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Following the ticketing fiasco that surrounded her tour, where fans thought they had a better chance of being struck by lightning than going to see her show, Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is about to become one of the highest earning of all time.
The Eras Tour is Swift's second stadium tour and features a set list of 44 songs divided into 10 acts that define different eras of her career and runs for more than three hours.
Swift announced 15 new dates in the U.S. on Thursday and more across the world, bringing the total number of concerts to 146 by the time the tour ends in August 2024. She had originally announced 52 shows.
While exact figures have yet to be released, industry experts are estimating Swift's tour, which started on March 17, will be a record breaker. They are guessing it will make more than $1 billion through ticket sales, merchandise and marketing opportunities and will surpass Elton John's record of $853 million for his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, where the singing legend said goodbye to live shows.
The Wall Street Journal called the singer's financial impact "Taylornomics," while Fortune called it the "TSwift Lift" and the Federal Reserve credited her with boosting the country's economy, all thanks to her stadium tour.
In late 2022, Billboard estimated that Swift's tour would gross $590 million based on the original 52 tour dates. But along with the extra shows in the U.S., Latin America, Asia, Australia and Europe all the way through to 2024, this has shifted projected earning estimates to about $1.4 billion in gross revenue, according to concert data tracker site, Pollstar.
Not only that but the income generated through extra spending by fans such as on hotel rooms, food and transport while attending one of her shows is averaged $1,300 per person. In total, the added economic boon generated by the Eras Stadium Tour is expected to be around $5 billion, which is the same number as the combined GDP (gross domestic product) of 50 countries, according to a survey by QuestionPro.
"Hosting a three-day Taylor Swift concert in downtown Indianapolis has the potential to be an economic game changer for local businesses, restaurants and hotels," Adam Burtner, the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce's vice president of government affairs, told Newsweek.
Other records Swift has smashed during her tour include on the opening night in Glendale, Arizona, which was the most-attended concert by a female artist ever in the U.S. as 69,000 fans turned up to watch the star.
Madonna previously held that record when she performed to 63,000 people in 1987 at Anaheim Stadium in Los Angeles.
Swift even managed to break records at the ticket selling site, Ticketmaster, when 3.5 million people registered to get tickets to the tour, more than any other artist in the website's history.
Ticketmaster also confirmed that on the first day of the sale, more than 2 million tickets were sold, more than any artist on a single day.
But that's not to say buying tickets to the Eras Tour ran smoothly on those first few days.
As fans rushed to purchase pre-sale tickets, they were forced to wait in line for hours and faced website crashes on the Ticketmaster site.
Then two days later, Ticketmaster canceled the general sale because excessive demand had already outpaced ticket supply, leading to lots of frustration from fans who were unable to secure a ticket.
Ticketmaster was then hauled in front of a Senate committee to explain the fiasco, in a hearing which investigated ticketing competition for live entertainment.
As fans prepare to try and buy tickets to her additional 15 shows which go on sale on August 9, Ticketmaster has promised it is taking additional steps to make sure it is real fans buying tickets, not scalpers or bots. Last week, it released details about its Verified Fan system, which will vet ticket buyers ahead of purchasing tickets.
People were required to register for the Verified Fan system and once done they
will receive confirmation if they have access to the Verified Fan Onsale by August 8. Fans who were not granted a code will be placed on a waitlist. Those fans "may receive an access code at a later date if tickets remain," according to the Ticketmaster site.
About the writer
Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more