Best of 2008

Country's Breakout Year (Hello, Taylor!)

From Taylor to Keith Urban, see how Nashville's A-listers took over the world – and MTV! By Katie Kauss

KELLIE PICKLER

This year, the bubbly blonde continued her country winning streak, with her self-titled sophomore disc debuting at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and at No. 9 on the cross-genre Top 200. Now she's taking her cowboy boots to the Big Apple, where she'll join Ryan Seacrest as co-host of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve Special.