• 15 songs on the Billboard Hot 100
• 1 Academy of Country Music Award
• 1 American Music Award
• 1 CMA Award
• 5 CMT Music Awards, including two straight wins for Video of the Year in 2008 and 2009
• 3 Teen Choice Awards
• 1 Grammy Nomination (she lost Best New Artist to Amy Winehouse, singularly stiff competition)
She was local. I'm not from the US and I didn't know her until she the VMAs.
Country stars are very successful in the US but country is LOCAL. Accept it.
Country is local, true, but Love Story was an international hit single. It was a hit in the UK, Ireland, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Slovakia, and France. Outside of Europe, it was also a hit in Australia, Japan and New Zealand.