Taylor Swift spent much of 2023 filling stadiums around the world with The Eras Tour, a celebration of all the albums and corresponding visual aesthetics she’s given fans over the last two decades. Everyone has their favorite era, but the most iconic may well be the current one, which amounts to one of the greatest victory laps in the history of pop music.
Amid all the travel, Swift also released a lot of music in 2023. In May, she hit Swifties with Midnights: (The Til Dawn Edition), an expanded version of the expanded version of her 10th studio album, Midnights, originally released in 2022. She returned in July with Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), a re-recorded version of her third studio album, 2010’s Speak Now, and in October, she dropped 1989 (Taylor’s Version), a re-recording of her career-shifting 2014 pop pivot 1989.
Given these high-profile releases and the constant thrum of media attention surrounding The Eras Tour—not to mention all the publicity she’s stirred up by dating NFL star Travis Kelce, not to mention the fact she’s TIME’s Person of the Year—it should come as absolutely no surprise that Taylor Swift is the top artist of 2023 on Genius according to pageviews. (She also took top honors last year.)
All year long—and especially since the updated 1989 arrived—fans have searched for her lyrics and poured over every word, savoring the details of her storytelling and speculating about her real-life inspirations. In 2023, Swift racked up 14.4M pageviews on Genius. The runner-up, Olivia Rodrigo—who in fairness only gave us one album this year—was more than 2 million pageviews behind.
Leading the way for Swift in 2023 was “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) [From the Vault]” (2.2M Genius pageviews), one of the five songs she apparently wrote for 1989 back in the day but left off the album for various reasons. Swift said she axed “Is It Over Now” because of its similarity to “Out of the Woods” and “I Wish You Would,” both of which are believed to be about Harry Styles. There’s reason to think “Is It Over Now?” also references Taylor’s relationship with the U.K. pop singer, as the second verse alludes to the infamous snowmobile accident the couple suffered, as well as the blue dress Taylor was seen wearing shortly after their breakup in 2013.
When you lost control (Uh-huh)
Red blood, white snow (Uh-huh)
Blue dress on a boat (Uh-huh)
Your new girl is my clone
It’s less clear whom Taylor is singing about on “Slut!”, another vault track that ranks as her second-most popular song of the year on Genius according to pageviews (1.5M pageviews). But that song is mostly about the media’s unfair portrayal of Swift as a serial dater. On the chorus, Taylor is so preoccupied with people’s perceptions that the actual love affair seems like something of an afterthought. Which is really unfortunate for her.
But if I’m all dressed up (If I’m all dressed up)
They might as well be lookin' at us (Lookin' at us)
And if they call me a slut (If they call me a slut)
You know it might be worth it for once (Worth it for once)
And if I’m gonna be drunk
I might as well be drunk in love
Taylor has Eras Tour dates schedule through 2024, and she’s still got two albums to go (Taylor Swift and Reputation) in her grand re-recording project. Plus, there’s always the possibility of new music—and by extension, new eras. Which is all to say it’s entirely possible we’ll see Taylor in the running for top artist of 2024 on Genius.
While this year’s list is mostly populated by familiar faces—the aforementioned Olivia Rodrigo, Drake, Travis Scott, Miley Cyrus, Doja Cat—there are also a few surprises, including BTS member Jung Kook (정국), the K-pop girl group FIFTY FIFTY (피프티피프티), and alt-pop world-builder Melanie Martinez.
1. Taylor Swift
2. Olivia Rodrigo
3. Drake
4. Travis Scott
5. Lana Del Rey
6. Miley Cyrus
7. Jung Kook (정국)
8. Doja Cat
9. FIFTY FIFTY (피프티피프티)
10. Melanie Martinez
