Who Should Win Top Artist at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards? – Readers Poll

The 2013 Billboard Music Awards are right around the corner, and the competition for the Top Artist title is pretty fierce this year. Taylor Swift, Rihanna, One Direction, Maroon 5 and Justin Bieber are all up for the prestigious award, which takes chart performances, sales, and other important industry factors into account.

While the numbers might really predict the winner for 2013's Top Artist at the Billboard Music Awards, who do you think should win the award? Taylor, Rihanna, 1D, Maroon 5, or the Biebs?

Taylor Swift has arguably had the biggest year of her entire career with the release of 'Red,' her first album to move out of the country realm and more into straight-up pop territory. Along with a sold-out tour and more than 5.4 million copies of 'Red' sold worldwide, Swift has also had lots of success with her 'Red' singles, the first of which ('We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together') became her first to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Meanwhile, Rihanna has also been hitting the grind hard over the past year, with the release of 'Unapologetic' back in Nov. 2012 and her massive Diamonds world tour kicking off in 2013. She promoted the heck out of her seventh studio album even before the release date with her 777 tour (seven cities in seven days), and once the LP dropped, she continued to crank out hit after hit with tracks like 'Diamonds' and 'Stay.'

Taylor and Rihanna have some stiff competition in the form of One Direction, however, who have become a global phenomenon practically overnight. Their world tour sold out in about .2 seconds, and the guys have garnered one of the largest and most loyal fan bases with the release of their 2012 LP 'Take Me Home,' which shot to No. 1 in more than 15 countries including the U.S. and 1D's homeland of the U.K. (save for Irishman Niall). The super cute quintet has been making girls swoon with singles like 'Live While We're Young,' 'Little Things' and 'Kiss You,' all of which had strong showings on the Billboard charts.

Meanwhile, Maroon 5 continued to show off their "moves" well into 2012 and 2013, thanks to their amazing batch of songs featured on 'Overexposed,' impacting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. In 2012, the Adam Levine-fronted band had massive success with their singles 'Payphone,' 'Daylight' and 'One More Night,' the latter of which went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. They've also been performing all over the place, like the 2013 Grammys and their international, high-grossing arena tour.

Finally, there's the prince of pop himself, Justin Bieber, who despite having a rough time in the public eye, has had one of the hugest years of his career thus far. Last summer, the Biebs dropped 'Believe' and with it, a new, much more mature sound. Of course, Beliebers did their boy right when the LP debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. The singles that followed, aka 'Boyfriend,' 'As Long as You Love Me,' 'Beauty and a Beat,' and most recently, 'All Around the World,' went on to have tons of airplay and commercial success. And don't even get us started on that massive tour of his, which quickly became one of the hottest tickets on the market.

So, who should win the 2013 Billboard Music Award for Top Artist? The poll closes at 7PM ET on May 19 -- just before the live show airs. So get your vote in below ASAP, and make sure you tune in to the show (at 8PM on ABC) to see if you guessed correctly!