> I don't know any song by her beyond shake it off
This is unheard of for children to say this. If you mean adults, there were plenty of adults in the 80s that didn’t know Madonna songs, and even Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson was the biggest in history. Global megastar before the internet. Taylor Swift has a lot of sales but in terms of global significance and cultural impact there is no comparison. Not in the same league.
Taylor Swift has relatively niche popularity in India.
Chinese are blocked from accessing any western social media, and no access to YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, etc. Taylor Swift is popular there but the Chinese have their own version of the internet separate from ours.
Not just the Internet. Before cable and satellite TV, even. Similar to Muhammad Ali in that sense - a globally renowned icon, regardless of cultural or languge barriers. In the west, there is the idea of a rivalry between Michael Jackson and Prince, but globally, there was only one King of Pop.
Taylor Swift has mind-boggling levels of fandom in the Anglosphere (even if it is largely limited to women), but her music is pretty straightforward, there are other artists like her who would be considered interchangeable with her given enough publicity. But the full package of Michael Jackson was groundbreaking and inimitable: the musical production, the dance moves, the songwriting and the music videos.
There's still enormously mainstream culture. Even more enormous in the fat tail than before.
There's just also a shocking depth in the mid tail now too.
The problem with movies is that Hollywood killed itself and tech helped. Movies and TV just suck now, for the most part.
Music, fashion, and visual culture are still alive and well.