She was ditched by a Jonas brother. I think it was Joe, the middle one, and over the phone at that. She was dissed by Kanye West at the MTV Video Music Awards. Must have been traumatic experiences but I am sure Taylor Swift is past all that now. If she were the type, she can now very well afford to thumb her pretty nose at her “persecutors” and say, “Hey guys, take a look at me now.”
Or maybe take a look at the charts. She has the most hit singles by any female act in pop music history, including Beyoncé. Among these are current tween anthems like Love Story, You Belong With Me, White Horse, Forever And Always and Fifteen. She has the biggest sales by any artist in 2009, over four million CDs sold of Taylor Swift and Fearless.
There are also the Artist Of The Year Award from Billboard Magazine, bible of the music industry; the Academy of Country Music Entertainer Of The Year Award. She is the youngest recipient in history. She has lots of other trophies from the CMA, the MTV Video Music Awards, the American Music Awards and others plus some Grammy nominations and most probably some of those little gramophone trophies to take home after the Grammy Awards in February 2010.
For a while there, I thought the year would go to Lady Gaga. She was selling big. She was interesting and different and made some hits, Just Dance, Poker Face and Paparazzi. Beyoncé also came on strong with Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) and Halo. It could have also been Miley who remained consistent in the charts with The Climb and Party In The U.S.A. The Black Eyed Peas did not do so bad either. Boom Boom Pow and I Got A Feeling.
But in the end, it was the 20-year-old Taylor Alison Swift, whose efforts at writing poems since she was eight and songs since she was 11 are paying off big. Of course she also has the looks and the talent. That sweet voice melts hearts, though not those of Joe’s and Kanye’s. Ironically, Kanye was Billboard’s choice for Male Artist of the Year. Taylor was the female one and she was the one who emerged over-all winner.
Back to Taylor. I believe the main reason for her success is her wide appeal. Her demographics is incredible. I’d say ages 6 to 60 or more, which you cannot really say of Miley’s music. Then she is a country artist. Country music has a huge market and when somebody like Taylor crosses over to the even bigger pop music market, you can only expect fireworks. Very loud and incredibly bright.
And now, the top ten titles in Billboard’s Top 200 Albums in the Best of 2009 led by Fearless by Taylor Swift. The rest are I Am…Sasha Pierce by Beyoncé; Dark Horse by Nickelback; Twilight, the motion picture soundtrack by Various Artists; Hannah Montana: The Movie, the soundtrack feat. Miley Cyrus and others; Circus by Britney Spears; 808s & Heartbreak by Kanye West; The Fame by Lady Gaga; Relapse by Eminem; and The E.N.D. by The Black Eyed Peas.
The Top 10 in the Hot 100 Song List for 2009 are: Boom Boom Pow by The Black Eyed Peas; Poker Face by Lady Gaga; Just Dance also by Lady Gaga; I Gotta Feeling also by The Black Eyed Peas; Love Story by Taylor Swift; Right Round by Flo Rida; I’m Yours by Jason Mraz; Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) by Beyonce; Heartless by Kanye West; and Gives You Hell by The All American Rejects.
Now, there must be some of you out there who, like me, are wondering about where oh where is Michael Jackson. After all, his sudden death threw the world into a Jackson listening frenzy and he probably sold a lot of CDs. As far as I know, the Top 200 Albums and Hot 100 charts only list down current releases. Those that are I think over three or more years go to the Catalogue tabulation. I checked the Billboard website and saw some Michael CDs there along with Elvis, The Beatles and some Christmas releases.