It truly is the best day (heh) to be a Taylor Swift fan, because the musician was quite literally *just* announced as Apple Music’s Artist of the Year for 2023—meaning that her list of achievements in the past 10 months is basically bigger than the whole sky (srry, but that practically wrote itself!).
“I am so honored to be Apple Music’s Artist of the Year,” the celeb began in a statement responding to the incredible distinction. “Thank you to every single one of you for making this year the most incredible, joyful, celebratory year ever. From streaming the music nonstop to screaming it together in real life at the shows, dancing chaotically in movie theaters, none of this would have been possible without you. Thank you so much.” ‘Kay, I’m not crying, you are!
Btw, to get just the teensiest gist of how epic Tay’s year has been, let’s just start off with the fact that she’s the number 1 most-streamed female artist in Apple Music history (!!) *and* the female artist with the most songs to reach Apple Music’s Global Daily Top 100. Other feats she’s crushed? Ahem:
- “Cruel Summer,” a song off the musician’s 2019 album Lover, became one of the biggest songs of the summer on Apple Music worldwide and re-entered the Global Daily Top 100 in April for the first time in four years. (P.S. It’s remained there ever since.)
- Taylor’s 2022 Midnights record is currently the biggest album of all time by a female artist in Apple Music history based on first-day and first-week streams worldwide.
- More Apple Music subscribers listened to Taylor in what we call the Year of the Eras Tour 2023 than to any other artist in the world.
Now that you’ve hopefully emotionally recovered from asking yourself exactly how you have the same 24 hours in a day as Beyoncé and Taylor, here’s a word from Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats: “Taylor Swift’s impact on music is absolutely undeniable—not just this record-breaking year, but throughout her entire career. She is a generation-defining artist and a true change agent in the music industry, and there is no doubt that her impact and influence will be felt for years to come. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to celebrate her achievements.”
Other than casually naming Taylor as Apple Music’s Artist of the Year, one of the many things the company is doing to recognize the musician’s achievements is spotlighting her music and defining moments. Right now, fans can tune in and listen to tons of radio programming that commemorates the celeb’s two decades’ worth of albums, interviews, and playlists at apple.co/am-1.
But be warned fellow Swifties: Reminiscing on all the iconic highlights of Tay’s career will make you nostalgic at best and a full-on emotional wreck at worst. 😭❤️ Happy listening!
Assistant news editor
Gretty Garcia is the assistant news editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers all things news, entertainment, and pop culture. Before joining Cosmo, Gretty was a social strategist for Mrs. Dow Jones and a features and special projects editor at Editorialist. She holds an MS from the Columbia Journalism School and studied art history at Harvard College.
