The country winners at today's Billboard Music Awards in the US were as follows;

Top Billboard 200 Artist - Taylor Swift

Top Country Artist - Taylor Swift

Top Country Album - Taylor Swift - "Speak Now"

Top Country Song - Lady Antebellum - "Need You Now"

Entertainer of the Year - Taylor Swift

Top Male Vocalist - Brad Paisley

Top Female Vocalist - Miranda Lambert Top Vocal Duo - Sugarland 

Top Vocal Group - Lady Antebellum

Album of the Year - Need You Now, Lady Antebellum 

Single Record of the Year - 'The House That Built Me', Miranda Lambert

Top New Artist - The Band Perry

Song of the Year - 'The House That Built Me', Miranda Lambert

Vocal Event of the Year As She's Walking Away', Zac Brown Band and Alan Jackson 

Last night the winners in the CMC Music Awards 2011 were annoucned at a special event held at The Great Cask Hall, Hope Estate Winery in the Hunter Valley. 2011 was the first year that the annual CMC Oz Artist of the Year award was expanded into an award series and the winners of the four categories were voted entirely by CMC viewers.

Adam Brand's, position as one of Australia’s leading country music artists was solidified with him being crowned CMC Oz Artist of the Year for the fifth time in a row. Unable to attend the awards as he is in Nashville, Brand said that he was humbled to win the prestigious award again. “This award is the most special of all awards because it’s voted by the most important people in the world; the fans,” Brand said in a video acceptance.

Darling of country music, Taylor Swift was voted CMC International Artist of the Year. In a special video she thanked her Australian fans for their ongoing support and sent a message of encouragement to those who have been affected by the recent natural disasters in this country. Swift also hinted that she would be visiting Australia very soon.

Taking home CMC Music Video of the Year was Australian mega star Keith Urban for the video 'Til Summer Comes Around' from his fifth studio album Deying Gravity. Urban thanked his fans and CMC via a video acceptance.

Rising Australian stars, McAlister Kemp were awarded CMC New Oz Artist of the Year. The duo were scheduled to perform at the event, but had to pull out at the last minute after they were added to the Alan Jackson line up when Miranda Lambert cancelled her Australian tour earlier in the week due to illness.

The awards ceremony included performances by Canada’s Dean Brody and the evening’s hosts O'Shea. Guests included, Rob Hirst, The Sunny Cowgirls, Victoria Baillie, Amber Lawrence, channel host Steve Forde, Headline Country's Storme Warren and Jayne Denham.

The 38th Annual American Music Awards have just completed in the US. The country catagory award winners were:

* Country Band, Duo or Group - Lady Antebellum (pictured above)
* Country Album - Carrie Underwood, Play On
* Country Female Artist - Taylor Swift
* Country Male Artist - Brad Paisley

Photo provided by the US Country Music Association

Label sourses are indicating that Taylor Swift's third studio album, Speak Now is set to sell over 1 million copies in it's first week in the US and lock in a #1 debut on the Billboard 200 chart.

While Nielsen SoundScan's official first-week tally won't arrive until late tonight, all signs point to a historic debut. (SoundScan's trackingweek runs through the close of business on Sunday, and their numbers, which are reflected in Billboard's sales charts, are reported each Wednesday.)

If Speak Now starts with 1 million, it would instantly be the best sales week for a single album since Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III bowed with 1,006,000 June of 2008. And we're hearing that the album's launch might even be bigger than "Carter III." That could mean Speak Now would have the biggest week for an album in over five years, scrolling all the way back to March of 2005 when 50 Cent's The Massacre slayed the #1 spot with 1,141,000 sold, according to SoundScan.

Check out Taylor Swift's brand new music video 'Mine' from the new album Speak Out.

Taylor Swift's new single 'Mine' has been leaked online and has been rush released for online sale in the US.

"An unauthorized low-quality mp3 file of the single appeared online earlier today. As the low-quality file started to spread virally the decision was made to rush release “Mine" to iTunes and Country radio to ensure that Taylor’s fans were able to hear the single as she intended" said Swift's record company Big Machine Records earlier today."

Within hours of release to Country Radio in the US, the new track has jumped to #35 on the Billboard Country Radio singles chart.

UPDATE: The track has now also been rushed to Australian radio and online stores.

It's official...  Taylor Swift will release her third studio album, Speak Now  at the end of October.  She announced these details Tuesday with her fans on Ustream. 

The album's first single, 'Mine,' will be released around mid-August.

"Ever since we put out 'Fearless' I've been writing this one," said Swift, who added that "Speak Now" will consist of about 14 songs. "Through the past two years, I've been through a lot of things that I have been dying to write about and talk about. There were a lot of things that I wanted to say in the moment but couldn't, and this album is my opportunity to do that.

Swift co-produced the album with Nathan Chapman, whom she collaborated with on her first two albums.

"Current CMA Entertainer of the Year and Grammy Album of the Year holder Taylor Swift will conduct a live web chat next Wednesday morning at 7:00am Australian Eastern time to give fans details about her new album - set for release before Christmas"

“I’ve spent the last two years out on the Fearless tour and working on my new record,” Taylor said. “I’ve gotten so many questions from fans -- on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, my website, everywhere really, and it’s so incredible to see how excited everybody is about what’s next. I want them to be the first to know about my new music, and I can’t wait to talk to everybody as directly as I can!”, said Taylor on her official website this week.

Visit www.taylorswift.com at 7:00am Sydney/Brisbane/Melbourne time on Wednesday morning to hear all the news from Taylor herself.

Country's biggest global star Taylor Swift is currently completing a 13 hour fan day at the downtown arena in Nashville. Demand from fans for a photo opportunity and autograph has become too big for the CMA Music Festival's Convention Centre venue and she needed to move to a bigger venue.

Swift has been meeting fans all day and well as performing a few acoustic tunes. She is expected to sign over 2,000 autographs.

Her new iPhone app is also being launched today which gives fans the opportunity to re-mix two Taylor Swift tracks and even record their own version.

Swift will have a new album out before the end of the year.

Photos provided by the Country Music Association (US).