The Boot News Roundup: Taylor Swift Is Top-Selling North American Touring Artist + More

Welcome to The Boot's News Roundup, a morning rundown of the news country music fans need to know. Read on to learn more about the latest goings-on in the country, Americana, bluegrass and folk genres.

Perhaps not surprisingly, crossover queen Taylor Swift is the top-selling touring artist in North America for 2018. According to data from Pollstar, Swift sold more than 1.2 million tickets to her blockbuster Reputation Tour in the United States, Canada and Mexico over the past year, grossing $277.3 million in revenue and coming in second only to Ed Sheeran globally. Taste of Country reports that the Eagles came in at No. 3 on the publication's annual ranking of the year's top tours, and Kenny Chesney landed at No. 4.

At the end of 2018, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats's Tearing at the Seams topped the Americana Music Association's top Americana radio airplay albums of 2018, and the band's "You Worry Me" and "A Little Honey" were the year's most-played Americana radio singles. Brandi Carlile's By the Way, I Forgive You came in at No. 2, and John Prine's The Tree of Forgiveness ranked No. 3. The Wood Brothers, the Record Company, Kacey Musgraves, Margo Price, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Lake Street Dive and Chris Stapleton round out the Top 10, with Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit's The Nashville Sound clocking in at No. 11.

Ronnie Milsap will kick off his 2019 touring schedule on his birthday at Nashville's storied Ryman Auditorium. According to MusicRow, Milsap is set to perform at the Mother Church on Jan. 16, two days before his much-anticipated The Duets album is set for release. The 76 for 76 Tour will make stops in Kansas, Texas, Florida, Scotland, North Carolina and West Virginia, and an appearance on the 2019 Country Music Cruise, before concluding on May 23 in Charenton, La., at the Cypress Bayou Casino Hotel.

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood have joined the star-studded lineup for the 2019 MusiCares Person of the Year tribute honoring Dolly Parton. The Nashville power couple joins Vince Gill, Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, Mavis Staples, Don Henley, Leon Bridges, and more artists in the lineup for the concert, which will take place on Feb. 8 in Los Angeles, Calif., ahead of the 2019 Grammy Awards.