Happy birthday, Taylor Swift! Star rounds off her best year yet after magical engagement to Travis Kelce, record-breaking Eras Tour and another hit album

Taylor Swift officially celebrated her first birthday as a fiancée as she turned 36 on Saturday.

Yet there’s not much the songstress could ask for that would top off her incredible year, both personally and professionally.

After completing her 149 show long Eras Tour last December the popstar wasn’t quite ready for a break from music as she made the surprise announcement in August that she would be releasing yet another record.

The release of The Life Of A Showgirl in October marked her 12th record, with hits like The Fate Of Ophelia and Elizabeth Taylor quickly becoming viral TikTok sensations.

Meanwhile, in her personal life it was the moment all die hard Swifties had been waiting for as ‘mum and dad’ finally got engaged.

After years of belting out the ache of heartbreak through her music, Taylor finally found her happily ever after with Travis Kelce, with the pair planning a huge wedding.

Elsewhere, Taylor also celebrated a triumphant moment not just for herself, but for musicians as a whole, after she successfully bought back the right to all of her own music.

All in all there is plenty to celebrate as the star turns 36.

Happy birthday Taylor Swift! From her magical engagement to Travis Kelce, to the end of the record breaking Eras Tour and another hit album: this year was the singer’s best yet.

Meanwhile in her personal life it was the moment all die hard Swifties had been waiting for as ‘mum and dad’ finally got engaged (pictured in August).

Engagement

Taylor and Travis announced their engagement in August after a secret proposal two weeks prior.

Taking to Instagram with snaps from their romantic photoshoot, Travis was seen down one knee in a rose garden as Taylor penned: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”

The Grammy winner also revealed her mammoth diamond engagement ring in the post – the stunning band is an Old Mine Brilliant Cut and appears to be from Kindred Lubeck at Artifex Fine Jewelry. It is worth an estimated $675,000 to $1million.

The star shared the post on her Instagram, set to the ballad So High School, which is about her enduring love for the NFL star.

Speaking about the ring on Heart Breakfast, she revealed: “He designed it with this amazing jeweller, Kindred Lubek is her name.”

“She does all her gold engraving by hand and I’d shown him a video of, I just thought her stuff was so cool, so I showed him a video a year and a half ago, and he was just paying attention to everything it turns out because when I saw the ring I was like ‘[gasps] I know who made that, I know who made that!’”

“And also he listened to me! It was like, you really know me, I didn’t know what I’d want, but he did somehow and that’s kind of a flex.”

The stunning band is an Old Mine Brilliant Cut and appears to be from Kindred Lubeck at Artifex Fine Jewelry. It is worth an estimated $675,000 to $1million.

Taylor has also opened up about their nuptials plans as she joked that while she appears to be the sort of person who would “obsess over a wedding her whole life,” she has never thought about what she wanted to do until she met the right person.

While she hasn’t confirmed the location it appears she is planning on having a destination wedding as her friends are all so scattered.

The guest list will also not be limited as she revealed to BBC Radio 1 host Greg James that even he will be invited.

While Greg joked about being “picked up” by 6ft 6 Travis, Taylor said that “he will do that as soon as he sees you at our wedding.”

Greg’s eyes immediately popped and he said: “Woah, woah. Am I coming?” Taylor said, “Obviously,” before adding that she’d let him know the details at a different time.

In terms of music, Taylor isn’t short of famous friends who could help out and when asked if her good friend Ed Sheeran would be performing at her wedding, she claimed it would be hard for him not to.

She said: “I mean it would be hard to keep him from it I think! That’s the thing he’s like ‘I’m always being asked to sing at weddings’ and you’re like ‘Ed if there’s a stage you know that you’ll be on it!’”

“He knows what people want and he wants to give people what they want. That’s the fun thing about our friendship is we both love performing and we love writing and we love singing. It’s actually not that hard to talk either of us into performing at anything!”

Sharing details of her relationship with Travis, Taylor said: “He’s a blast. He’s just the most fun person, life of any party, even when it’s just us. That’s the goal, isn’t it? Find a best friend who you think is hot.”

The guest list will also not be limited after she revealed to BBC Radio 1 host Greg James that even he will be invited.

Eras Tour

The highest-grossing tour of all time, the Eras Tour saw Swift mania take over every city as the singer and her crew put on a performance of a lifetime every night.

Almost two years long, and comprising of 149 shows, Taylor kicked off her 35th year with by drawing tour to a close in December last year in Vancouver.

Comprising of distinct ‘eras’ based on her 10 studio albums, the singer broke an abundance of records with her three-hour-long, 40 song setlist.

She also became the first ever person to be crowned a billionaire predominately from music, and the world’s richest female musician.

The impressive spectacle saw more than four million fans flock to arenas around the world, with A-listers, political figures and even royals all competing to be the ‘biggest Swiftie’ out there.

Throughout the shows she brought out a range of guest singers, from good friend Ed Sheeran, to Florence Welch, Jack Antonoff and Hayley Williams.

But the most special guest of all was of course Travis himself, who took to the stage as one of her dancers for a special performance of I Can Do It With a Broken Heart in London.

One day before preparing to wrap her tour after 21 months and 149 shows, the pop star took a moment to thank her beloved fans for making this such a “wonderful experience.”

The highest-grossing tour of all time, the Eras Tour saw Swift mania take over every city as the singer and her crew put on a performance of a lifetime every night.

The impressive spectacle saw more than four million fans flock to arenas around the world, with A-listers, political figures and even royals all competing to be the ‘biggest Swiftie’.

“This is the most fun, joyful, exciting, intense, powerful and wonderful tour I have ever done, and that’s all because of the way that you have treated it,” she told the sold-out crowd.

She continued: “There’s a reason why this is my longest tour I’ve ever done. I’ve never played this many shows on a tour before, and it’s just cause I really never wanted it to end, because you guys have made it into such a wonderful experience for all of us on stage.”

The Fortnight hitmaker praised Swifties for creating their own unique “traditions” including making and trading friendship bracelets which each other.

“I wrote one line in a song that mentions ‘make the friendship bracelets,’ and I show up to the first show of the Eras Tour, and you guys made friendship bracelets, you’re trading friendship bracelets, you’re making friends, and now I feel like, friendship bracelets, you’ve kinda made that idea synonymous with the Eras Tour,” she said. “That’s a pretty wild thing you can do — and that’s just one of the things.”

Earlier in the show, she also reflected on how much the tour has meant to her.

“This tour has taken up three years of my life, when you think about the planning of it and then the rehearsals and then being on this tour for a year and eight months,” the performer gushed.

“I just keep thinking when I look at this crowd how incredibly happy and grateful and fortunate we are to get to spend our last weekend here in Vancouver.”

The most special guest of all was of course Travis himself, who took to the stage as one of her dancers for a special performance of I Can Do It With a Broken Heart in London.

The Life Of A Showgirl

After the Eras Tour drew to a close it was expected that Taylor would go away for a while and hibernate after such an exhausting two years.

However, little did fans know the star was back in the studio working on another album, with Taylor making the shock announcement on Travis’ podcast in August that a new record was on its way.

The Life Of A Showgirl was released in October, with Taylor explaining the album is a “perfect snapshot” of her life right now, whereas past albums have “lagged” and she hasn’t been in the same space.

She explained: “One thing about this album that I think is really exciting is that oftentimes when I make a record there’s like a lag time between when I made it and when it enters the world.”

“Like for example, my last album, The Tortured Poets Department, by the time that album came out, I was in a completely different point in my life.”

“With this one I would say that this album is a complete and total snapshot of what my life looks like right now.”

The Life Of A Showgirl was released in October, with Taylor explaining the album is a “perfect snapshot” of her life right now.

Breaking numerous sales and streaming records upon its release, it became Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day this year, reaching the milestone in less than 11 hours.

It also boasted the largest first-week sales for an album in the UK this year and a record-breaking 4.002 million album units in its debut week in the US.

Asked what Travis’s favourite track is she shared it is Opalite. “I think that is his favourite, he loves that one.”

“I have favourite words and favourite phrases and things that I will put in an endless file of lyrics that I’m just constantly going to and cherry picking from when I’m writing.”

“And I had written down the word Opalite because I learned that it is actually a man-made Opal. Opal can be man-made just like diamonds.”

“Travis’ birthstone is an opal, so I have always fixated on that, and I’ve always loved that stone. And I thought it was kind of a cool metaphor that man-made Opal and happiness can also be man-made too.”

Breaking numerous sales and streaming records upon its release, it became Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day this year, reaching the milestone in less than 11 hours.

Eras Docuseries

If you didn’t manage to bag a ticket to the Eras Tour, or if you did but want to relive it all over again, Taylor has also released a docuseries dedicated to the mammoth tour.

The new six-part docuseries, Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The End of an Era, was released on Friday, a day before the singer’s birthday.

It was also accompanied by a concert film, Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show, also released on Disney+ the same day.

The series offers an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at the Eras Tour, featuring performances, interviews with collaborators, and personal insights from Swift herself.

There are many behind-the-scenes clips of Taylor preparing for the tour including an exclusive interview with the star where she reflects on how epic the massive Eras Tour was.

Also in the trailer is a look at how her relationship with her now fiancé, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, evolved.

The new six-part docuseries, Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The End of an Era, was released on Disney+ on December 12, 2025.

In the trailer is a look at how her relationship with her now fiancé, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis, evolved.

Buying Back Her Music

Taylor sent fans into a frenzy with a major announcement in May as she proudly revealed that she officially bought back her entire music empire.

The Grammy winner, 35, penned a lengthy letter on her website to share the big news – after purchasing her music catalog from Shamrock Capital, which had acquired the rights from Scooter Braun one year earlier, for an undisclosed nine-figure sum.

Taking to her website to share a letter with fans, the star gushed: “To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it.”

She said the fact she now owns the rights to all the music she has ever made has brought so much joy to her life she’s been bursting into tears.

Taylor wrote in her letter: “I’m trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a flashback sequence of all the times I daydreamed about, wished for, and pined away for a chance to get to tell you this news.”

“All the times I was thiiiiis close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away.”

Taylor sent fans into a frenzy with a major announcement in May as she proudly revealed that she officially bought back her entire music empire.

In a letter to her fans she said the fact she now owns the rights to all the music she has ever made has brought so much joy to her life she’s been bursting into tears.

“But that’s all in the past now. I’ve been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I really get say to say these words:”

“All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me.”

“And all my music videos. All the concert films. The album art and photography. The unreleased songs. The memories. The magic. The madness. Every single era. My entire life’s work.”

Prior to buying her records back, Taylor had been rerecording ‘Taylor’s Version’ of each of her records, so far releasing Speak Now, Red, Fearless and 1989.

With fans all anticipating the release of Reputation Taylor’s Version, the star admitted she hadn’t even managed to re-record a quarter of that record as it was so specific so a certain point of her life and she was struggling to remake it.

The songstress had the chance to celebrate with longtime pal and music collaborator, Jack Antonoff.

However, the pair surprisingly stayed lowkey and enjoyed a night in – which was shown in a reel that the record producer uploaded to X.

In the 14-second clip, both Swift and Antonoff could be seen inside what appeared to be a spacious kitchen as they sang lyrics to the track Getaway Car from her 2017 Reputation album.

The songstress had the chance to celebrate with longtime pal and music collaborator, Jack Antonoff – who earned two Grammys for Taylor’s 2022 LP Midnights.

Selena Gomez’s Wedding

If her own engagement wasn’t enough, Taylor also got to celebrate her best friend getting married this year too, because Selena Gomez tied the knot with Benny Blanco.

The two women have been friends for years, experiencing the lows and highs of love and heartbreak together.

Selena and Benny tied the knot at a ceremony in Santa Barbara back in September with Taylor delivering a heartfelt speech.

One insider told the Daily Mail, Taylor’s speech was “so beautiful that some guests were crying.”

During the sweet speech, it is understood that Taylor “talked about how she and Selena have both been through so much together both professionally and personally,” and “said that whenever one of them had their hearts broken from failed relationship over the years, they were always there for each other.”

The star told the gathered guests that it was only “when Selena finally came to the realization that she was just fine with who she was and concentrated on being just her that she fell in love with Benny.”

Celebrating her own engagement she “joked in the speech that Selena beat her to altar but at least they both have found the loves of their lives.”

She also called Benny “the most perfect person” for Selena, before declaring: “It isn’t luck that they found each other, it’s love.”

If her own engagement wasn’t enough, Taylor also got to celebrate her best friend getting married this year too, after Selena Gomez tied the knot with Benny Blanco.