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Taylor Swift's 2023 capped off with Time's Person of the Year

Anna McGuinness
Updated December 7 2023 - 8:57am, first published 8:50am
Taylor Swift heads Down Under in February for her Eras Tour. Picture via Shutterstock
Taylor Swift heads Down Under in February for her Eras Tour. Picture via Shutterstock

Global pop superstar Taylor Swift has capped off an historic year named TIME Magazine's 2023 Person of the Year.

TIME Editor in Chief Sam Jacobs said Swift transcended borders and was a source of light during a year "with significant shares of darkness".

The 2023 Spotify Wrapped has been downloaded revealing Australia's most streamed songs and artists with Taylor Swift taking the stage.

"No one else on the planet today can move so many people so well."

In 2023, the 33-year-old singer-songwriter had three number one albums (two were re-records), was the most-streamed artist globally on Spotify, released the highest grossing concert film of all time: Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, prompted 35,000 new voter registrations in the US with a single Instagram post, and reportedly became a billionaire according to Bloomberg.

The Eras Tour - a three-and-a-half hour journey through her 17-year music career - is expected to be the highest grossing tour of all time when it continues in 2024 and has given the cities Swift has performed in a significant economic boost.'

And her new relationship with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce saw 'The Taylor Swift Effect' even influence the NFL.

Kelce's jersey sales jumped 400 per cent and there was a 63 per cent rise in women aged 18 to 49 who watched as Swift cheered on her new beau at a Chiefs-Bears game in September.

Taylor Swift arrives before a Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs game at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Picture by Mark Hoffman-USA TODAY NETWORK/Sipa USA /AAP Image
Taylor Swift arrives before a Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs game at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Picture by Mark Hoffman-USA TODAY NETWORK/Sipa USA /AAP Image

For nine decades, TIME has honoured the person it deemed to have had the greatest influence on the world that year.

The other candidates for 2023 were Chinese President Xi Jinping, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Trump prosecutors, Barbie, Russian President Vladimir Putin, King Charles III, US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, and the Hollywood screenwriters and actors who went on strike.

In 2024, Swift mania will sweep into Australia as the megastar arrives for her sold-out Eras Tour shows at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on February 16, 17 and 18, and Sydney's Accor Stadium on February 23, 24, 25 and 26.

The ticket presale in June broke records with more than four million Aussies trying to get their hands on a ticket - leading to an extra two shows being added to the tour.

The 12-time Grammy winner will be the first artist since Madonna to perform three consecutive nights at the MCG, and the first ever to play a fourth straight show at Accor Stadium.

Anna McGuinness

Anna McGuinness

Breaking News National Journalist