Taylor Swift tops 2013 ‘Celebs Gone Good’ list

Taylor Swift tops a ranking of young entertainers who used their celebrity in positive ways in 2013, according to the DoSomething.org’s annual “Celebs Gone Good” list.

In putting Swift atop its ranking for the second year in a row, DoSomething cited her gift of $100,000 to the financially struggling Nashville Symphony on her 24^th birthday on Dec. 13, and her headlining performance of a fundraiser for an organization helping homeless youths. And it didn’t even mention her presiding over the opening in October of the Country Music Hall of Fame’s new Taylor Swift Education Center to which she donated $4 million.

GRAPHIC: Best of 2013 | Entertainment and culture

Behind Swift in second place is teen pop band One Direction, the quintet cited for its single “Red Nose Day,” which raised more than $3 million to help the homeless in the U.K. and Africa, as well as the group’s efforts that generated more than $750,000 in donations for cancer research.

Rounding out the Top 5 are Beyonce, the late actor Paul Walker and U.K. pop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

The rest of the Top 10, in order: actress Sandra Bullock, “Scandal” star Kerry Washington, “The Vampire Diaries” actor Ian Somerhalder, ubiquitous television and radio personality Ryan Seacrest and country singer Carrie Underwood.

DoSomething.org encourages young people to become active in a variety of causes related to education, the environment, homelessness, animal rights, anti-bullying and violence campaigns.

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