Taylor Swift: Inside the madness to purchase her Time Person of the Year covers

Since news broke that Taylor Swift was Time's 2023 Person of the Year, fans have scoured the internet to get their hands on physical copies of the magazine. As it turns out, demand is high.

Hitting newsstands on Dec. 15, the magazine features the singer on three separate covers: One shows her wearing a denim shirt and tan jacket; another has her in a gray bedazzled dress; and in a third, one of her pet cats, Benjamin Button, is draped across her shoulders.

A representative from Time tells Yahoo Entertainment that 238,808 physical copies of the magazine have been preordered online as of Dec. 13. That number does not include newsstand sales, which "are on track to be up 133%" in the U.S. alone.

It's the highest-selling issue in Time's recent history, besting only its May 2011 issue featuring Prince William and Kate Middleton's royal wedding, which sold 232,000 copies online and on newsstands. Comparatively, 2022's Person of the Year issue with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sold a total of 65,000 physical copies in combined online and newsstand sales.

Most coveted cover

According to data from Time, 63,926 bundles, a single purchase for all three covers, have been preordered online. There have been 33,817 preorders for Swift's cat cover alone, while 10,153 fans have preordered the denim shirt image and 3,057 have selected Swift's gray dress cover.

Natalie Grillo, a self-proclaimed Swiftie, preordered the cat cover. She says she's been counting the days for it to arrive.

"Just when you think she couldn't make cats cooler, she drapes Benjamin Button around her neck," she tells Yahoo Entertainment. "These covers looked more natural, and stripped all the glamour away to focus on who she is and has always been: a natural beauty who loves her cats."

For Stormy Kelly, a 33-year-old clothing designer who sews and curates Swift-inspired outfits via TikTok, it'll be the first time she's bought a physical magazine since 2003. She says it's worth the trip to her local bookstore on Dec. 15 — even if it means waiting in line for hours.

"I am so excited to get this magazine," she tells Yahoo Entertainment. "Taylor is on top of the world and it's well deserved after all her hard work. The best part is she acknowledges that it won't last forever, so it'll be nice to have a little piece of this moment in history."

Sara Reiner, who lives in Denver, is excited to make her physical copies into family heirlooms.

"I love the thought of keeping this magazine for my future kids because, let's be honest, she will still be around and be just as iconic," she tells Yahoo Entertainment. "There isn't a world we live in without Taylor. And if there is, I don't want to live there. All I want for Christmas is a Taylor Swift cover."

What's more is what the singer means to so many.

"Taylor has been present throughout my roller-coaster life," Reiner shares. "I imagine that's true for many girls around the world who are growing up with her. She looks so flawless on the cover without even trying. If anyone else had a cat around their neck, we'd call them crazy."

Suzanne Ely, a self-proclaimed "senior Swiftie" from Los Angeles, says the hoopla surrounding the covers is a perfect escape from "the viciousness of our world right now."

"Time's Person of the Year still carries currency," she tells Yahoo Entertainment. "In every way, Taylor dominated the conversation this year in music, performance, celebrity, talent and creativity — and even sports. It's fabulous to see a smart, talented and accomplished young woman being celebrated for being at the top of her game."

Emily Wilbanks, who lives in Houston, says she was "excited to read the cover story" when it was first published online Dec. 6. Now, she's even more excited to get her hands on the physical magazines to scour the pages for "Easter eggs" that "only the biggest Swifties can decipher."

"After the 'Eras' tour, it really did feel like a new era for Taylor," she explains. "In the covers, you could tell she had a lot of creative freedom."

'Cover star phenomenon'

Ahead of the covers hitting newsstands on Dec. 15, retailers are preparing.

Krifka Steffey, director of Newsstand, the in-house department overseeing the buying for newsstands across all Barnes & Noble stores, tells Yahoo Entertainment she's expecting to sell "over 50,000" copies of Swift's Time covers "in a matter of days" across all locations.

That shouldn't come as a surprise, given that Barnes & Noble shoppers "cannot get enough of the titles she's featured in," says Steffey, noting that Swift merchandise — be it magazines, mugs, shirts or other accessories — traditionally sells out quickly.

The only other celebrity to have this much selling power at Barnes & Noble, Steffey points out, is Swift's ex-boyfriend Harry Styles, whose past covers for Rolling Stone and Better Homes & Gardens were among their bestsellers.

"Taylor has been the only other celebrity to date with comparative sales to Harry," she says. As successful as Styles's covers were, however, locations never expected to "sell out in a matter of days." But they do for Swift. That's what makes this moment unique, particularly when it comes to the future of print media.

"Taylor Swift has been our 2023 top magazine cover star phenomenon," says Steffey. "Over the past few years, print media has continued to evolve to compete with digital by offering what digital can't."

By including "posters and additional goodies inside an issue," she explains, magazines are a "physical celebration of whatever the topic is that is of interest to the reader."

The quality of magazines has also increased. As a result, Steffey says, a younger demographic wants "high-quality, physical items that feature their favorite artists to add to their collections."