‘Time’ magazine names Taylor Swift its 2023 Person of the Year

Joe Hernandez

December 6, 2023

Taylor Swift performs during her Eras Tour in Nashville, Tenn. Swift is 'Time' magazine's Person of the Year. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

Time magazine had a blank space, and they wrote her name.

Global music icon Taylor Swift has been all over the news this year, and now she’ll also grace the crimson periodical’s cover as its 2023 Person of the Year, proving that the 33-year-old pop star has yet to go out of style.

Swift has long been one of the world’s biggest musical acts and a wealthy businesswoman, helming an entertainment empire that has crested $1 billion by some estimates, writes Time editor Sam Lansky.

“But this year, something shifted,” Lansky said. “To discuss her movements felt like discussing politics or the weather —a language spoken so widely it needed no context. She became the main character of the world.”

Swift has been playing to massive crowds amid her ongoing Eras Tour, which continues next year with international dates in cities like Tokyo, Paris and London. One company estimated that the U.S. portion of the tour could generate nearly $5 billion in consumer spending.

On top of that, she has released a concert film called Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, a three-hour IMAX movie culled from her Los Angeles performances that lets even more fans experience the show. The distributor, AMC Theatres, had earned more than $250 million on the film as of late last month.

But Swift’s skyward success on stage and screen is to say nothing of the attention paid to her personal life this year.

The singer-songwriter’s relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has garnered overwhelming attention, uniting Swifties and football fans in a common cause.

The public has gotten more of an insight into this budding romance than some of Swift’s past relationships, with the couple often appearing publicly together. Swift has cheered on the two-time Super Bowl champion at Chiefs games, while Kelce stopped by a performance of the Eras Tour.

“When you say a relationship is public,” she told Time, “that means I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care.”

Also this year, Swift inspired a surge in voter registration, played a part in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Ticketmaster’s practices and made Billboard history.

It was all in a year’s work for Swift. And 2023 isn’t even over yet.

NPR’s Rachel Treisman contributed reporting.