Guess Who's Woman of the Year?

Is it just me or is Taylor Swift having the best year ever? She has a new, highly-anticipated album coming out, she created the best dance video since Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" with the mildly controversial "Shake It Off" music video, and she has not one but two cats. One of which is named Olivia Benson. When Swift decides to take a break from dating and focus on herself, she really shows the rest of us how to live. However, just because she's hanging out with friends and making needlepoints of Drake lyrics doesn't mean it's all play and no work for her. In fact, her hard work is being appreciate with a history-making moment. It was announced on Friday that Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year for the second time in a row, making her the first artist to ever achieve that title twice.

"As one of the most influential artists of her generation, Taylor Swift has seen incredible success on the Billboard charts," Co-President and Chief Executive Officer of Guggenheim Media's Entertainment Group said. "Over the course of her career, she’s charted 60 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 — the most of any female artist since her debut in 2006. We are tremendously excited to be honoring her as the 2014 Billboard Woman of the Year for the second time."

Billboard's award of the title is mainly based on Swift's actual music career, but she deserves the honor for her actions as well. There are a lot of things that she's done over the last year that have made her worthy of calling herself Woman of the Year. She spoke openly about her "feminist awakening", backing up her words with her support of Emma Watson's UN Speech and her calling out of celebrity culture. She hosts listening parties for 1989 for fans at her house, with cats and baked goods a given. She's spent the last few months prioritizing her friendships over the romantic relationships that have made up the bulk of her music so far. She's even caused us to coin her last name as part of a phrase to describe her actions: That's so Swifty! People totally say that, ok. It's not just me.

She might not be your favorite artist. (Shake it off.) You might hate her music. (SHAKE IT OFF.) You might even think it's impossible for her to constantly step out of the gym looking that flawless. (SHAKE. IT. OFF.) But you can't deny that Swift has totally earned at least a little of your respect, whether it's for teaching everyone just how much fun being single can be or for the numerous times she's done things for her fans to thank and celebrate them for the simple act of being her fans. She has grown a lot from the artist that she used to be — although I've been listening to her love songs since her first album came out, so it's not like I had a problem with the artist she used to be — and 1989 is going to show us what she's capable of when she stops ripping pages out of her diary and turning them into her track list. Well, for the most part anyway.

So if you're a fan of Swift and are already bracing yourself to defend Billboard's decision to make her the Woman of the Year again, just remember the wise words of our formerly country now turned pop queen:

Image: celebrity-hot-list/Tumblr; Wifflegif