Taylor

Taylor Swift may be the most unusual of pop artists: one capable of effortlessly bridge the gap between pop and country while sweeping the globe. Swift removed herself from the country genre like a second skin and showed that she was the most refined pop sensibility of the time. Swift was the only singer/songwriter who knew how to follow the zeitgeist of popular music on the road. This was evident in her early hits including the Neo-tribute Tim McGraw but her second album 2008's Fearless showed a writer discovering who she was and, in doing so, gaining an audience of mass. The album was able to have significant legs not only in the U.S. where it racked up six platinum singles on the strength of the Top Ten hits Love Story and You Belong with Me but throughout the world, with a particular success within Australia, U.K. Canada and Australia. Speak Now delivered almost two years later and consolidated this popularity and pushed Swift into the stratosphere of fame. Over the next three years, her fame increased -- Red (2012), Reputation (2014) as well as 1989 (2014-2015) -- as she moved into a world of pop music in which her talent was already well-established. It was not long before she changed her strategy in 2020's more streamlined siblings folklore (and Evermore) and stayed atop of the pop world.