Taylor Swift reaches 5 million in sales, tops Billboard
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 – Taylor Swift, who celebrated her 19th birthday on Saturday, has now surpassed the 5 million mark for total sales of her 2 studio albums, "Fearless" and her self-titled debut, both released on Big Machine Records. Swift is country music's best-selling artist of 2008.
With 248,841 copies sold this week, "Fearless" reclaims the number 1 position atop Billboard's all-genre Top 200 Albums sales chart, which will be officially released Thursday. The album has been atop the country album chart since its Nov. 11 release and sold more than 1.5 million copies in 5 weeks. The debut, out in October 2006, sold in excess of 3.7 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, for a combined total of 5,229,487 copies sold. Both titles remain in the Top 5 of the Billboard Country Albums Sales Chart.
The singer will be Billboard's Top Country Artist and also claim leader on the Hot Country Songwriters tally. Swift is ranked fourth on Billboard's 2008 Top 200 Artists review (behind Josh Groban, Alicia Keys and Miley Cyrus). "Fearless" had the biggest selling debut week for a female artist in any genre in 2008 and was the fourth biggest debut over all.
This week, Swift will be profiled by the E! television network during their upcoming special Young Hollywood from A to Zac THS, which premieres on Dec. 19 at 8 p.m. Swift, who plans to headline her own tour in 2009, will kick off the New Year with a big live performance in New York's Times Square for Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. The show airs on ABC and will be hosted by Ryan Seacrest.
More news for Taylor Swift
CD reviews for Taylor Swift
Journey to Fearless DVD
Part Behind The Music style documentary and part concert film, Taylor Swift's new Blu-ray release offers an interesting hybrid approach to the typical live performance video - an approach that hits more than it misses. "Journey To Fearless" focuses on Swift's meteoric rise from aspiring grade-school singer/songwriter to award-winning country and pop megastar while sprinkling in live performances. Hardcore Swift fans will find a lot to love on this single-disc set (which is also »»» |
Speak Now
Taylor Swift has made the best CD of her young career with her fourth CD. The biggest difference is that Swift's singing, spotty on previous releases and live performances, is far far superior here.
Swift wrote all 14 songs here, which like her other albums tend to deal with relationships that have gone south. Swift's songwriting always has been one of her strengths, and that continues to be the case here - both lyrically and musically. Put simply, Swift knows a lot about penning »»» |
Fearless
Taylor Swift took the county world by storm with her huge selling debut and its five hit singles. With a huge marketing push and myspace, Swift was on her way. Kind of like an Avril Lavigne for the teen female country set.
Sophomore slump? There's no indication of that. Swift once again writes her material - all 13 songs here with help sometimes from Liz Rose, Colbie Caillat and John Rich. Swift writes of what she knows about - relationships and teen love come and gone in songs speak to her fans. »»» |
Editorial: Walking the talk –
When names like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Waylon and the Hag are invoked, you're talking hard core country. These are the touchstones of country , the guys who made country music what it was and still is (or maybe can be). When these folks would sing about being down-and-out and the rough-and-tumble, they knew of what they were singing about. Fast forward a few years to the country singers of today. »»»
Concert Review: The Lil Smokies provide the perfect antidote –
On a night when the world to be falling further apart thanks to coronavirus (this would be the night the NBA postponed the season), there stood The Lil Smokies to at least in some small measure save the day.
The quintet is part of a generation of musicians with bluegrass as the basis, but not totally the sum of the music either.... »»»
Concert Review: White makes the case for himself, no matter how dark the music –
John Paul White opined with a glint in his eyes that his songs were not of the uplifting variety. In fact, they were downright dark. How else to explain "The Long Way" with the line "long way home back to you." Or "James," a song inspired by his grandfather who suffered from dementia.
But lest you think that the Alabama... »»»
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