Taylor Swift is an American singer, songwriter and actress — along with Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2023. Every year since 1927, Time editors have chosen a person who has had a profound impact on the year’s news. Swift won out over candidates that included Barbie, King Charles III and Vladimir Putin, according to The Washington Post.
Time’s editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs called her “the rare person who is both the writer and hero of her own story.” Swift appeared on the cover of the iconic magazine in a simple, long-sleeve black bodysuit, with black stockings and her ragdoll cat, Benjamin Button, draped around her neck. The photo prompted a TikTok trend where users attempted to pose with their cats in a similar fashion, often leading to painful and frustrating, albeit amusing, results.
Simultaneously, Swift was crowned number one on PEOPLE’s 2023 Most Intriguing People of the Year list. She’s also on the cover of the December 2023 issue of this beloved newsstand magazine, and received praise from country singer Tim McGraw, who noted on People.com, “[S]he knows when, where, how to promote [her work], but she also knows when, where, how to be normal and be a human just living her life… I think she has brilliantly navigated that line.”
To say it’s been a good year for Swift would be an understatement. In addition to both Time and People recognizing her vast achievements, earlier this year Swift landed on the billionaires list for both Forbes and Bloomberg in 2023 with a reported net worth of $1.1 billion.
In her 2020 documentary Miss Americana, Swift commented on her age, having just turned 30, and her views of success in today’s society. “We do exist in this society where women in entertainment are discarded in an elephant graveyard by the time they’re 35… This is probably one of my last opportunities as an artist to grasp onto that kind of success. So as I’m reaching 30, I’m like, I want to work really hard while society is still tolerating me being successful.”
However, at 33, Swift hasn’t let up and keeps bursting through the glass ceiling with consistency and vigor. Swift’s friend, 34-year-old Paramore rocker Hayley Williams, told People.com “I’m almost afraid to say it… but I kind of think she’s just getting started.”
Musical Accolades
As of October 2023, Swift has reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts 10 times, with the latest No. 1 hit being “Cruel Summer.” With this accomplishment, Swift has had seven consecutive studio albums of all-new material with at least one Hot 100 No. 1 hit, according to Billboard.
She is one of the best-selling musicians ever, having sold more than 200 million albums. Notably, Swift is also one of the few artists to earn her fortune nearly exclusively from her music and performing, including digital album sales, physical album sales, concert tours and, recently, the box office success of the motion picture “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.”
The artist also has won 12 Grammy Awards among 41 nominations. In 2023, Swift won 9 MTV Video Music Awards, bringing her career total to 23. Swift sits just behind Beyoncé with 30 VMAs in her career so far, Billboard reported.
Swift’s latest album, “Midnights” dropped in October 2022. Her previous album, “Red (Taylor’s Version),” was released in 2021 and featured 30 tracks and was a critical and commercial triumph.
Some of her hits include: “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “Shake It Off,” “Bad Blood,” and “Look What You Made Me Do.” She also has tried her hand at acting, appearing in her music videos, television shows and feature films.
Profitable Concert Tours and a Blockbuster Movie
Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour may have been one of the best things to happen to the U.S. economy. As of mid-October 2023, the tour contributed an estimated $5.7 billion into the economy. Not all of that money went to Swift and her production team, though. Resellers profited with the sale of highly inflated tickets on sites like Seat Geek, according to The Economic Times.
Swift is projected to make roughly $4.1 billion from the tour. Profits have already catapulted her onto the Bloomberg billionaires list.
Additionally, a concert film based on the tour earned between $95 million and $97 million in its opening weekend, CNBC reported, quoting figures from AMC Entertainment, the film’s distributor. It became the highest-opening concert film of all time and the highest-grossing concert film domestically.
Taylor Swift Joins the Billionaire’s Club
Her successful concert tours and album sales have garnered Swift a total net worth of $1.1 billion — and counting. Both Forbes and Bloomberg confirmed the 33-year-old’s net worth at $1.1 billion. Forbes reported that more than $5 million of her total income came from music royalties and touring. The Eras Tour put at least $190 million in her pockets, after taxes, while she earned another $35 million, so far, from “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” in its first two weeks in theaters, according to Forbes.
Swift’s first six albums were purchased in 2019 by Scooter Braun and sold to Shamrock Capital in 2020 for $300 million. Since then, Swift signed with Universal Music Group’s Republic Records and re-released “Taylor’s Version” of Fearless, Red, Speak Now, and 1989. She is working on re-recording the final two of her original six and now owns all the rights to her master recordings, which will only serve to increase her net worth in coming years.
Although not a large part of her income, Swift has also enjoyed endorsement deals with many companies including CoverGirl, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Keds, Sony Electronics and Target.
Early Life
Taylor Alison Swift was born to Scott and Andrea Swift in West Reading, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 13, 1989. She was named after singer-songwriter James Taylor. Her interest in music began at an early age, so she enrolled in singing and acting classes in New York City and started performing at local venues and festivals. When she was 14, her family moved to Nashville so she could pursue a career in music.
A year later, the future star was performing at the Bluebird Café in Nashville and caught the eye of DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta. He quickly signed Swift to his new venture, Big Machine Records. Her first six albums, released from 2006 to 2017, were on this label.
Swift received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from New York University in May 2022.
Personal Life and Real Estate
Swift has been linked to many men, but has never been married, nor has she had children. She was previously engaged to English actor Joe Alwyn whom she met in 2016. As of 2023, she was in a highly publicized relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
She owns nearly an entire block of real estate in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood, per The New York Post. She bought two adjoining penthouses in 2014 for $19.95 million. Four years later she bought the next floor down for $10 million. In 2017, she purchased a neighboring townhouse for $18 million.
She owns additional properties worldwide, including homes in Nashville, Los Angeles, Rhode Island and London — and her holdings are valued at over $80 million.
Michelle Tompkins and Jami Farkas contributed to the reporting for this article.
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