The country singer-songwriter Taylor Swift was named Billboard’s Woman of the Year today. At 21 years old, Swift is the youngest artist to receive the honor. That’s right, Taylor, keep bringing the diary entries set to music because “Woman of the Year” and 2 listings in the 2012 Guinness Book of World Records (Fastest Selling Digital Album by a Female Artist and Most Simultaneous U.S. Hot 100 Hits by a Female Artist) proves something must be working.

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Last year, Beyonce nabbed the title of Billboard’s Woman of the year but Black Eyed Peas member, Fergie, takes the spotlight this time around. The first lady of the group was introduced by her peers Taboo and Apl.de.ap who reminisced over their first meeting and the success that they’ve all accumulated together. Fergie was joined by several other talented vocalists that night who were also honored such as “Glee” star Lea Michele and R&B songstress Jazmine Sullivan.

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Billboard just added a new chart to the mix, the weekly Social 50, which will rank the most popular musical artists on social networking sites.

Rihanna, having just released her new album Loud, tops the Social 50 in its opening week, followed by Justin Bieber, Eminem, Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj, respectively, to wrap up the top five.

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M.I.A is on the up and up, and there is no stopping her. The British musician is the cover story for this week’s Billboard. The article covers everything from her recent twitter-blasts against the New York Times to her upcoming album.

Check out what M.I.A. had to say:

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Billboard has debuted new digital download lists ranking the top songs in 21 specific genres – compiled from data gathered by Nielsen SoundScan.

“Billboard is always thrilled to launch songs charts that reflect evolving consumer purchasing tastes,” says Billboard director of charts Silvio Pietroluongo.

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It’s been a big year for country music. Thanks to pop crossovers such as Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood, country has become a little mainstream nowadays. Not only did those two pop stars win numerous awards at both CMT and Grammys, but they’ve created a new niche for country artists who wanted to give us more of a folk pop edge such as Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum.

Although majorly billed as a country act, Lady Antebellum’s quick success also grew on the pop charts for 2009 and their outreach level has soared even more after their Grammy performance from Sunday. Their latest album, Need You Now, has debuted at No. 1 on the US Pop chart which makes them the biggest first-week tally for a country act since November 2008.

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Billboard (via Reuters) recently released their end of the decade issue and after going through numerous music charts based on Neilsen Soundscan, and when it comes to the top rock acts from 2000 – 2010, two main acts stand out in regards to sales: Linkin Park and Nickelback…

We know, we know. Linkin Park is tolerable but Nickelback with their trite songwriting? We want to ask Billboard – Why? Then again, it’s not really Billboard who is choosing these artist. They are merely the messengers. The people buy the music and request DJs to spin these tunes, so it’s really the people who have picked these over-accessible songs as the top artists of the decade.  Check out who else got high honors from Billboard in rock this decade…

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There are certain titles in music that no one wants to hold and  “one hit wonder” is the most feared. It suggests that your overall career has been a failure, and you’ve only managed to create a small flicker of success. Today Billboard Magazine made an important announcement and named Daniel Powter the biggest one hit wonder of the decade!

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Billboard has always been on the top when it comes to breaking news and inside sources. Although word spreads fast through the world of music blogging, we still look to them for music news that not only affect our audience but all music fanatics in general.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise to find out that Billboard has already one-upped Last.tv with their newly launched website, Billboard-live.com. Having the chance to stream festivals across the ocean is nice, but Billboard offers us a customized version of streaming by letting us choose what we want their cameras to focus on. Read more after the jump!

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