--- description: From the King of Pop to Kanye West, see 25 music-themed TIME covers title: Taylor Swift TIME Cover and 25 Other Musical Magazine Portraits image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt667f8ddbd7f5f5f0/6987683fcd1bba32df6f3769/musician-cover.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 25 Classic TIME Music Covers  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 13, 2014 12:30 PM CUT  TIME  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 13, 2014 12:30 PM CUT She may be a record breaker but Taylor Swift is far from the first musician to make the cover of TIME. Since the year of TIME’s founding, people who make the world sing along have been featured on the cover — starting with Giulio Gatti-Casazza, an Italian opera manager, in November 1923\. Though early music coverage in the magazine was dominated by opera and classical music, it wasn’t long before pop took over. Here, check out 25 of our favorite TIME covers starring musicians at the top of their games. **_Read TIME’s new cover story about the singer:_** [The Power of Taylor Swift](http://time.com/3583129/power-of-taylor-swift-cover/?pcd=hp-magmod "undefined")  The Dixie Chicks (May 29, 2006) JILL GREENBERG FOR TIME  Kanye West (Aug. 29, 2005) KWAKU ALSTON FOR TIME  Ricky Martin (May 24, 1999) TIME  Lauryn Hill (Feb. 8, 1999) TIME  Jewel (July 21, 1997) HERB RITTS  Pearl Jam (Oct. 25, 1993) NEAL PRESTON  Garth Brooks (March 30, 1992) JAMES SCHNEPF / GAMMA LIAISON  Madonna (May 27, 1985) FRANCESCO SCAVULLO  Michael Jackson (March 19, 1984) ANDY WARHOL  David Bowie (July 18, 1983) TIME  The Who (Dec. 17, 1979) TIME  Linda Ronstadt (Feb. 28, 1977) MILTON GREENE  Paul McCartney (May 31, 1976) RICHARD E. AARON  Elton John (July 7, 1975) DON WELLER  Cher (March 17, 1975) RICHARD AVEDON  Joni Mitchell (Dec. 16, 1974) BOB PEAK  James Taylor (March 1, 1971) J. H. BRESLOW  The Band (Jan. 12, 1970) BOB PEAK  Aretha Franklin (June 28, 1968) BORIS CHALIAPIN  The Beatles (Sept. 22, 1967) TIME  Joan Baez (Nov. 23, 1962) TIME  Frank Sinatra (Aug. 29, 1955) TIME  Rosemary Clooney (Feb. 23, 1953) BORIS CHALIAPIN  Louis Armstrong (Feb. 21, 1949) BORIS ARTZYBASHEFF  Bing Crosby (Apr. 7, 1941) ERNEST HAMLIN BAKER ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3579080/musician-covers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3579080/musician-covers/"},"headline":"25 Classic TIME Music Covers","datePublished":"2014-11-13T12:30:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:07:05.923Z","description":"From the King of Pop to Kanye West, see 25 music-themed TIME covers that came before Taylor Swift","url":"https://time.com/3579080/musician-covers/","keywords":["Music","Media","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt667f8ddbd7f5f5f0/6987683fcd1bba32df6f3769/musician-cover.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt667f8ddbd7f5f5f0/6987683fcd1bba32df6f3769/musician-cover.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"musician-cover","caption":"","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3579080/musician-covers/","name":"25 Classic TIME Music Covers"}}]}] ```