this debut album got Gold status in 13 weeks.
On that same album, Taylor’s first ever No. 1 song on the charts, titled “Our Song”, had an intro that was 13 seconds.
Noticing the significance of the number in her career, Taylor made her Twitter handle “@taylorswift13”, and things kept rolling from there.
A Constant Within Her Career
After her debut album was such a huge success, Taylor kept the rhythm going by releasing her second album, Fearless, in 2008. While her first album was a big hit, this is where things really took off for her career.
Fearless peaked at the No. 1 spot on the US, Canadian, and New Zealand charts, and No. 2 in Australia. Not only did the album have 13 tracks in total, but two of the songs on the track list peaked at none other than No. 13 on the charts.
These songs were “Teardrops On My Guitar” and “White Horse”. Later, her song “Ours” from her third album Speak Now, and “Gorgeous” from Reputation, both also peaked the charts at No. 13.
In addition to the chart positions of her songs, 13 would appear even within accolades that she received for her work.
On an early interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Taylor described her fascination with the number. “Every time I’ve ever won an award at an award show I’ve either been seated in the 13th row or row M, which is the 13th letter.”
She continued, “and when I won the Horizon Award at the CMA Awards, the producer came up to me when I was sound checking and said, ‘alright we’re going to go in 13 seconds’.”
It doesn’t end there, though.
“The Lucky One” is the 13th track from her fourth album Red, has a 13-second intro, and she repeated the word “lucky” 13 times.
Some other appearances of the number include that she would write ‘13’ on her hand before going on stage at concerts, she won 13 awards in 2018, and her 2017 song “Delicate” got 13 million views throughout social media within a 24-hour period.