Taylor

Taylor Swift is that rarest of pop stars one who was able to seamlessly transition from the traditional to making her an iconic popular icon, and sweeping all over the world at the same time. Swift shed her roots in country music like a second-skin and showed she had the finest pop sensibility of her generation. Swift was the only musician/singer to take the popular zeitgeist on the road. The skills she displayed were apparent on her early hits including the Neo-tribute Tim McGraw but her second album 2008's Fearless showed a writer discovering the person she really was, and, in doing so, gaining the mass market. Fearless was a big hit not only in the United States which is where the Top Ten singles Love Story and Belong with Me helped it to record six platinum albums but also around the world. It performed particularly well in Canada, Australia in Australia and Canada. U.K. Speak Now delivered almost two years later, which consolidated the success and moved Swift towards the top of fame. Swift's popularity continued to grow over her next three albums - Red (2012) 1989 (2014) and Reputation (2017) -- and saw her move confidently into a pop realm that she had already been a part of. Her popularity grew even after she changed her strategy with 2020's pared-down siblings the folk singer (and Evermore) and stayed in the forefront of pop culture.