Meet the Top Performers and Underachievers of 2023

What a whiplash-inducing 365 days.

Sure, we had some predictability in 2023. King Charles III ascended to the throne and his youngest son continued to whine. There were sensational trials — with villains Sam Bankman-Fried and Alex Murdaugh, while Gwyneth Paltrow reinvented courtroom style. ChatGPT became part of our vocab, and the great Lionel Messi blessed our shores. Barbie turned 2023 pink.

Sadly, we lost icons Tina Turner, Bob Knight and Matthew Perry. And it ends on a darker note: two wars raging and a bizarre presidential election landscape.

Thank God for comic relief from the shameless former congressman George Santos.

Here’s a look at the winners and losers of this most chaotic calendar year.

Is there any more triumphant figure than Time’s Person of the Year, Taylor Swift? Fresh off world domination from her $1.1 billion Eras tour, which also had a theatrical release that grossed $250 million, she went on to become the NFL’s de-facto first lady when she started dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Swift, 34, grabbed more airtime than the players and brought in a new game-day audience. Even as some now brand her a “distraction,” there’s no denying the power of this pop star turned power WAG.

Even more enchanting was the fairy tale of Tommy DeVito, a third-string quarterback who, by the power of chicken cutlets and confidence, gave us DeVitomania. He may never throw another touchdown pass in a Giants uniform again, but it doesn’t matter. The underdog uprising buoyed a beaten-down fanbase and netted DeVito loads of marketing deals and a likely lucrative role as an NFL backup.

It’s also a winning year for the sports mom — including Alexandra DeVito who, in making her son’s bed, doing his laundry and cooking him cutlets (and starring in a Rao’s sauce ad), emerged as an endearing main character this season.

…