Taylor Swift Honored With Pinnacle Award at CMA Awards

What do George Strait, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill all have in common? They all had Taylor Swift open their concerts. And they all took the stage at the CMA Awards to present her with the Pinnacle Award. An award given to a country artist who's had national and international success.

No matter what you think of Taylor , you have to admit she's brought a new, larger audience to country music, selling millions of records and performing sold out stadium shows worldwide. Plus, she's used her super stardom to make a difference in thousands of lives, including opening the Education Center at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

As if the star studded lineup on stage wasn't enough; Mick Jagger, Julia Roberts, Justin Timberlake and Ellen saluted Taylor in a video package that left her stunned.

Taylor's road to stardom began when she was just 16 and 'got a call from my label President. He said 'Can you be on the road in two days to open up for Rascal Flatts. I said 'this has to be a miracle.' He said 'No Eric Church got fired for playing too long.''

Taylor knows it took a lot of people to make the decision to give her the award and she was grateful, 'To whoever made this choice, you're not only rewarding my hard work and exhaustion, you're rewarding the hard work and exhaustion of my family and my label and anyone who works with me. Most of all, you're rewarding the fans who filled stadiums. Thank you.'

Garth Brooks is the only other country artist to be given the Pinnacle Award. I'd say Taylor is in good company and she's only 23. Think of the things she can do over the next 23 years.

Tonight was my favorite CMAs ever, and I'm thinking about you all tonight. So many beautiful memories this year. http://t.co/szKsskkqCo
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) November 7, 2013