Taylor Swift announced today via Twitter that she will expand her fundraising efforts for tornado victims by streaming two performances during Saturday’s “Speak Now … Help Now” benefit event.

“I’ll be streaming 2 of the songs from the Speak Now/Help Now rehearsal performance worldwide- Saturday at 9pm central on taylorswift.com ,”  Taylor tweeted from @TaylorSwift13.

The stream will give fans around the world a first look at Taylor’s new stage and her show for the North American leg of the Speak Now World Tour. Information on how to donate to help tornado victims will be posted during the stream.

“Speak Now … Help Now”, the final dress rehearsal for Taylor’s Speak Now Tour, will be held at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Saturday, May 21^st, and is open to the public as a benefit event for tornado victims.

100% of ticket sales will go directly to help tornado victims via the Speak Now … Help Now Fund established through the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

STREAM DETAILS:

TIME: 9:00 p.m. CDT – Saturday, May 21^st

PLACE:

www.Taylorswift.com, Ustream.tv/taylorswift, Facebook.com/TaylorSwift,  MySpace.com/TaylorSwift

The North American portion of the Taylor Swift Speak Now World Tour 2011 kicks off on May 27^th in Omaha, Nebraska.

Taylor Swift

It’s the biggest country tour since Garth… Taylor Swift is currently slated to play 87 shows in 19 countries spanning four continents on the Taylor Swift Speak Now World Tour 2011, which kicks off February 9th in Singapore.

Taylor will play shows throughout Asia and Europe during the first part of 2011, before kicking off her North American tour, sponsored by Covergirl, on May 27th in Omaha, Nebraska. Ticket prices will start at $25 dollars. Here are the announced dates for Taylor Swift Speak Now World Tour 2011:

February 9 Singapore

February 11 Seoul, South Korea

February 13 Osaka, Japan

February 16 & 17 Tokyo, Japan

February 19 Manila, Philippines

February 21 Hong Kong

March 6 Brussels, Belgium

March 7 Rotterdam, Holland

March 9 Oslo, Norway

March 12 Oberhausen, Germany

March 15 Milan, Italy

March 17 Paris, France

March 19 Madrid, Spain

March 22 Birmingham, UK

March 25 Belfast, Northern Ireland

March 27 Dublin, Ireland

March 29 Manchester, UK

March 30 London, UK

May 27 & 28 Omaha, Nebraska

May 29 Des Moines, Iowa

June 2 & 3 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

June 4 Orlando, Florida

June 7 Columbus, Ohio

June 8 Milwaukee, Wisconsin

June 11 Detroit, Michigan

June 14 & 15 St. Paul, Minnesota

June 18 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

June 21 Buffalo, New York

June 22 Hartford, Connecticut

June 25 Foxborough, Mass

June 30 Greensboro, NC

July 1 Knoxville, TN
July 2 Louisville, KY

July 8 Charlotte, NC

July 9 & 10 Atlanta, GA

July 14 Montreal, Quebec

July 15 & 16 Toronto, Ontario

July 19 & 20 New York, NY

July 28 Grand Rapids, MI

July 29 Indianapolis, IN

July 30 Cleveland, OH

August 2 & 3 Washington, DC

August 6 Philadelphia, PA

August 9 & 10 Chicago, IL

August 13 Lexington, KY

August 14 St. Louis, M I

August 18 & 19 Edmonton, Alberta

August 23 & 24 Los Angeles, CA

September 1 & 2 San Jose, CA

September 3 Sacramento, CA

September 6 Portland, OR

September 7 Seattle, WA

September 10 & 11 Vancouver, BC

September 16 & 17 Nashville, TN

September 21 Tulsa, OK

September 24 Kansas City, MI

September 27 Denver, CO

September 28 Salt Lake City, UT

October 4 Little Rock, AR

October 5 New Orleans, LA

October 8 Dallas, TX

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift delivered jaw dropping numbers last week as she blew past most first week sales estimates for her third album Speak Now.

Platinum in one week.   Best since 2005 (in a decade when cd sales are falling off a cliff).  1,047,000 copies sold at a time when country music’s old kings can barely pop past 100k. Sure, Sugarland’s 200 thousand first week sales for the new incredible machine was something to crow about, but the glory lasted only a few day before being eclipsed by the Taylor Nation.

The unique thing is most of the sales were likely based on Swift’s past releases and the new single MINE.  There’s still an entire album of unexplored gems (like the “Mean” and “Speak Now”) that still have time to drive additional sales.

Billboard says there were five factors that lead to the sales week including the lead single “Mine” and “going away for a while” and they have good points. Read the entire five factors and take a look at the Top 200 HERE.

CMT

PREMIERING FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3 ON CMT

NASHVILLE – October 5, 2010 – CMT will honor Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, and Zac Brown Band, as the top artists of the year in the new 90-minute special, CMT ARTISTS OF THE YEAR, premiering Friday, December 3. Taping in Nashville, CMT ARTISTS OF THE YEAR will bring the honorees together with their peers, as well as celebrities from across the entertainment spectrum for a glamorous evening of star-studded performances from the country world and beyond, all in celebration of the successes of the past year.

CMT ARTISTS OF THE YEAR acts were chosen by ranking the top five artists based on the following criteria: sales (physical albums, digital albums, and single downloads); country radio airplay based on spins; concert grosses as a headliner or co-headliner; and activity on CMT.com (video streams, searches, and artist page views). The rankings were then compiled to identify the leading performers across the four categories cumulatively.

Over the past 12 months, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift and Zac Brown Band have collectively received over 2.5 million plays of their current songs; sold over 8.5 million copies of their current albums; sold over 21 million individual downloads of their current singles; and topped both the touring and CMT.com charts, proving themselves to be the top country artists for 2010.

Speak Now

Big Machine Records is releasing one song per week from Taylor Swift’s Oct. 25  ”Speak Now” through iTunes’ countdown program beginning next Tuesday (10/5) with the title track.

Subsequent pre-releases are “Back To December” (10/12) and “Mean” (10/19). Comcast On Demand and XfinityTv.com will also preview 30 seconds of the songs in the same order each Monday beginning next week (10/4). “Story Of Us” will be available Oct. 22 through Comcast and XfinityTv.com previews, along with accompanying Swift interviews.

More Taylor Swift on iTunes

The 44th Annual CMA Awards were announced by Justin Moore and Chris Young at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. The rest of the nominations were announced this morning (in red).  The winners will be revealed during the CMA Awards telecast airing on ABC-TV Wednesday, Nov. 10 8-11pm ET. 

Entertainer Of The Year
LADY ANTEBELLUM
MIRANDA LAMBERT
BRAD PAISLEY
KEITH URBAN
ZAC BROWN BAND 

Song
• “A Little More Country Than That,”Easton Corbin
• “Need You Now,”Lady Antebellum
• “The House That Built Me,” Miranda Lambert
• “Toes,” Zac Brown Band
• “White Liar,” Miranda Lambert 

Single
• “A Little More Country Than That,” Easton Corbin
• “Hillbilly Bone,” Blake Shelton f/Trace Adkins
• “Need You Now,” Lady Antebellum
• “The House That Built Me,” Miranda Lambert
• “White Liar,” Miranda Lambert 

Video
• “Hillbilly Bone,” Blake Shelton f/Trace Adkins
• “Need You Now,” Lady Antebellum
• “The House That Built Me,” Miranda Lambert
• “Water,” Brad Paisley
• “White Liar,” Miranda Lambert 

Musician
• Paul Franklin
• Dann Huff
• Brent Mason
• Mac McAnally
• Randy Scruggs 

New Artist
• Luke Bryan
• Easton Corbin
• Jerrod Niemann
• Chris Young
• Zac Brown Band 

Duo
• Brooks & Dunn
• Joey+Rory
• Montgomery Gentry
• Steel Magnolia
• Sugarland 

Group
• Lady Antebellum
• Little Big Town
• Rascal Flatts
• The Band Perry
• Zac Brown Band