They sold books, films, albums and TV shows, and sometimes their own celebrity. They took political stands, fought back against trolls and defied expectations, fighting injustice and telling their own stories, joyfully and sometimes painfully.

But along the way, they also delighted us with their talent, their daring and their charm, singing, acting, writing or performing (one way or another) their way into America’s heart.

USA TODAY picks these ten stars in their fields as the most powerful entertainers of the year, from bestsellers to the newest arrivals, and from already famous stars to others you may barely have heard of.

Taylor Swift

Clearly, America still loves Taylor Swift. Fans and critics alike praised the 29-year-old pop star’s seventh studio album, released in August, with a string of positive reviews, including USA TODAY’s, which called it “less focused and more open” than anything she had released since “Red”. When the album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart, it was the biggest sales week since her previous album, “Reputation”, in 2017. Swift again topped Forbes’ highest-paid celebrities list, beating billionaire Kylie Jenner. The “You Need to Calm Down” singer took stands in 2019, calling for the pro-gay Equality Act, and criticised Big Machine’s sale of her former masters to Scooter Braun, whom Swift accused of “incessant, manipulative bullying”. Swift will receive the Artist of the Decade award at the American Music Awards on 24 November, when she has a chance to break Michael Jackson’s record for the most wins.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

Duchess Meghan proved in 2019 that she is far from your ordinary royal. The former Hollywood actress and wife of Prince Harry welcomed baby Archie in May and stepped out a few days later, showing a post-partum body many mothers could relate to. In the months that followed, she launched a clothing line to support unemployed women looking for work, guest-edited British Vogue and stood up to harsh media speculation. The last months of 2019 saw Meghan, 38, standing up for herself when she and Harry sued British newspapers after an onslaught of negative headlines. And she told her version of the year in a recent documentary.

Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian, long derided as someone famous for being famous, has found the secret of using her celebrity to influence public policy. Kardashian, 39, who has a staggering 150 million Instagram followers, announced this year her intention to become a lawyer, and expects to pass the bar exam in 2022. The move, which seemed startling to those who had not followed her closely, came after Kardashian developed a passion for prison reform that began when she persuaded President Trump to commute Alice Marie Johnson’s life sentence for a non-violent crime. Since then, Kardashian has been closely involved with the First Step Act, and found time in the middle of her busy year to launch a shapewear line (to some controversy) and welcome a fourth child. Meanwhile, her family’s E! series “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” is now in its 17th season, and she was named by Forbes the 26th highest-earning celebrity of 2019, thanks in part to her cosmetics line, KKW Beauty

Margaret Atwood

No one would have blamed Margaret Atwood if she had rested on her laurels and taken in the praise. More than 30 years after its publication in 1985, her novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” was enjoying a rare renewed success, thanks in part to the success of the Hulu TV series, but also to the frightening new relevance many saw in the dystopian story, in which the United States has turned into totalitarian Gilead and women have been stripped of their rights. Instead, the grande dame of Canadian literature got writing, and at the age of 79 published her long-awaited “The Testaments”. While “The Handmaid’s Tale” offered a warning, “The Testaments” offers hope. It is a powerful call to action that won Atwood this year’s Booker Prize.

Keanu Reeves

Whoa! Keanu Reeves had the most fun comeback of 2019, gifting film fans a summer to remember. Reeves, 55, slayed as the well-dressed assassin in “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” was a delight as the insecure Canadian action figure Duke Caboom in “Toy Story 4” and filled hearts by stealing the Netflix romantic comedy “Always Be My Maybe.” Better still, the internet’s new boyfriend proved to be the sweetest guy off screen. With more “Bill & Ted” and “Matrix” on the way, the Keanuaissance could be around for a while – and we couldn’t be happier.

Scarlett Johansson

What a year for Black Widow. After taking centre stage in the highest-grossing film of all time (“Avengers: Endgame“), Scarlett Johansson, 34, closes 2019 with a pair of excellent films that will most likely send her to the Oscars: “Jojo Rabbit” and “Marriage Story”. The year was not without its missteps; the actress came under fire for her views on casting, but Johansson explained herself and went back to work, recently completing principal photography on her long-awaited standalone film “Black Widow” (due 1 May), which she also produces. Named by Forbes as the highest-paid actress of 2019, she is also heading down the aisle: in May, ScarJo became engaged to “Saturday Night Live” writer Colin Jost after two years of dating.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge

You may not have heard of Phoebe Waller-Bridge or “Fleabag”, the Amazon comedy she produces, writes and acts in, until the 2019 Emmys. But after she walked away from television’s biggest night with three major awards (beating the juggernaut “Veep”), you won’t forget the endlessly charming star. The 34-year-old Waller-Bridge is this year’s breakout, and not only for the brilliant second season of “Fleabag” or adding the term “hot priest” to the zeitgeist. She won another Emmy nomination for the BBC’s “Killing Eve”, which she created; she hosted “Saturday Night Live”; and she brought the “Fleabag” show to Broadway. Waller-Bridge also landed a job writing the new Bond film, “No Time to Die”. In the words of one of her many acceptance speeches, Fleabag (and the rest of us) thank you for all of it, Phoebe.

Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson had a big success on the small screen this year, a fitting outcome for a Grammy-winning, platinum-selling singer who became a star on TV’s “American Idol.” Clarkson, 37, launched the No. 4 daytime talk series (and the highest-rated newcomer) “The Kelly Clarkson Show” – which she opens with a crowd-pleasing musical cover – while keeping her night job as a coach on NBC’s popular singing contest, “The Voice.” She hosted the Billboard Music Awards, too, even though she was suffering from appendicitis. Away from TV, she voiced a character in the film “UglyDolls” and recorded the upcoming update (and more P.C. version) of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” with John Legend. Her 2020 calendar is already filling up with a 16-show Las Vegas residency that begins in April.

Lil Nas X

Lil Nas X won with “Old Town Road” at the start of this year, defying music-industry expectations and cultural stereotypes. The “Old Town Road” singer climbed Billboard’s country music chart, only to be disqualified because it did “not embrace enough elements of today’s country music”. Rallying, Lil Nas X brought in Billy Ray Cyrus, and the country-rap song rose to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it reigned for a record-breaking 19 weeks to become the longest-running No. 1 hit in history. His success boosted black Western culture, with African American cowboys and cowgirls cheering him along. At the end of Pride Month in June, the 20-year-old from Atlanta told his 1.4 million Twitter followers that he is gay, receiving support from friends such as Miley Cyrus and personally facing homophobic comments online.

Ocean Vuong

When America is at its best, it makes it possible for a singular talent like Vuong to succeed. The acclaimed poet and MacArthur fellow, 31, published his first novel, “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”, a stunning autobiographical novel about a queer Vietnamese immigrant coming of age and into his sexuality while grappling with family trauma from the Vietnam War and the looming spectre of the opioid crisis. It is a riot of feeling spanning decades, in the form of a letter to his illiterate mother, pushing literary boundaries and reshaping the definition of the novel to fit the contours of his poetic exploration. No one wrote more luminous and arresting prose this year.

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