Def Leppard may not be your usual heavy metal or hard rock band. In fact, they’ve often been pretty open about their songs being catchy and (dare we say?) pop. With that said, Joe Elliot is very appreciative of the greatest living pop star of all time — Taylor Swift.

Yeah, we already see the comments here. However, say what you will, Taylor is the biggest musical act at the moment. As Elliot told the Los Angeles Times, she’s even much bigger than The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined.

Reminded of how Def Leppard played at CMT Crossroads along with Taylor way back in 2008, Elliot was then asked whether he could see that she would become what she is today. He replied:

“I don’t think anybody could. You look at it now, and it kind of makes sense. But if you think back to 2008, there was no such thing as what she’s accomplished.”

“I know anybody that was there when The Beatles and The Stones came over will go, ‘Wait a minute…’ But for people born this century or in the ’90s, this is a phenomenon that’s never been seen before — technically bigger than The Beatles and The Stones combined, at least commercially.”

“It’s insanity, the amount of tickets she sells,” Elliot added. “But I always knew she’d be big. And for all the hardships she’s gone though — the people who’ve tried to trip her up over the years at certain parts of her career — she’s just dusted herself down. She’s a fantastic role model for a generation of kids.”