Taylor Swift named Time's 'Person of the Year'

After launching a record-shattering global tour and becoming the world's most-streamed musical artist in 2023, Taylor Swift notched yet another accolade on Wednesday when Time magazine named the pop star as its "Person of the Year".

Swift took the award in a year when her nearly two decades of fame and influence came to a peak, the magazine said in announcing the title. She was the first person from the arts to be honoured for her success as an entertainer, it said.

The 33-year-old artist spent the year traveling the world on her Eras Tour, showcasing music from her entire career, smashing records for ticket sales, and boosting the economies of every city she visited.

"This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been," Swift told Time, which has bestowed the award on almost every US president since its inception in 1927.

The Eras Tour, which will continue in 2024 across Asia, Australia, Europe and the US, is on track to become the highest-grossing tour in world history, according to Billboard. It made about $900m (R17bn) of revenue in 2023 and pulls in about $14m (R265.2m) per show, Billboard reported.

Demand for the US stadium tour surged so much last year that resale prices reached as high as $28,000 (about R530,450) per ticket, prompting lawsuits and a federal investigation into how online sales were conducted. The tour also spawned a movie Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour that provided a welcome jolt to cinemas facing a lacklustre autumn slate. There's even a comic book devoted to Swift.

She's also inspired newfound interest among her fans in NFL games by attending Kansas City Chief games to support her new boyfriend, tight end Travis Kelce.

Time magazine named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "Person of the Year" in 2022. Past winners have also included Tesla CEO Elon Musk, climate activist Greta Thunberg, former President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Forbes Magazine this week also named Swift the world's fifth most powerful woman, behind top political power brokers such as European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and US Vice-President Kamala Harris. The magazine reported that Swift's tour made her a billionaire in October.

Outside the arenas where she performs, Swift was the most-streamed artist in the world in 2023, according to Spotify. Her music was streamed more than 26.1-billion times between January 1 and November 29.

Reuters