Taylor Swift Boosts County Award Ratings

Taylor Swift's sweep of the Country Music Assn. Awards helped the award show reach its biggest audience in four years, according to preliminary figures released on Thursday, Reuters reported.

The three-hour show averaged 16.8 million viewers for ABC on Wednesday, up from 15.9 million last year, its highest score since 2005.

Times are changing though. In 1978 Dolly Parton was named entertainer of the year and more than 39 million viewers tuned in.

Swift, 19, won that same prize this year, becoming the youngest person to win the show's top honor. She also walked away with awards for female vocalist, album and video.