Taylor Swift: The Unstoppable Force of 2023 – Time’s Person of the Year

Taylor Swift dominated all the top 10 spots on the Hot 100 chart, for the first time in Billboard’s history, on the Oct. 21-27, 2022, tracking week. Moreover, Swift’s Midnights album charted 20 songs in its debut week. Previously, Drake’s Certified Lover Boy held nine top 10 spots on Sept. 18, 2021. No one can beat Swift’s 2022 records – only tie them.

More on this album, if you’re curious, can be found here.

Taylor Swift released two albums in 2020: “Evermore,” made available on December 11, 2020, and “Folklore,” which was released just five months earlier. The latter, written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, won album of the year Grammy award,

Taylor Swift’s Grammy 2021 Record

Taylor Swift is the first female artist to win the album-of-the-year award three times, with past prizes for her albums “Fearless” and “1989.”

BOP, originally an early modern jazz style, AKA bebop, is now a slang word describing a great song with an excellent beat.

New fact:

Taylor Swift’ started releasing some previously unreleased songs as part of her From the Vault collection. On Wednesday, April 7, 2021, Swift released Mr. Perfectly Fine, a song she wrote in 2008, assumingly about ex-boyfriend Joe Jonas.

What’s Sophie Turner’s got to do with Taylor Swift?

Actress Sophie Turner (forever Sansa Stark of Game of Thrones fame), now married to the same Joe Jonas, apparently liked the song a lot, as she tweeted a link to it tagging Taylor Swift, saying the tune is “not NOT a bop.” Watch & Listen to Mr. Perfectly Fine.

Taylor Swift announced her 10th studio album, “Midnights,” to be released on Oct. 21 at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards. She described the album an hour later on social media as “the story of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life.” Swift’s “All Too Well: The Short Film” — from her “Red” rerecorded album — won three awards, including video of the year.

With her two wins at the 2021 American Music Awards, Taylor Swift extended her record as the AMAs’ most-awarded artist ever, with 34 wins over the years.

Which prizes did Taylor Swift win at the 2021 AMAs?

At the Nov. 21, 2021, American Music Awards ceremony, Taylor Swift, 31, won the Favorite Female Pop Artist honor and the Favorite Pop Album award for her Dec. 2020 album, “Evermore.” The singer accepted the wins remotely in a pre-recorded video.

Who won Artist of the Year at the 2021 AMAs?

Korean group BTS won artist of the year at the 2021 American Music Awards, becoming the first group to win in the category since One Direction won back-to-back awards in 2014-15. BTS beat Taylor Swift, who has won six times in the category, more than anyone else. That was only Swift’s second loss in the category. She previously lost to 1D in 2015.

Taylor Swift achieved this feat with her latest release, “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version),” which debuted at No. 1 on the chart dated July 22, 2023, with 716,000 equivalent album units. Her other three albums in the top 10 were “Midnights” (No. 5), “Lover” (No. 7), and “Folklore” (No. 10). The last living artist to have four albums in the top 10 simultaneously was Herb Alpert in 1966. Prince did it posthumously in 2016.

Fun Fact: She also surpassed Barbra Streisand as the female artist with the most #1 albums in history, with 12.

In 2009, Taylor Swift released “Love Story,” echoing the timeless tale of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, with all its balcony drama and star-crossed love. Fast forward to 2023, and Swift’s lyrical prowess inspires an entire university course in Belgium. The University of Ghent is set to launch “Literature (Taylor’s Version)” this autumn, where students will dive deep into literary classics, all through Swift’s songs. This elective course is considered the first of its kind in Europe. New York University’s Clive Davis Institute introduced a Swift-inspired course in 2022, focusing on her impact on country music.

When Swifties worldwide were challenged to solve 1989-themed puzzles on Google to unlock the vault tracks of “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” on Sep. 19, 2023, search interest in Taylor’s name tripled in just an hour. But, alas, Google’s vault puzzle jammed, and the tech giant found itself in a self-described “fix-it era.” Who would’ve thought that Google, the kingpin of search engines, would get starstruck by Taylor Swift?

The “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” concert film, set to dazzle audiences in over 100 countries starting Oct. 13, has a 2-hour and 45-minute runtime. Interestingly, this is shorter than the actual concert duration, even though no songs from the setlist were left on the cutting room floor. Captured during Taylor’s electrifying six-night run at L.A.’s SoFi Stadium in August, the film promises a Swiftie experience like no other. And speaking of numbers, AMC Theatres, handling the film’s global rollout, reported a whopping $26 million in ticket sales on the first day of the presale.

Fun Fact: Swift emphasized that concert etiquette, not traditional film etiquette, will be the norm during screenings. This means fans are encouraged to wear “Eras attire,” sing, and dance.

Swiftly making her mark in Grammy history, Taylor Swift became the first songwriter to score seven nominations in the Song of the Year category at the 2024 Grammys, announced on Nov. 10, 2023, where she was nominated for her songwriting on “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film).” With this achievement, Swift overtook the historic nominations of Sir Paul McCartney and Lionel Richie, each with six nominations in the category.

Fun fact: Beyoncé led the 2024 Grammy nominations with nine nods, making her the most nominated artist for the year. With these nominations, Beyoncé tied with her husband, Jay-Z, for the most Grammy nominations in history, each with 88 nominations. Other top nominees included Kendrick Lamar with eight nominations; Adele and Brandi Carlile with seven; and Harry Styles, Mary J. Blige, DJ Khaled, Future, The Dream, and Randy Merrill with six.