Taylor Swift set a record for album of the year wins Sunday with “Midnights.” She’s the first singer to win that category four times.

Swift had been the first and only female solo artist to win the award three times, tying her with Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder.

The other artists in the category: Jon Batiste, boygenius, Miley Cyrus, Lana Del Rey, Janelle Monáe, Olivia Rodrigo and SZA.

“I would love to tell you that this is the best moment in my life," she said while accepting the win. "But I feel this happy when I finished a song or when I cracked the code to a bridge that I love or when I’m shortlisting a music video or when I’m rehearsing with my dancers or my band or getting ready to go to Tokyo to play a show. For me, the award is the work.”

Swift was nominated in five other categories this year. She won Sunday for best pop vocal album for “Midnights," and in her acceptance speech, she surprised fans in announcing her brand-new album, “Tortured Poets Department.”

The historic win comes after a year when Swift dominated headlines.

Her record-breaking Eras Tour was credited with helping revitalize local business and tourism after the economic and social devastation wrought by the pandemic. The “Eras Tour” concert film also became the highest-grossing concert film of all time in the U.S. and Canada within days of its premiere in theaters.

Swift’s re-release of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” and “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” brought forth 11 new vault tracks, or previously unreleased songs from the original albums, many of which went on to inspire viral trends online.

Her songwriting prowess and business acumen have even spawned the launch of college courses about her, including at Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University.

Saba Hamedy

NBC news