Last week, the pop behemoth that is Taylor Swift performed in Hyde Park to 65,000 people. "I remember seven years ago when I played my first UK show," she said. "King's College had sold out and there were a few hundred people. I was surprised that a few hundred people would come to see me perform, and now I'm looking at 65,000 people in Hyde Park."

It's been an ascent nearly a decade in the making, but the past few months have cemented Taylor Swift's status as arguably the most powerful popstar on the planet. She's taken on Apple and won, taken a stand against Spotify, spoken out and influenced a generation on social issues from feminism to gay rights, and broken album records that may never be beaten.

To mark the stratospheric of Taylor Swift, we've gone back to her country beginnings in 2006, through the highs and lows of her career, and emerged out the other end in 2015, to create a timeline of her ascent to superstardom