New York, NY. (Top40 Charts/ Big Machine Records) - Coming off a highly heated political season and showing no signs of slowing momentum, NBC's "Saturday Night Live" returns in 2009 with three live shows in January.
On January 10, Neil Patrick Harris hosts. The multi-talented Harris can currently be seen on the hit comedy "How I Met Your Mother", which recently garnered him a 2009 Golden Globe nomination and two consecutive Emmy award nominations. Named one of the "2008 Entertainers of the Year" by Entertainment Weekly, Harris gained notice on the small screen as the much-adored title character in "Doogie Howser, M.D.," a role which also garnered him a Golden Globe nomination. A stage veteran, Harris has starred in three Broadway productions, including the Tony Award-winning musical "Assassins," the Pulitzer Prize-winning production of "Proof" opposite Anne Heche and "Cabaret" at Studio 54. Rounding out his accomplishments on stage and television, Harris also has renowned success on the silver screen and in the world of voice-overs. Harris' feature film debut was starring opposite Whoopi Goldberg in "Clara's Heart." He also appeared in the hit comedy "Undercover Brother, "The Next Best Thing" opposite Madonna and Rupert Evert, among others. Harris also recently starred as the aspiring super villain and lovelorn title character of Joss Whedon's web-based musical miniseries sensation, "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog." He will soon be heard along with Will Arnett in the D3 Productions video game, "Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard."
Joining Harris and making her "SNL" debut is musical star Taylor Swift, the bestselling artist of 2008 in all popular music formats. Taylor currently has singles climbing both the country and pop radio charts. She will perform from her sophomore album "Fearless," which has held firm at No 1 on Billboard's Country Albums sales chart each week since its November 11th release. Her album is currently in its 3rd week at No 1 atop Billboard's all-genre Top 200 Albums chart, in addition to topping the country chart. Also, she currently holds Billboard's record (in all genres of music) for most Top 10 debuts in a calendar year.
Taylor concluded 2008 as Billboard's Top Country Artist and also claimed the No 1 spot on the Hot Country Songwriters tally. Taylor leads the Top Country Album Artists recap and is No 1 on the Top Country Artists Female list. "Fearless" marked the biggest selling debut week for a female artist in any genre in 2008. It was the year's 4th biggest debut over all and was the best selling debut for a country title in over a year. Taylor was named 2008's Favorite Female Country Artist at the American Music Awards. She also garnered the Top New Female Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music and won 2008 CMT Music Awards for Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year. Swift has appeared on the covers of both Rolling Stone and Blender.
