Time's 2023 Person of the Year? Taylor Swift, of course

How could we have guessed anyone else? Time Magazine announced their Person of the Year for 2023 on Wednesday and, of course, the honor goes to Taylor Swift. There is no bigger performer, no bigger influencer, and no greater fighter for good on planet Earth than Taylor Swift. (OK, the last part of that previous sentence I might have made up.)

But Swift does deserve the honor, right? Maybe Time did the correct thing financially as they should know they are going to sell millions of copies of their magazine with Taylor Swift on the cover, but maybe I am just being jaded. Plus, arguing with them choosing Swift would be difficult.

In 2023, Taylor Swift broke records, played music for millions live, began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and increased her reported wealth to a bit over $1 billion. Getting back to Kelce and the NFL for a second, the football league usually has zero issues knowing how to make money, but when Swift showed up in cities to watch Travis Kelce play, the local economies of those cities increased by the dozens.

Taylor Swift is Time's Person of the Year for 2023

Being bigger than the NFL is not something that is easy to do, but Swift managed to do that all on her own. And she didn't even have to play a concert. She just had to watch a football game and be seen.

Swift also managed to break Ticketmaster in 2023 when the sells of the tickets for her Eras Tour sold over 2 million in one day and caused many people not to even get onto the site. This also reportedly caused a secondary market of her tickets to be scalped for as much as $22,000. For someone who cares so much about her fans, this likely did not make Swift happen. But she doesn't only care about her fans.

During her tour, she gave out bonuses that included as much as $50,000 to truck drivers who delivered equipment to her shows. Want to change your life? Go work for Swift.

But in 2023, fandom for Swift was probably higher than the Beatles at their best. The key is, she made each moment worth it as she continuously performed passionately and never failed to entertain. She might not be saving the globe from starvation, but at least Swift and her music give us something to focus on besides all the bad news.

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