4. Record Sales Do Not Equal Greatness
Let me throw down some numbers here: 50 million albums, 15 million albums, and 11 million albums. Respectively that's how many albums Nickelback, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry have sold, thus far. What do all of these acts have in common? They really aren't all that good. Truthfully, the validity of their careers has come into question quite a bit as the same people that have beef with Taylor Swift being so successful probably don't like these folks either. So right there, record sales are taken off the table in terms of measuring greatness. I guess by relative measure she's "the best" when you take into account the fact that ex-boyfriend Harry Styles' group One Direction has only sold roughly 8 million albums, but that's merely winning the break up. The point is that even music devoid of artistic integrity (Seriously, Nickelback!) can rack up sales if it presents it image well enough that it suckers in enough people, who then convert more casual listeners that might just enjoy the music enough to buy it, but not enough to really think she's "the best". Let me just throw out one more number: 80 million. That's how many albums the Spice Girls have sold in their entire career. If Taylor Swift is the best when it comes to record sales, then I guess it's about time we honor the staying power of The Spice Girls as well.