The recording industry has been in a tailspin for a decade as fans started buying digital singles instead of albums. In the middle of the business’ overall decline, Taylor Swift stepped in went on a one-woman incline, building a career in which she sells digital tracks and full albums by the millions. So when she got ready to put out her third project, Speak Now, the pre-release debate in Los Angeles, New York and Nashville was not just about whether the album would be any good, but also about how many copies she might sell in the first week. Most guesstimates put it in the range of 750,000-800,000 units as many executives believed the days of the one-million debut were gone. But Taylor did reach that plateau, selling 1.047 million copies the first week out. The accomplishment ranks No. 2 as GAC continues its countdown of the one dozen top stories in country music for 2010. Read More