Taylor Swift Tops 2015 ‘Maxim’ Hot 100 List, Explains Why This Is Her ‘Favorite Year’

To say things have been going well for Taylor Swift lately would be an understatement. On Sunday, Swift took home eight Billboard Music Awards, debuted her highly anticipated “Bad Blood” video, welcomed Molly Ringwald into her “club,” and kissed Calvin Harris. Her head hardly had a chance to stop spinning before she was named No. 1 on Maxim‘s annual Hot 100 List this morning.

Taylor told the magazine the honor is like icing on the cake for what she said has been her “favorite year.”

“This year has been my favorite year of my life so far. I got to make an album exactly the way I wanted to make it. I got to put it out exactly the way I dreamed of putting it out. Every one of these whims and ideas came to fruition. The videos — I’m proud of those, I’m proud of the tour. I’m proud of the way this has all happened,” she explained. “In the midst of all that, this is really nice. it really feels like a wonderful celebration of my favorite year.”

Taylor Swift has several reasons to call 2015 her “favorite year.” She made a wildly successful crossover from her country roots to deliver her very first pop album, which has sold over 4.678 million copies. While the pop world embraced Taylor with open arms, the country community continues to honor her for her contributions to country music. In April, she was given a Milestone Award at the 50th annual Academy of Country Music Awards. She gave a heartfelt thank you to those who launched her career, as reported by ABC News.

“Somebody once told me that you truly see who a person is when you tell them something they don’t want to hear. You truly see who a person is when you give them news that they weren’t expecting. So to the country music community, when I told you that I had made a pop album and I wanted to go explore other genres, you showed me who you are with the grace you accepted that with. I will never forget it.”

Swift went on to say country music taught her about hard work and how to treat people with kindness and respect. Taylor told the fans she loved them “so much” and would she would see them on the upcoming “1989” world tour.

Taylor Swift’s favorite year has largely been about preparing for the tour. Swift told Maxim they’ve been in rehearsal for months, but the planning began over a year ago. Now, she’s ready to just go do it.

“We’ve been in rehearsals for months, trying to get the live instrumental versions of these songs to as close to the album sounds as possible. And also you’re lengthening things, creating mash- ups with things. It was fun to play around and get everything sonically right before we got on the actual stage and started doing the choreography. But before all that—probably close to a year ago—we started setting the stage, so that was when the drawing started. Now all we have to do is actually…do the tour.”

The June issue of Maxim featuring Taylor Swift will hit newsstands May 27.

[Top Image Jason Merritt/Getty, Body Image by Maxim]