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Taylor Swift has been named the “Person of the Year” by Time magazine and I feel, I don’t know … sad, maybe?

I’m not sure whether this says more about Tay Tay, Time, or me, but the announcement this week made me think more than I wanted to about such things — and, as anyone who knows me would tell you, if there’s one thing that makes me cranky in the pants is having to think.

About anything.

And, before her zillions of fans try to Swifty-boat me, I’m well aware of Taylor’s status in the cosmic-zeitgeist.

I even knew who she was before she dumped her English actor steady for the NFL player, or (SPOILER ALERT) got bumped off early in one of the underrated movies of last year, “See How They Run.”

Actually, I have a lot of admiration for the singer — particularly her decision to re-record her words in “Taylor’s Version” albums in order to keep the owner to the rights of her originals from unduly profiting.

That’s more than smart business — and Swift has been said to make more than $1 billion this year alone — that shows something like stones, something like integrity.

Nope, it’s not her that saddens me about this latest honor.

I began reading Time’s cover profile on how it came about this decision, the one in which the writer wrote and the editors approved calling Taylor Swift “the main character of the world.”

Really? With everything that’s going on in the entire world, the “main character” in our existence at this point is a pop-folk-country singer?

Last year’s honorees were Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and the people of Ukraine, whose struggles were also played out on the world stage. In recent years, Time also has honored presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden (the latter in tandem with vice president Kamala Harris), climate activists, the victims of sexual abuse, Elon Musk.

Each, still in the news, have somehow lost their luster in the shadow of the Swift Phenomenon.

How does Time explain its choice? Let’s let the magazine speak for itself:

“If you’re skeptical, consider it,” the story says. “How many conversations did you have about Taylor Swift this year? How many times did you see a photo of her while scrolling on your phone? Were you one of the people who made a pilgrimage to a city where she played? Did you buy a ticket to her concert film? Did you double-tap an Instagram post, or laugh at a tweet, or click on a headline about her? Did you find yourself humming “Cruel Summer” while waiting in line at the grocery store? Did a friend confess that they watched clips of the Eras Tour night after night on TikTok? Or did you?”

Woof … that’s a lot of questions. I’ll answer then as succinctly as possible:

None. None. No. No. No. No. No. No.

Really? The “main character of the world” is decided in part by humming a song in a grocery store line?

Elvis was never the Person of the Year. Neither were Frank or Dylan or Chuck or Bruce or Aretha or Barbra or Michael. Neither, for that matter were John, Paul, George & Ringo.

Of course, by making this year’s selection, Time magazine gets what it most wants out it — reminding people that Time magazine still exists. It might even get those zillions of Swifties to buy copies with every different cover photo.

Never a bad business decision to prime the financial pump as the year comes to an end.

Which leaves me recognizing that I feel sad, most of all, for me. Time was that Time was one of the places you turned to for reporting, for investigative pieces on topics that mattered most to advancing civilization — at least civilization as we were living it.

Five years ago, Time honored as its “Persons of the Year” journalists who faced persecution, arrest or murder for their reporting — including Jamal Khashoggi and five employees of a Maryland newspaper who were killed in a mass shooting.

None of whom where ever deemed the main character of the world. We now just live in a different time.