Our Song

Taylor Swift
The real queen driving the current youth movement is barely old enough to vote: Taylor Swift. The 18-year-old's 2006 self-titled debut raised few expectations, but, a year and a half later, it's sold more than 2.5 million copies and spent a staggering 80 weeks on ... moreBillboard's Top Country Albums chart, the majority of them in the top 10. Her hit "Our Song" won Video of the Year at the 2008 CMT Music Awards, and she was nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy. 

Her success comes years after an 11-year-old Swift traveled from her Pennsylvania home to Nashville, Tenn., to hand out demo tapes. She later relocated, with her family, to Music City and started writing with local songwriters. Although she's been home schooled for the last two years, Swift even managed to attend a senior prom in April, when she went with a Tuscaloosa, Ala., high schooler as part of MTV's "Once Upon a Prom" contest.

Her popularity -- and mile-long legs -- won her a dubious distinction when Rolling Stone named her Best Country Lolita in May. The magazine declared her appeal to both tweens and their slightly pervy dads. Who else could show up on the covers of both Blender and Seventeen? (RD/Leon/Retna)