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Singer Carrie Underwood will be the headline performer for this year鈥檚 鈥淣ew Year鈥檚 Rockin鈥� Eve.鈥澛�

Taylor Swift was the headliner for last year鈥檚 ABC broadcast, which used to be hosted by Dick Clark and is now headed up by Ryan Seacrest of 鈥淎merican Idol鈥� and "American Top 40."

The back-to-back New Year's Eve appearances of country stars may be seen as another indicator that America has "gone country."聽

Ms. Underwood recently released a new album, 鈥淪toryteller,鈥� which has received mostly positive reviews from critics. She originally rose to prominence after appearing as a contestant on 鈥淚dol鈥� and has become one of the show鈥檚 most successful graduates. Underwood recently became the performer to have received the most awards in the history of the CMT Music Awards.

While Swift announced before the release of her newest album, 鈥�1989,鈥� that the album was a work in the pop genre, she started out as a country singer. Underwood performed on the New Year's Eve show in 2008, but other than that, many of the other performers originally skewed more to straight pop. Past acts on the show have included Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, the Black Eyed Peas, Jennifer Lopez, and Mariah Carey.聽

While pop acts are still present on the New Year's Eve show, in recent years, performers such as the country group Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, and The Band Perry have joined the lineup.聽

Why this swing to country singers? For one, these are all stars by any measure. Swift is one of the biggest names in music at the moment and Underwood has proven herself to be a steadily successful performer.

And these performers being invited to sing during 鈥淣ew Year鈥� reflects popularity of country music in general. When Lady Antebellum performed on the 2014 broadcast, the group was in Nashville 鈥� the ABC-TV show featured celebrations in the country music hub for the first time that year.聽

The definition of country music itself is broadening, along with its stars, and that broadens the fan base. Singer Miranda Lambert, whose duet with Underwood, 鈥淪omethin鈥� Bad,鈥� performed well on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (not just the country chart), said in an , 鈥淲e're more popular than we've ever been as a genre because there's something for everybody.鈥� During 2014, the company Live Nation that tickets sold for their country music events increased 50 percent the previous year.聽