Taylor Swift named Time Magazine’s person of the year

Time Magazine has named Taylor Swift its person of the year, a week after Spotify announced the singer was the most-played artist on the streaming platform for 2023.

Swift was picked from a group of nine finalists which included King Charles, Barbie, and the Hollywood strikers, after screenwriters and actors in the US went on strike earlier in the year, later resuming work following tentative agreements.

Time said of Swift’s selection: “While her popularity has grown across the decades, this is the year that Swift, 33, achieved a kind of nuclear fusion: shooting art and commerce together to release an energy of historic force.”

This year, Swift embarked on her The Eras Tour and performed shows across North and South America alongside a slew of special guests including American singer Phoebe Bridgers and rock band Paramore.

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She also released her concert movie, which was recorded during the US leg of The Eras Tour and features songs spanning her entire career.

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In a continued bid to reclaim her masters, the pop star re-recorded her own version of album 1989, originally released in 2014, which went to number one on the official UK albums chart following its release in October. She released a re-recorded version of 2010 album Speak Now as well which also topped the charts following its release in July.

When the Grammy nominations were announced, Swift appeared in several categories including album of the year, song of the year and record of the year for number one single Anti-Hero.

This comes on top of some big wins at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards this year where the Cruel Summer singer took home 10 gongs, including the award for top artist.

Swift has attended a number of high-profile events and was most recently photographed in London at the premiere for documentary Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé.

She has also been spotted at NFL games, supporting Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce, who was seen with the star in Argentina, while she was there performing on the South American leg of her tour.

Next year, following on from the success of her 2023 tour, Swift will be heading across the globe, to cities including London, Dublin, Liverpool, Tokyo and Melbourne as part of the international leg of her tour.

In 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was named Time’s person of the year, awarded the accolade “for proving that courage can be as contagious as fear”.

Other figures to have been named Time Magazine’s person of the year include the late Queen, climate activist Greta Thunberg, US President Joe Biden and Pope Francis. - PA