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