After a blockbuster year on her Eras Tour, Taylor Swift was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year earlier this week — and tech tycoon Elon Musk had something to say about it.
“Some risk of popularity decline after this award. I speak from experience lol,” the X CEO and owner tweeted on Thursday, Dec. 7, as a response to the pop star’s post thanking the publication for the recognition.
Musk, who founded Tesla and SpaceX well before drawing public ire for his purchase of Twitter and rebranding it as X, held the Time title in 2021.
Some risk of popularity decline after this award. I speak from experience lol.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 7, 2023
This isn’t the first time the Tesla CEO has offered Swift advice on his social media platform. In September, he responded to a post that the “Cruel Summer” singer made to promote “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” with a suggestion: “I recommend posting some music or concert videos directly on the X platform.”
His comment was met with outrage from millions of Swift’s fans, who bashed Musk’s ability to run the platform and his lack of relevance.
Indeed, between antisemitic and racist comments and X decisions made over the past couple of years, Musk has lost respect and status in the public eye. Most recently, he was called out for hypocrisy after canceling an in-person appearance at San Francisco’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and offering to appear virtually instead, despite his critique of remote work.
So, should Swift take Musk’s warning seriously? Probably not.
Based on her massive popularity that continues to grow daily — she reportedly gained a quarter of a million online followers after her Time interview, according to Social Blade, a social media analytics website — it doesn’t seem like Swift is going anywhere.
Her Eras Tour set a touring record by grossing $1.04 billion, according to Pollstar, a music industry data site, with 4.35 million tickets sold for the 60 concerts alone that took place during Pollstar’s chart eligibility period (Nov. 17, 2022, to Nov. 15, 2023). Eras Tour total ticket revenue is expected to exceed $2 billion through the coming year as the 33-year-old singer continues with international dates.
Swift is expected to kick off the global leg of the Eras Tour on Feb. 7 with a four-night run at Tokyo Dome.
