Yallwire News

Taylor Swift took home the award for Favorite Country Artist in last night's People's Choice Awards.

The 21-year-old country music star beat out fellow country nominees Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts and Lady Antebellum for the fan-voted award.

A huge fan of the genre, Sir Elton John presented Taylor with the award. 

The music legend went on about country music, sharing, "When I was a young lad growing up in England, the upbeat twang of the guitar and the honky tonk banging of the piano rang loud and clear all across the world. Today, those lovelorn melodies and rebellious songsters still ring loud and clear, proving you don't need a pick up truck or even an old pair of boots to love country music...You just have to hear it to love it."

An obvious fan of the rock icon, Taylor gushed "I am so honored to get an award from you" to Elton before she turned to speak to the audience, where she thanked the fans for their continued support and said that the award is "such a showing of love."

Taylor and fellow leading country lady Carrie Underwood were also nominated in the Favorite Female Artist category along with huge pop acts Pink, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, with the award going to Katy.

The People's Choice Awards kicked off the 2011 awards season and the next opportunity for your favorite country artists to win big will be at the Grammy Awards. The show will air live from Los Angeles on February 13, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to tune in!