TIME ranks Taylor Swift as Person of the Year

Time magazine on Wednesday named American Grammy-award-winning singer Taylor Swift as its Person of the Year.

"Picking one person who represents the 8 billion people on the planet is no easy task. We picked a choice that represents joy. Someone who's bringing light to the world," said Sam Jacobs, the magazine's editor-in-chief, on NBC's "Today" program on Wednesday morning. "She was like weather, she was everywhere."

Swift beat out eight other finalists who were announced on "Today" this week, including King Charles III and Barbie.

"Swift's accomplishments as an artist culturally, critically, and commercially are so legion that to recount them seems almost beside the point," the magazine wrote.

Time awards the title to "the individual, group, or concept that has had the most influence on the world throughout the previous 12 months."

Swift has become the first woman to appear twice on a Person of the Year cover since the nominations began in 1927.

The singer registered several successes this year. Her third re-recorded album “Speak Now” had record-setting streams and her concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, was one of the most successful in the history of the genre, as well as the highest-grossing global tour of all time.

She also “somehow made one of America’s most popular sports – football – even more popular” after she started dating Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chief and two-time Super Bowl champion, and his games saw a massive increase in viewership. Over time, she has harnessed the power of the media, both traditional and new, to create something wholly unique – a narrative world, in which her music is just one piece in an interactive, shape-shifting story,” the magazine wrote.

In 2022, Time’s Person of the Year was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the “spirit of Ukraine”.