On Sunday, Taylor Swift will open the American Music Awards with a performance of her No. 1 single "Blank Space," but that's just the beginning for the young starlet.
Swift will also be receiving an unprecedented honor: the inaugural Dick Clark Award for Excellence.
From the official press release (via Taste of Country): Swift will be recognized for her historical album sales as the only artist in history to have three albums — Speak Now, Red and 1989 — each debuting with more than 1 million sold in their first week. This year, in its first week, 1989 sold 1.287 million copies, making it the highest selling album released in 2014. Swift is the first recipient of the Dick Clark Award for Excellence, given to an artist who achieves a groundbreaking feat or creates a landmark work. It is to be bestowed upon someone whose spirit and excellence capture the visionary passion that Dick Clark himself incorporated into everything he did.
"The first time Dick saw Taylor perform, he knew she was something special," Kari Clark, wife of Dick Clark, said. "He would be thrilled to know she is the first artist to receive the Dick Clark Award for Excellence."
Clark, who passed away in 2012, became an icon while hosting American Bandstand for three decades (ending in 1987), and he continued to host Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve until his death.
He also founded the American Music Awards, which is where Swift's honor comes in.
"The American Music Awards most closely reflects Dick Clark's philosophy of popular music," AMA producer Larry Klein said. "It provides a platform for the biggest music artists of the day, with the winners voted on by the fans. Clark always said, 'Music is the soundtrack of our lives,' and no one's recent music has provided a more meaningful soundtrack for the lives of music fans than Taylor Swift."
