The music industry's most successful women, from pop stars to major record label executives, were celebrated at Billboard magazine's 10th annual Women in Music Awards at New York City's Ciriani Wall Street on Thursday.
Taylor Swift received Billboard's Woman of the Year award for the second time. In light of her pulling her newest album off of Spotify, Swift took the opportunity to speak about empowering the next generation of artists by teaching the public that music is worth paying for.
"I'm very well aware that the music industry is changing, and I'm open to that change," she commented. "But I am not open to the financial model that is in place... The greatest moment of pride came to me this year when my fans proved that if you pour your life into an album, they will go out and buy it."
And buy it, they did. Swift's "1989" -- the year the 24-year-old was born -- is the best selling album of the last 12 years. With 1.287 million copies of "1989" sold, it became the first million-selling album of 2014-- that means two copies of "1989" were snapped up by eager Swift fans every second of last week.
In its first week of sales, "1989" catapulted itself into being the year's second best-selling album overall, behind the "Frozen" soundtrack.
Beyonce, Aretha Franklin, Ariana Grande, Iggy Azale and Jessie J were also honored at the event.
