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Discussion: Is Taylor Swift the biggest popstar in the United States?
Member Since: 3/3/2011
Posts: 23,567
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Is Taylor Swift the biggest popstar in the United States?
With the huge debate that exploded today about the Slate magazine article on Rihanna, tearing into her feel as one-hit wonder done a dozen times over, I've been increasingly considering the case of Taylor Swift.
The main arguments I've seen against Swift on this website generally focus on the lack of a celebrity personality, the lack of huge exposure to the general public and the lack of influence on the general public. What's undisputed is her album-selling power: She sold more albums than any other artist in the United States in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
A lot of people seem to discredit her power as a pop staple because the only notable hit she's had is You Belong With Me. First of all, I'd like to argue that Love Story was more successful than You Belong With Me (as can be seen by its sales), even though it peaked at #4. But more importantly, why are we so quick to disregard her achievements just because she's not gunning for #1 hit after #1 hit like other popstars of today?
The fact is that Taylor Swift was the most-spun artist in the United States in 2008, 2009, and 2010. A huge number of her songs are getting lots of spins on radio, even if if she's not the type of artist to get played every hour for a month before being wiped from the playlists until the next single release. In addition, she's actually the only lead artist who was in the list of Top 3 songwriters airplay chart in 2010. As a basis for comparison, Lady Gaga was not in the Top 10. In fact, Swift was the only popstar (or non-dedicated writer/producer) in the entire Top 10.
Taylor seems to excel at maximizing awareness of her presence without actually present or overly-exposed. In a way it reminds me of Rihanna, but somehow she maintains a fanbase matched in the US by only Lady Gaga. Her last album, Fearless, produced 16 Hot 100 hits and 13 Top 40 hits off of her immense sales power alone. Her most-recent effort, Speak Now is about to send the last 3 of its tracks onto the Hot 100 chart (for a total of 17). In fact, 2 of the three bonus tracks could be looking at Top 15 debuts.
Her fanbase is definitely dedicated. If not for Gaga, she would have been the only female popstar in nearly a decade (and only one of 3 total) to sell a million copies of an album in its first week. Unlike Gaga and Britney (her company in this feat), Taylor managed to continue to sell several hundreds of thousands of copies of her album (in 2010, mind you) until after she reached 3M copies sold. I would argue that her fanbase is somehow more well-rounded than the competing fanbases of Gaga and Bieber. She has the die-hard fans who are going out first-week to snatch up her album, but she has the older crowd's respect too. She can hold sales together well after the launch of her albums, even if she's lacking a huge single or publicity.
Her debut album, which most fans of other pop stars often choose to disregard, sold over 4,000,000 copies with ease in the US. Her follow-up, Fearless proved that she had even more to offer than her excellent debut suggested, and solidified her place as a critically respected, pop-approved commercial monster. It's the most-awarded country album of all time and the only one to ever win the American Music Award, Academy of Country Music Awards, Country Music Association Award and Grammy Award for Album of the Year in the same year. In fact, she was also the youngest to ever win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In terms of sales, it's sold well over 6,000,000 copies. Even after 2 of the biggest crossover smashes in recent memory, over a dozen weeks at #1 and all of the momentum the US has to offer, Adele's 21 still trails Fearless by over 2 million copies.
I guess what one really has to consider here is what he would mean if he said Taylor Swift isn't the biggest pop star in the United States. She's the most-played artist of each of the past three years. She's sold the most albums in each of the past three years. She's had more Hot 100 hits than any artist (ex. Glee Cast) or even any producer in the past 3 years. She's had more Top 40 hits than any artist or any producer in the past 3 years. She has an absolutely colossal fanbase that, while not as obviously vocal as Gaga's or Bieber's, has shown time and time again that they are just as dedicated and even more diverse and far-reaching. She's perhaps the only American popstar that can effortlessly sell out domestic stadiums. More than that, she effortlessly cultivates an angelic image that most clearly defines the pure American sweetheart. Sure, you can try to discount her as a weak crossover vessel that is as teen-teen oriented as Justin Bieber, but does that really matter when she's leaving all of the other girls in the dust?
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Member Since: 10/3/2010
Posts: 50,276
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Member Since: 6/7/2011
Posts: 22,128
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Member Since: 6/15/2011
Posts: 41,028
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You should change the title to "Come drag Taylor Swift" ![too funny](images/smilies/images/smilies/priceless.gif)
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Member Since: 3/21/2010
Posts: 19,112
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Member Since: 9/6/2006
Posts: 15,696
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Ch u do the absolute most all the time. ![dies](images/smilies/images/smilies/dies.gif)
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Member Since: 6/7/2011
Posts: 22,128
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Quote:
Originally posted by Bdawg
but she's not pop....
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She's not really country, either.
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Member Since: 11/29/2010
Posts: 19,664
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Member Since: 11/20/2010
Posts: 12,356
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Quote:
Originally posted by Bdawg
but she's not pop....
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She's a country pop artist.
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Member Since: 3/3/2011
Posts: 23,567
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Now you know you bitches did not even read that. ![Nicole](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/3b9ed532.gif)
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Member Since: 12/27/2010
Posts: 6,041
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Not by a long shot. Awards and certifications don't always translate into cultural presence/dominance. Speak Now could go 10x plat and Gaga would still be the dominating pop force.
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Member Since: 3/21/2010
Posts: 19,112
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Quote:
Originally posted by LightandDarkness
She's a country pop artist.
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but there's still country there.
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Member Since: 11/25/2008
Posts: 13,160
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No, it goes like this with the biggest pop stars -
1. Xtina; the chick that blocked the best newcomer form spots at #1 ![worship2](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/310230f4.gif)
2. Adele
3. Justin Bieber
4. Riri
Then Tay
![Alexz](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ec20fb7f.gif)
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Member Since: 3/21/2010
Posts: 19,112
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Quote:
Originally posted by KoreanDream
She's not really country, either.
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I argue about this all the time and even tho I don't consider her music Country, she is a country singer first and foremost. Always has been. It's just country music with a pop appeal to it. But I wouldn't consider her a Popstar necessarily.
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Member Since: 8/26/2011
Posts: 15,572
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In a sense yeah, she has better longetivity and more constant sales, but pop? Maybe country-pop. She's a crossover artist, her real home is country radio
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Member Since: 8/26/2011
Posts: 1,029
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I mean she has 3 songs in iTunes top 10 and they pretty much came from out of nowhere. And "If This Was A Movie" just replaced "We Found Love". I would say she is: America likes the All-American, blonde, next door types. Look where it took Britney in her early years. (I digress) ![Beatfreak](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/49302c4d.gif)
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Member Since: 6/7/2010
Posts: 4,986
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Her music is too childish for me to consider her biggest popstar.
Also she makes music more appealing to women.
Lady Gaga must be the biggest popstar nowadays.
Her music appeals more to adults, children, teenagers and also to all genres, i think that fits more the definition of being 'biggest'.
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Member Since: 11/20/2010
Posts: 12,356
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Quote:
Originally posted by Bdawg
I argue about this all the time and even tho I don't consider her music Country, she is a country singer first and foremost. Always has been. It's just country music with a pop appeal to it. But I wouldn't consider her a Popstar necessarily.
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Taylor's music can easily crossover to the pop genre. Which her music has!
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Member Since: 9/6/2006
Posts: 15,696
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Beyonce, Adele and GaGa obviously are bigger forces in pop music because she is not full on pop but makes country music with some elements of pop appeal in it so close the thread.
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Member Since: 3/21/2010
Posts: 19,112
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Quote:
Originally posted by LightandDarkness
Taylor's music can easily crossover to the pop genre. Which her music has!
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yes I understand that. It has pop appeal to it but she's still a country artist. Hell even tonight she won the Country Music Awards highest honor for entertainer of the year.
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