Perhaps Clarkson's biggest news of all in 2014 was the birth of her first daughter, River Rose, who entered the world on June 12. This follows Clarkson's first marriage to husband Brandon Blackstock in October 2013. Clarkson long shared tales on Twitter of her difficult pregnancy, which included a lot of morning sickness. It precluded much activity from the singer for the first half of 2014, although she did find time to live tweet her reactions to various TV shows, including the Super Bowl, The Voice, the ACMs and Dolly Parton's appearance on the Today show.

She tweeted, "Here is our beautiful baby girl River Rose; 6lbs 6oz, 18 inches, and the greatest thing on the planet :) http://t.co/zMlwNQPpRw� Kelly Clarkson (@kelly_clarkson) June 20, 2014"

In August, like many celebrities, Clarkson took the ALS ice bucket challenge--to hilarious results. Clarkson recorded a duet with Trisha Yearwood for her fall album release, guesting on the album's title track,"Prizefighter."

On Sept. 9, Clarkson joined Kacey Musgraves and Lady Antebellum's Hilary Scott at the 8th Annual ACM Honors concert in the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.