Happy Birthday Taylor Swift: A look back at the 27-year-old's headlining moments of 2016

There has not been a year since Taylor Swift broke on to the music scene in 2009, where she has not found herself the talk of the town. Her romances have only been overshadowed by the heavily reported break-ups and songs that then refer to these men in her life.

She made it the ultimate symbol of millennial-cool to have a "squad" of famous and fabulous friends; her own includes the likes of Karlie Kloss, Gigi Hadid, and Cara Delevingne. When she is not burning up the red carpet with her besties, the Bad Blood singer has been busy raking in awards for her albums.

Swift celebrates her 27<sup>th birthday on 13 December and boy what a year she has had so far! The singer-songwriter has made the headlines for a variety of reasons — from bagging multiple awards at the Grammys to locking horns with Kanye West (again) and Kim Kardashian and her short-lived romance with Tom Hiddleston.

On her birthday, IBTimes UK takes a look back at some of the most notable moments from Taylor Swift's year.

Grammy Whammy

Swift kicked off 2016 with a spectacular night at the Grammys. She took home the awards for best music video for Bad Blood, best pop vocal album and album of the year for 1989. She already had seven Grammys to her name and the February show took that count to 10.

Romance and breakup 1: Calvin Harris

In March, Swift and her then-boyfriend Calvin Harris showed off their love for each other... and their beach bods during a tropical beach vacation. They were celebrating their one-year anniversary at the time but by early June the two love birds decided to call it quits. According to a source: "There was no drama. Things just don't work out sometimes."

Things did not remain amicable between the two for long though. A month after the split, it was revealed that Taylor was responsible for the lyrics to This Is What You Came For, Harris' song with Rihanna. She reportedly wrote the hit number using a pseudonym. Harris was none too pleased with the news and called Taylor out with a Twitter rant accusing her team of trying to make him look bad.

Wedding surprise

The Shake It Off hitmaker stayed off Instagram for a while after her breakup but later shared a photo of when she surprised a fan at his wedding. She even performed Blank Space for the newly-weds and their guests.

Romance and breakup 2: Tom Hiddleston

A month after the Swift-Harris romance hit a dead-end, the 22 singer surprised her fans when she went public with her new man Tom Hiddleston. Swift and the actor, who plays Loki in the film Thor, were spotted on a number of occasions indulging in PDA.

There was talk of the two meeting each other's parents and even rumours of an engagement. Three months later though, this romance also met its end. According to sources, Swift became uncomfortable about being more public about the relationship but the two have decided to remain friends.

Famous feud with Kanye West featuring Kim Kardashian

Kanye West will always be remembered for the time he threw an on-stage rant at the 2009 MTV Music Awards as Swift was giving her acceptance speech after being named best female video. Over time the two artists managed to bury the hatchet and keep up an amicable public relationship. That was right up until February 2016.

Kanye debuted his new track Famous in which one of the lines went: "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous." Obviously the lyrics created a big public hoopla but the rapper clarified that he had taken approval from Swift before using her name.

"I called Taylor and had a hour long convo with her about the line and she thought it was funny and gave her blessings," he said.

The singer's team, however, denied that she had given any approval for the lyrics. Swift herself opted to stay silent on the matter only to lash out in her Grammy acceptance speech.

By June, Kanye's wife Kim Kardashian also entered the fray and later told the media that they had a recording of the conversation between her husband and Swift in which she gives him permission to reference her in his song.

The Gold Digger rapper added fuel to the fire with the release of the video for Famous. The footage shows Kanye in bed with Kim and wax figures of a number of other famous people — the one right next to him being a very naked Swift.

The Taylor Swift Show

After signing a deal with AT&T, the company announced it would be creating a "new video experience" called Taylor Swift Now, which will feature 13 chapters of exclusive content.

In March, Swift and her then-boyfriend Calvin Harris showed off their love for each other... and their beach bods during a tropical beach vacation. They were celebrating their one-year anniversary at the time but by early June the two love birds decided to call it quits. According to a source: "There was no drama. Things just don't work out sometimes."