Taylor Swift Tops Album Chart, Makes History Books

7/25/2007 Stephen L. Betts Taylor Swift’s self-titled debut album has reached the top spot on Billboard‘s Country Albums chart. With 34,586 CDs sold this week, Taylor is outdistancing country artists Carrie Underwood, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw and Rascal Flatts. Taylor is also the only country artist in the Top 15 on Billboard's all-genre Top 200 Chart, and is currently ranked higher than pop acts such as Avril Lavigne, Gwen Stefani and Maroon 5. The album is the first chart-topper for Taylor’s record label, Big Machine.  Even more impressive is the fact that Taylor’s CD, which has sold over one million copies, was released 39 weeks ago. The 17-year-old is country music’s third best-selling artist this year, behind only Carrie Underwood and Tim McGraw.  Just last month Taylor secured her place in country music history as the only female solo artist in country music to write or co-write every song on a platinum-selling debut. Last week she wrapped a series of dates as a featured guest on Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s Soul2Soul 2007 tour, and she is currently on tour with Brad Paisley. In May she was awarded the fan-voted CMT Music Award for Breakthrough Video, and was nominated for Best New Female Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music. Taylor was named one of AOL’s Best New Artists of the Year, was chosen by the Los Angeles Times as “One to Watch in 2007,” and was honored as a breakthrough artist by Music Row magazine with their prestigious Critic’s Pick award.