Time magazine has named Taylor Swift as their Person of the Year for 2023.
The 33-year-old singing phenomenon was called a “source of light” in a “divided world” by the magazine’s editors.
The accolade goes to the person that Time deems to “who most shaped the headlines over the previous 12 months, for better or for worse”.
Swift beat out a shortlist which included Russian President Vladimir Putin, King Charles III and even Barbie.
“In a divided world, where too many institutions are failing, Taylor Swift found a way to transcend borders and be a source of light,” Time magazine editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs said.
“Achieving this feat is something we often chalk up to the alignments of planets and fates, but giving too much credit to the stars ignores her skill and her power,” he said.
Earlier this year, four million Australians queued up to buy pre-sale tickets to Swift’s Eras Tour. The 12-time Grammy-winning artist went from strength to strength when the Eras Tour concert movie debuted at number one at the US box office, breaking the record for the highest opening for a concert film of all time.
Time said that this year, at the age of 33, she had achieved a kind of “nuclear fusion” bringing art and commerce together with her number one albums and record breaking tour while becoming a billionaire.
“This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been,” Swift told Time. “Ultimately, we can convolute it all we want, or try to overcomplicate it, but there’s only one question – are you not entertained?”
