Taylor Swift is the “happiest and proudest” she’s ever been in her life after being named TIME Magazine 2023 Person of the Year. Swift beat out the Hollywood strikers, Barbie, and King Charles III for the title. The prestigious award, founded in the 1920s, goes to the individual, group, or concept “that had the most influence on the world” throughout the year. Swift follows in the footsteps of previous Person of the Year award winners Barack Obama, Greta Thunberg, and Volodymyr Zelensky.Upon receiving the news, the superstar, who broke box office records in ticket sales for her 2023 Eras Tour, a showcase of all the musical “eras” she has been through, told TIME Magazine, “This is the proudest and happiest I've ever felt.”.TIME editor Sam Jacobs said on NBC Today Wednesday morning choosing the winner was “no easy task” but Swift was ultimately chosen as the best to “represent the eight billion people on the planet” because she “represents joy.” Jacobs said Swift is “someone who’s bringing light to the world. She was like weather, she was everywhere.”In their write-up about Swift winning the Person of the Year award, the magazine said her “cultural, critical, and commercial” accomplishments “are so legion that to recount them seems almost beside the point.”Swift’s other big moments in 2023 include the rerelease of her 2014 album 1989, becoming the subject of study at major universities like Harvard, and dating NFL player Travis Kelce.
