Taylor Swift’s phenomenal streak continues as the singer-songwriter was named the Time Person of the Year 2023. Time Magazine’s annual selection of these individuals (and sometimes groups or abstract concepts) recognizes trailblazers who transcended their respective fields to dominate world news that year. Let’s take a look at all the people in the shortlist for 2023’s award, who were beaten to it by the Blank Space singer.
Group/abstract finalists of the award
This year, there were nine finalists including Taylor Swift who were in contention for the magazine’s title. Two of them represented certain groups of people while one recognized a movie that showcased the possibility of theatrical success in a world dominated by streaming.
Hollywood strikers – from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA – were recognized for their show of solidarity in the entertainment industry. The strike notably went on for 118 days to rewrite unfair labor norms. Another ‘group’ finalist is the set of prosecutors involved in the infamous Donald Trump indictment.
Barbie was shortlisted as a finalist for Time Person of the Year 2023 as a symbol of its massive worldwide success. The film made history as Greta Gerwig became the first female director to cross the billion-dollar-mark at the box office. As a result, the movie gained recognition as a cultural phenomenon.
Other finalists of Time Person of the Year 2023
The five other finalists in the shortlist were Chinese President Xi Jinping, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Russian President Vladimir Putin, the newly crowned King Charles III and Jerome Powell, who is the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Putin, Xi Jinping or Barbie could be named Time magazine's “Person of the Year” tomorrow. There are a total of 9 candidates on the shortlist. Last year, the “Person of the Year” was the President of Ukraine, Zelensky. pic.twitter.com/BkfEEzAQqB
— Voice of Europe 🌍 (@V_of_Europe) December 5, 2023
Despite losing out on the main title, Sam Altman managed to secure a separate ‘CEO of the Year 2023’ nod for his work with the makers of the ChatGPT platform. Another special award went to Lionel Messi who was crowned the ‘Athlete of the Year 2023’, making him the first-ever non-American winner of the title.
Taylor Swift follows the footsteps of other significant individual winners of the award such as Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Pope Francis and Mark Zuckerberg. She is the fourth woman in the 21st century to receive the honor after Angela Merkel, Kamala Harris and Greta Thunberg.
