2009: A Good Year for Country Music
Although country music album sales decreased 3.2 percent in 2009 compared to the previous year, the genre suffered less last year than any other genre, excluding jazz. Country music owes much of its appeal to its recent blonde bombshells, and one in particular: Taylor Swift.
According to cmt.com, Swift “was second only to Michael Jackson on the 2009 list of best-selling artists, and her ‘Fearless’ was the year’s best-selling album, moving 3,217,000 units.”
Not only does Swift hold the title for best-selling album of 2009, “Fearless” was the third best-selling album during the 2009 holiday season alone, and her holiday album, “The Holiday Collection,” was the third best-selling seasonal album. Additionally, two of Swift’s songs “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story” were the first and second most played songs, respectively, on the radio last year.
Swift is also responsible for releasing one of only two albums that sold in excess of three million copies last year, the first time since 2006. It’s a good thing she won all those Country Music Association awards!
Another contributor who aided in the country music department was Carrie Underwood. The ninth best-selling artist of the year accounted for 1,895,000 purchases.
Looks like country music is right where it belongs- on top.
http://www.cmt.com/news/country-music/1629222/country-albums-sales-down-...
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2010/01/07/swift-beats-b...