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The Staggering Economic Impact of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour

Y ou don’t have to be a Swiftie to have been touched in some way by Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, a stadium arena experience that kicked off in March. The tour, which pays homage to every era of the artist’s illustrious 17-year career , is set to become the biggest tour of all time only a third of the way through its run.

If you live in one of the 20 locales Swift, 33, performed at in the last five months, your city has likely seen a boost in revenue from the hundreds of thousands of attendees who traveled from near and far. If you don’t—or simply couldn’t snag tickets due to the cost or the now infamous Ticketmaster snafu—chances are you’ve seen clips of the three-and-a-half hour show from celebrities’ Instagram stories. 

While there’s much to say about the music, costumes, and production, the impact of the Eras Tour is starkly reflected in the numbers: a projected gross of $2.2 billion in North American ticket sales alone, and hundreds of millions of streams, reaching a nearly 80% spike in those listening to her music catalog in the weeks after the tour kicked off. 

After 53 shows, the first U.S. leg of the tour came to a close on Aug. 9. Swift originally announced 27 shows and has since extended the tour, adding new dates in cities like New Orleans, Indianapolis, and Toronto, which are all now anticipating a local economic boost. Eras is set to go international this month, starting with four shows in Mexico City, continuing its five-continent run through November 2024.

Swift’s tour is in a league of its own, even among legendary groups like the Rolling Stones who have been touring for decades, other major touring artists like Harry Styles and Beyoncé and contemporaries like Adele with sold-out Las Vegas residencies, as the singer-songwriter brings her mega tour directly to her dedicated fans in various cities for multiple nights.

The reasons behind the Eras Tour's unmatched success are many. Nora Princiotti, staff writer at The Ringer and co-host of the podcast of Every Single Album: Taylor Swift, attributes part of the tour’s success to the sheer depth and popularity of Swift’s music catalog. “I don't know that anybody envisioned a tour of this scale ever happening. She can go three and a half hours and just hit after hit after hit,” says Princiotti.

There’s also the timing: The tour has become the perfect outing for concert-goers itching for a post-pandemic live music immersive experience. “We are in an experience economy where people crave going out and participating in social events,” says Alice Enders, a music industry analyst at Enders Analysis and a former senior economist at the World Trade Organization. “It's no surprise that people are flocking to this Eras Tour experience in what is increasingly an otherwise digital environment we live in.”

And fans are acutely aware of Swift being connected to her body of work in a way that few artists are—she writes all her songs, has been protective of her music in the streaming boom, and is now releasing re-recordings of her discography to reclaim their master rights. It all adds up to a music industry enterprise the likes of which the world has never seen.

Read more: Why You Can't Remember That Taylor Swift Concert All Too Well

The economic and cultural impact of the Eras Tour

Analysts estimate that the Eras Tour will likely surpass the $1 Billion mark next March, while Swift is touring internationally. If this projection holds true, she will achieve the milestone of the biggest tour in music history, surpassing Elton John's multi-year farewell tour, which wrapped up earlier this summer and holds the current record of $939 million. The Eras Tour would then continue for another seven months before concluding in November of 2024 in Toronto—that is, unless rumors that Swift will release more dates come to fruition. 

But the money goes far deeper than just net profits. The Eras Tour is projected to generate close to $5 billion in consumer spending in the United States alone. “If Taylor Swift were an economy, she’d be bigger than 50 countries,” said Dan Fleetwood, President of QuestionPro Research and Insights, in a story for GlobalNewsWire . On the opening night in Glendale, Ariz., the concert brought in more revenue for local businesses than Super Bowl LVII , which was held back in February in the same stadium. To use that event as a comparison, Swift has been performing the equivalent of two to three Super Bowls every weekend for the past five months (and six of seven nights at her last round of shows in Los Angeles).

Typically, every $100 spent on live performances generates an estimated $300 in ancillary local spending on things like hotels, food and transportation. But for the Eras Tour, Swifties are taking this to the next level, dropping an estimated $1,300-$1,500 on things like outfits and costumes, merchandise, dining, and travel—boosting local economies by hundreds of millions of dollars in one weekend. 

The Illinois governor credited the musician with reviving the state’s tourism industry after her three nights in Chicago. She was even mentioned in a report by the Fed , crediting her with fueling the national tourism industry. 

The enthusiasm is so great that cities along her tour have experienced supply shortages. For one example: Swift mentions “friendship bracelets” in the song You’re on Your Own, Kid , off her most recent album Midnights . Swifties have taken this and run with it. Every concert is filled with tens of thousands of fans wearing and exchanging beaded bracelets spelling out the names of Swift songs and colloquialisms all the way up their arms. While this bracelet economy has brought new revenue to local businesses, businesses have also reported bead and sequin shortages .

This enthusiasm comes despite broader economic challenges. “There’s a cost of living crisis and people are still forking out thousands of dollars to see Taylor Swift,” says Enders. Despite this, a national study of concertgoers shows that even with an average of more than $1,300 spent per event, 91% said they would go again.

Not only is the Eras Tour an economic boon, but it has also become a cultural phenomenon. Every city Swift has visited over the course of the tour so far has pulled out all of the stops for her : Minneapolis was renamed “Swiftie-apolis;” Santa Clara, Calif., made her the honorary mayor; the New Jersey governor named the state sandwich of New Jersey after her. Now world leaders like the Chilean President, the mayor of Budapest, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are asking her to bring the tour to their countries. The FBI tweeted out a Taylor Swift pun in July.

Princiotti says that in her role as a fan, it’s been both exciting and strange to see such a global embrace of Swift. “For as big as she has been for so long, even if this is a new peak, I think a lot of fans feel like they've spent their entire lives defending their love of her,” she says. “And there's something very strange in seeing the U.S. government, or all of these various municipalities, just desperate to get a little sliver of the clout that comes from just being somewhat associated with Taylor Swift.”

Justice is better than revenge. You may not be Superman, but you can help the #FBI protect the country. If you have information about a federal crime, speak now. Call 1-800-225-5324 or visit https://t.co/t8G7LO4hxu to submit a tip. pic.twitter.com/kn9QhlNhGx — FBI Washington Field (@FBIWFO) July 10, 2023

Read more: Here’s Why Taylor Swift Is Re-Releasing Her Old Albums

Beyond the concert tickets

Donning beaded bracelets and drawings of the figure “13” (Swift’s favorite number) on their hands, many Swifties attending her shows are just as eager to secure exclusive tour merchandise. Thousands of them line up for hours in advance to snag the coveted merch of $75 hoodies, $55 long-sleeve shirts and $45 T-shirts. 

Fans are even clamoring to get their hands on physical copies of Swift’s music. “Streaming has taken over the purchase of the physical album product, but Taylor Swift is among the artists that still makes money from vinyl and CDs because they’ve become collector's items for her fans,” says Enders. 

Swift creates different editions, reissues, and extras that make fans want to collect more and more copies of her albums in different forms. For her Midnights album, four of the five different album covers fit together to form a clock face, while another comes with bonus tracks, making buying different versions of the album a necessity for true fans. And some diehards admit they’ve purchased the vinyl versions without even owning a record player.

Midnights was the top-selling vinyl record in 2022, with 945,000 copies sold, making it the best-selling physical album since 1991. One out of every 25 vinyl records sold last year was a Taylor Swift album, and she is the first artist in history to simultaneously occupy at least seven of the top 10 spots on the Vinyl Albums chart. For her newest re-recorded album set to come out in October, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) , Swift has already released multiple vinyl and special edition deluxe CDs for pre-order on her website , each with different cover art and unique additions.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)

The success of Swift’s re-recording project

Swift’s mega tour isn’t the only thing she’s dominated. Her streaming and chart success from her constant release of new and re-recorded music (six going on seven albums in the last three years) adds to the vast project that is Swift’s domination of the global music industry.

“This moment for her is like an excellent HBO miniseries that’s not just a primary narrative, but also a B plot and a C plot where the main narrative is the tour, but underneath that we have the album re-recordings,” said Charlie Harding, music journalist and co-host of the podcast @SwitchedOnPop .

Swift’s “Taylor’s Version” re-recording project is an effort she started in 2019, when music mogul Scooter Braun bought record masters for her entire discography from her prior music label Big Machine Records. So far, Swift has released three re-recorded albums: Fearless (Taylor’s Version) , Red (Taylor’s Version), and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), with the re-recorded editions all including additional “vault songs” that didn’t make it to the final versions of their original albums.

Read more: Why Music Manager Scooter Braun Is at the Center of a Media Storm

Fans have embraced Swift’s attempt to claim her music back, opting to stream the re-recordings more than the original versions, thus dethroning the catalog once owned by Braun. (He sold the rights to Shamrock Holdings in November 2020.)

Swift’s project has broken several music records in the wake of the album re-releases. Her latest re-recorded album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) , a recording of her 2010 studio album, made history when it went straight to the top of the charts as her 12th no. 1—making her the woman with the most no. 1 albums and the first person with five albums simultaneously on Spotify’s Top Ten Albums Global chart. 

And Swift’s Eras tour is directly linked to the success of her streaming. “The live music performance is actually a driver to the streaming platforms,” says Enders. “When you go to see an Eras show you’re rediscovering Taylor Swift and you go back to listen to her music when you get home and in the days after.”

So far, Swift is halfway through her re-recording project, with three albums still to come. Swift announced on Aug. 9, when closing out her six-show residency at Los Angeles’ So-Fi Stadium, that her next re-recorded album will be her synth pop 1989 album, due Oct. 27.

Surprise!! 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is on its way to you 🔜! The 1989 album changed my life in countless ways, and it fills me with such excitement to announce that my version of it will be out October 27th. To be perfectly honest, this is my most FAVORITE re-record I’ve ever done… pic.twitter.com/JFYOWhBxhj — Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) August 10, 2023

“It's kind of like the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” says Harding, using another onscreen metaphor. “We're in the Taylor Swift cinematic universe at any given moment. There's endless amounts of discussion to be had at every level of this world that she's created, and each one I think serves a different audience.”

With more tour stops on the horizon and three more albums to re-release, Swift isn’t slowing down any time soon. The music sensation has even exceeded her own expectations. On the last night of the first U.S. leg of the tour, Swift told the crowd, “I figured it would be fun, but I did not know it would be like this.”

Harding says it’s not just a recipe for financial success, but for spectacular longevity. “Taylor Swift has the capacity to be around for a whole lifetime,” he says. “I think the big question I have is: where do you go from here?”

Correction, Aug. 24

The original version of this story stated that Scooter Braun still owns the master rights to Swift's first six albums. Braun sold the rights to Shamrock Holdings in November 2020.

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Write to Mariah Espada at [email protected]

The Economy (Taylor’s Version)

See how much money taylor swift’s eras tour actually made.

Call it a gold rush: Taylor Swift is adding billions to the U.S. economy.

Swift’s record-shattering Eras Tour is set to be the most lucrative concert run in American history. But the massive production not only provided a jolt of money to sold-out stadiums — it also infused the American economy with a trickle-down flow of cash.

Now, as the show heads to movie theaters this weekend, millions more will experience — and shell out cold, hard cash for — a moment with Swift.

As she hits the silver screen, here’s a look at The Economy (Taylor’s Version).

The biggest windfall is headed straight to Swift, who stands to make as much as $4.1 billion from the Eras Tour, according to estimates from Peter Cohan, an associate professor of management at Babson College.

Estimated personal

earnings from

the Eras Tour

That’s assuming the pop star ends up keeping the standard artist’s share of roughly 85 percent of her tour’s revenue, with average ticket prices of $456. Swift’s earnings would be the most from a single tour for any musical act to date — and more than the yearly economic output of 42 countries , including Liberia, which has more than 5 million people.

But the impact of the Eras Tour extends far beyond what Swift takes home. In one of the few efforts to assess spending by concertgoers, software company QuestionPro quizzed 592 Swifties who responded to an opt-in online survey. Based on their answers and average concert attendance, the company estimates that Swift’s fans spent about $93 million per show — yes, on tickets, but also on merchandise, travel, hotels, food and outfits.

Add all that up, and by the end of the U.S. tour, you’ve got a $5.7 billion boost to the country’s economy. That’s enough to give $440 to each person in Swift’s home state of Pennsylvania. Or almost enough to send every American a $20 bill.

(Technically $17.10 per person)

(Sorry, we don’t

know how many

cats personally received a $20 bill from Taylor. But it’s enough to give each of her three cats $1.9 billion.)

(Sorry, we don’t know how many cats personally

received a $20 bill from Taylor. But it’s enough

to give each of her three cats $1.9 billion.)

(Sorry, we don’t know

how many cats personally

The mania began months before the March kickoff of the Eras Tour. Presale tickets went on sale in November — sending millions of fans into a frenzy and causing Ticketmaster to crash. A class-action lawsuit and a congressional inquiry followed, as did the ire of many Swifties.

Tickets, which started at $49, sold for many multiples of their face value on resale sites like SeatGeek.

Average ticket resale

price on SeatGeek

That burst of spending has revived the entertainment industry after a years-long pandemic slump.

“Swift and her ‘Eras’ tour have redefined entertainment economics,” said Chris Leyden, director of growth marketing at SeatGeek.

The tour’s economic boost spread far past the walls of Swift’s stadium venues, as fans traveled from near and far to any show they could get their hands on. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia even put the Swift effect in a report — saying concertgoers provided a sizable boost to hotel revenue in May.

Hotels, restaurants and shops around the country felt the upswing, with millions of dollars flowing into the 20 U.S. cities Swift visited this summer. Cincinnati estimated that it would see about $48 million in additional economic impact, according to Visit Cincy and the Cincinnati Regional Chamber’s Center for Research and Data.

In Los Angeles, where Swift performed six shows, the California Center for Jobs and the Economy predicted a $320 million boost to the county. Kansas City tourism organization Visit KC said the region got an estimated $48 million impact from the tour’s July stop. The Common Sense Institute, which studies the state of Colorado’s economy, predicted the boom from Swift’s Denver performances would add up to $140 million statewide.

“The [Eras Tour] was a shot in the arm to a part of the regional economy that’s really been lagging,” said Mike Kahoe, chief economist for the California center. “It brought some much-needed dollars to the tourism industry.”

Hotel analytics group STR calculated tour cities produced a $208 million bump in hotel room revenue, over and above normal seasonal levels.

room revenue

In Seattle, Swift set a record for single-day revenue for downtown hotels — notching $7.4 million, about $2 million more than the record set during a Major League Baseball All-Star Game earlier the same month, according to Visit Seattle and STR.

“To put the impact into context, $208 million is basically the combined room revenue generated in New York City and Philadelphia in one week,” STR senior research analyst M. Brian Riley wrote. And that’s just for the actual nights of the tour, not including fans who arrived early or stayed longer.

Swift’s fans want to embody their favorite Era — and that means splurging on elaborate outfits and costumes.

“Is there anyone here who put a lot of work, thought and preparation into lyric memorization and/or what you were going to wear?” Swift asked the crowd to loud cheers at a Los Angeles show in August.

A core accessory for any Swiftie is a few — or a few dozen — friendship bracelets to grace their wrists and to trade at shows. The jewelry, inspired by a lyric in Swift’s song “You’re On Your Own Kid,” is often handmade or bought online and boasts popular Swift lyrics.

in friendship bracelets sold on Etsy

between April and August

One Etsy seller, Kara White, started making the bracelets with her mom earlier this year, when the tour began. They got orders for 1,500 bracelets in a single day as fans prepared for the Los Angeles shows. White and her mom have made about $15,000 this year selling bracelets.

“It just shows how much she makes her fans go crazy,” White said.

Coveted tour merchandise that were hard to nab had fans turning to internet resale sites. One of the most popular items: a $65 blue crewneck with the Eras Tour logo.

in blue Eras

crewnecks sold

on eBay from

March to July

At the venues, merch lines were long — inside and at trucks parked outside. Justin Paul, a DJ, producer and creative director who teaches music business courses at UCLA Extension, came up with a conservative estimate — $864,000 for each show — for Swift’s merch sales inside venues by using the number of people at each show and an average of how much concertgoers typically spend on merch. Still, Swift is a special case.

Average amount each

Eras Tour attendee spent

Food/drinks:

Travel/lodging:

“You look at how much consumers are spending to see Taylor Swift, and it is quite an astonishing amount,” said Dan Fleetwood, president of research and insights at QuestionPro. “And not only are they spending this money, but in a lot of cases, they’re saying they would gladly do it again.”

Judging by the QuestionPro survey respondents, the average fan spent nearly $1,300 on outfits, travel, tickets and extras for the concert.

All of that Swiftie spending meant restaurants, shops and security firms had to keep up. One solution: hiring temporary workers while the tour is in town.

“When Taylor Swift comes to town, she brings a surge of economic activity,” said Daniel Altman, chief economist at Instawork, which allows businesses to employ workers by the hour.

in demand for hourly

workers within

a half-mile of Swift’s Boston-area shows

in demand for

hourly workers within

a half-mile of Swift’s

Boston-area shows

Not only are there more jobs in and around Eras stadiums, but they pay better, too: The average hourly rate offered on Instawork within a five-mile radius of Swift’s May 13 show in Philadelphia was $20.57, $2 higher than usual.

There have been longer-term lifts in employment, too. In Los Angeles, Swift’s six-day stop was estimated to generate enough revenue to fund 3,300 new jobs, according to the California Center for Jobs and the Economy. That would be enough to staff every bookstore and news stand in the L.A. area.

enough to staff

every bookstore and

news stand in L.A.

Swift also passed on some of that karma — and cash — to her employees.

She gave every truck driver on the tour an extra $100,000 this summer, and she gifted bonuses to sound technicians, caterers, dancers and other staff, People magazine reported in August .

$55 million

in bonuses to Eras Tour workers,

including dancers, sound technicians

and caterers

Swift may have been the main event, but fans shelled out for days of related festivities, with plenty of small businesses happy to bask in her afterglow. There were tour-inspired ice cream flavors in Pennsylvania , bonbons in Colorado and lattes in New Hampshire .

In Washington state, Neko Cat Cafe hosted feline-friendly “Taylor listening parties” at its two locations to commemorate the tour’s arrival. The small business made over $3,000 from the event, with ticket sales at its Bellingham location — almost 90 miles north of Seattle — 140 percent higher than on a typical Friday night.

Forty cats, all available for adoption, wore Swift-themed bandanas while humans drank glittery wine and ate “Lover”-themed cookies. Tickets, at $40 a pop, promptly sold out.

140% increase

in ticket sales at Neko Cat Cafe

in Bellingham, Wash.

That Midas touch extended around the country: In California, Susie Cakes sold $50,000 worth of Swift-themed cupcakes. Seattle’s Japonessa Sushi Cocina dished out $10,000 in “Reputation” sushi rolls and glitter-filled cocktails. And in Kansas City, Donutology filled orders for 20,000 Eras-themed donuts, which became a staple at “Tayl-gating” parties in the parking lot before Swift hit the stage.

In Minneapolis, Inbound Brew Co. racked up twice as much money than on a normal weekend when it hosted three nights of Eras-related festivities this summer, including trivia games, live-band karaoke and a dance party, according to general manager Emily Elmer.

“This was bigger for us than when the Super Bowl came to town in 2018,” she said.

The first leg of her North American tour may be over, but Swift can’t stop, won’t stop moving … this time into movie theaters and football stadiums (when athletes are actually on the field). She has become a recognizable figure at Kansas City Chiefs games to watch her rumored paramour, tight end Travis Kelce. Her appearances have caused sales of Kelce’s jersey to jump and, in at least one case, NFL ticket prices to rise after rumors Swift would be in attendance, according to NPR.

$37 million

in tickets sold for the Eras Tour concert film

in the first day of pre-sales at AMC, Regal

and Cinemark theaters

in tickets sold for the

Eras Tour concert film in the

first day of pre-sales at AMC,

Regal and Cinemark theaters

Eras Tour concert film

in the first day of pre-sales

at AMC, Regal and

Cinemark theaters

Eras, too, is onto its next phase. In November, the pop star will take her 146-show tour international, with stops in South America, Asia, Australia and Europe. But first, Swift heads to the movies — where global pre-sales have already surpassed $100 million, according to AMC. Fans, the movie chain said, are turning up “from the largest cities to the smallest towns.”

Long story short: Swift’s economic dominance is about to begin again.

About this story:

The following songs are referenced in this story:

Abha Bhattarai became a Swiftie during the pandemic, when she listened to “Evermore” and “Folklore” on repeat.

Rachel Lerman managed to get tickets for Swift’s Munich show, where she will be embracing her “1989” era.

Emily Sabens became a Swiftie at age 10 while performing songs from the debut album in her basement with her cousin. She was blessed with “Haunted” as a surprise song at the Eras Tour in Detroit.

Editing by Karly Domb Sadof (who is still trying to get her Eras Tour tickets), Betty Chavarria (who has a song named after her), Jennifer Liberto (mom of a Swiftie), Mike Madden (who is not a Swiftie — yet), Paola Ruano (who is going to the Eras Tour for a second time in London) and Haley Hamblin (who promises to finally listen to 1989 soon).

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Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour breaks record as highest-grossing music tour ever

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is officially the highest-grossing music tour ever, becoming the first to surpass $1 billion dollars in revenue.

The tour, which began in March 2023 and is set to conclude in December 2024 after a total of 151 shows worldwide, has earned $1.04 billion (£840 million) to date, according to Pollstar.

This breaks the record set by Elton John’s five-year farewell tour which ended earlier this year, bringing in $939 million (£749 million) over 328 shows. 

Swift’s sixth concert tour is in fact so popular that it has earned more than this year’s next two highest-grossing tours (Beyoncé’s and Bruce Springsteen’s) combined.

Beyoncé’s 56-date Renaissance World Tour broke Madonna’s 14-year-old record for the highest-grossing music tour by a female artist , earning $579 million (£468 million) between May and October, before The Eras Tour subsequently took the title.

Described by Swift as a journey through all her musical “eras”, each show is over 3.5 hours long with a set list of 44 songs divided into 10 acts.

It has received immensely positive reviews from critics, who have heaped praise on the production’s concept and quality, as well as Swift’s performances.

Her devoted fanbase, the Swifties, have turned out in full force to see their idol, crashing ticketing sites, selling out hotels, and even causing earthquake-like seismic activity at certain shows, as happened in Seattle in July.

With roughly 72,000 people in attendance at each concert, and tickets averaging around $238, the tour is grossing over $17 million per show.

According to Pollstar, 4.3 million tickets have been sold to date, and at this trajectory, the tour could realistically rake in over $2 billion dollars if all the remaining scheduled shows are played.

Merchandise has also proven to be a lucrative source of revenue, with estimates that it has brought in around $200 million so far.

The Eras Tour is just one of Swift’s many successes in 2023. In addition to recently being named Time ’s Person of the Year, and the re-recording of her decade-old 1989 being the best-selling album of the year, she has broken multiple world records.

In June, she was awarded the record for the most simultaneous albums on the US Billboard 200 for a living artist, with 10 of her albums charting at the same time.

She then broke several more records in July : 

• Most US No.1 albums by a female artist – 12 
• Most US singles chart entries (female) – 212
• Most Top 10 debuts on the US Hot 100 (female) – 31
• Most simultaneous new entries on the Hot 100 (female) – 26
• Most cumulative weeks at No.1 on US albums charts (solo female) – 63

And in August, she made history with the most monthly listeners on Spotify (female) , becoming the first female artist to amass 100 million.

With plans to release more music and continue on her record-breaking tour, we’ve no doubt that Taylor Swift will achieve many more Guinness World Records titles in 2024!

Want more? Follow us on Google News  and across our social media channels to stay up-to-date with all things Guinness World Records! You can find us on Facebook , Twitter/X , Instagram , Threads ,  TikTok , LinkedIn , and Snapchat Discover . Don't forget to check out our videos on YouTube  and become part of our group chat by following the Guinness World Records  WhatsApp channel . Still not had enough? Click here  to buy our latest book, filled to the brim with stories about our amazing record breakers.

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Tina Knowles praises Beyoncé and Taylor Swift for boosting the economy. See how much their tours have made

Tina Knowles is celebrating two of 2023’s hottest tickets — Beyoncé’s “Renaissance Tour” and Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour.”

On Instagram , Knowles shared a screenshot of a Facebook post from New York Times , which linked out to an article that detailed the economic and cultural impact of her daughter Beyoncé’s tour.

In the caption of her post, Knowles wrote, “This is so awesome ! To b able to stimulate the economy is no small feat! @beyonce.”

Knowles also gave a sweet nod to Swift in her caption, adding, “And ! @taylorswift ! Just being young women and being able to say this , is so awesome!!! Proud of them both !”

Beyoncé and Swift’s tours overlapped in the United States during the summer. Both were a pop culture sensation, with social media platforms inundated by various trends coming out of each tour.

For Swift’s “Eras Tour,” friendship bracelets and DIY themed costumes became the norm while Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” world tour birthed the “mute” challenge and had concertgoers following her request for a silver theme in celebration of Virgo season.

With Beyoncé’s tour wrapping up on Oct. 1 and Swift’s on-going tour resuming Nov. 9 in Argentina, both tours have already generated millions of dollars along the way.

Read on to learn more about each tour's economic impact.

How much has the “Renaissance Tour” made?

Beyoncé’s “Renaissance Tour” kicked off May 10 in Sweden and will conclude Oct. 1 in Kansas City. Before the tour kicked off, Forbes estimated that Beyoncé would earn nearly $2.1 billion from her tour.

The “Cuff It” singer’s tour set multiple records over the summer, including back-to-back records for the highest one-month gross in history in both July and August, according to a Sept. report by Billboard .

In July, she grossed $127.6 million and in August, that number increased to $179 million. The outlet also reported the “Renaissance Tour” became the highest grossing tour by a female artist, surpassing Madonna's “Sticky & Sweet Tour” with $461.3 million.

During the “Renaissance Tour,” Beyoncé also gave back $2 million to students and small business through her charity foundation, BeyGOOD. Half of the donations went to entrepreneurs, with luncheons hosted by BeyGOOD the day before each show for a chance to win a $100 thousand grant. The other portion of the $2 million donation was allocated to the Renaissance Scholarship Fund.

Beyoncé’s tour spawned several special moments over the course of its run, including a special tribute to the late Tina Turner , a birthday surprise from Diana Ross , as well as numerous performances alongside her eldest daughter, Blue Ivy.

It was also a hotspot for celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio, Vanessa Bryant, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, and more.

How much has the “Eras Tour” made?

Swift’s “Eras Tour” originally ran from March 17 through August 9. Throughout the year, Swift added on additional dates including several international dates in 2023 and 2024 as well as additional 2024 dates in the United States and internationally. 

While Swift’s tour still has 13 months to go, so far it’s been estimated she's earned $1 billion in sales , with Pollstar estimating the singer will exceed $1.4 billion in the new year .

Swift's economic impact far has exceeded solely ticket sales, too. The tour also increased revenue for hotels across the country, with fans flocking to each city to experience her career-sprawling performances.

It was also reported Swift made several donations with her tour’s earnings, including donating to local food banks at each stop and gifting $100,000 bonus checks to her truck drivers at the end of the U.S. leg of the tour.

The singer’s tour is also set to hit the big screen in the United States, and now internationally. In a press release, AMC said that it took less than 24 hours for the film to “shatter AMC’s U.S. record for the highest ticket-sales revenue during a single day in AMC’s 103-year history.”

Swift’s “Eras Tour” was not without its faults though.

The singer spoke out against Ticketmaster after fans struggled to obtain tickets to the tour due to “historically unprecedented demand” causing the website to crash. The debacle sparked public scrutiny, including questions from senators , and elicited changes from the company before Beyoncé’s “Renaissance Tour” tickets went on sale.

Francesca Gariano is a New York City-based freelance journalist reporting on culture, entertainment, beauty, lifestyle and wellness. She is a freelance contributor to TODAY.com, where she covers pop culture and breaking news.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour will be the first to shatter $1 billion in ticket sales, making a lot of people richer: ‘The dollar bill should have her face on it’

Taylor Swift wrapped up the first U.S. leg of her record-shattering Eras Tour this week, part one of the world-spanning concert series that is projected to become the first tour to gross $1 billion in ticket sales . According to some calculations , ticket revenue will far surpass that 10-figure mark, hitting $1.5 billion.

But even that impressive figure may be undercutting the final totals: Additional tour dates go on sale on Ticketmaster Thursday for recently announced North American shows, bringing the Eras Tour total to 140-plus dates over 20 months. It’s possible Swift could add even more shows, as she has done multiple times already, and earn even more in ticket revenue.

If—or more likely, when—she crosses $1 billion, she’ll take the crown of highest-grossing tour of all time from Elton John, who became the record-holder this year when his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour grossed over $900 million after wrapping up in June, according to Billboard Boxscore, the industry’s gross sales tracker.

The math of that billion-dollar–plus gross works out something like this: With an average ticket price of $253.56 (that’s the face value; Swift doesn’t get a cut of the astronomical resale prices), according to live music trade publication Pollstar, Swift has sold over $600 million in gross ticket sales in the U.S. alone over 53 shows (and that could be a conservative estimate given the differing capacity of venues).

While tickets are often less expensive in other countries, some international venues, like Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia, can also hold more concertgoers. With over 80 dates abroad planned over the next 15 months—plus another, smaller run in the U.S. after that—Swift will easily surpass $1 billion in gross sales if she performs them all, putting her ahead of Elton John and making her the sole woman on the list of top-grossing tours.

It’s quite the feat for someone who started out as a teenager singing country songs about breakups and best friends. Over the past 17 years, Swift has become one of the richest self-made women on the planet, with Forbes estimating her net worth at $740 million in June of this year. That’s only growing the longer she’s on tour.

“She’s self-made, and it’s amazing that she’s gone from just a girl with a guitar to being a great performer and probably the most powerful entertainer on the planet, bar none,” says David Herlihy, a teaching professor at Northeastern University and coordinator of the school’s music industry program.

But Swift won’t pocket the full gross from the tour. Between the cost of putting on the show, the hundreds of people working on it, and other stakeholders, she’ll net significantly less than the total ticket sales (although she has other tour-related revenue streams—including sponsorships, merchandise, and music sales—that are also adding to her bottom line). After all, the pop star isn’t the only person behind the show—there are countless people working on the tour, from promotion to set design to logistics, who will get a cut of the tour’s revenue.

Here’s how that might play out.

A breakdown of the Eras Tour pie

Swift is managing to earn so much in such a short time (she’s expected to hit $1 billion in less than two years of touring) thanks to inflation and demand. The average $254 ticket price (and again, that’s face value) is more than double the average for her last tour in 2018. That’s in part because all concerts cost more in 2023 than they did a few years ago and because of the unprecedented demand to see her shows—since she last toured, she’s released four new albums and two rereleases (with another, 1989 Taylor’s Version , on the way). Fans are hungry to hear their favorite songs live.

“Most of the money goes to the artist. They have the power,” says Herlihy. “She actually charges less than what the market will bear, but it’s still a lot.”

The U.S. presale crashed Ticketmaster, which did not even host a general sale since tickets sold out immediately. Swift is also touring in stadiums alone, including up to six nights at a single venue in places like L.A. Many of those venues—such as MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and Nissan Stadium in Nashville —have reported record-breaking attendance at the Eras shows. She has been the first act to perform more than one night on a single tour in some cities as well, increasing her total show count and adding to her revenues.

Exactly how concert ticket sales are divided up is different for every artist, venue, country and its tax laws, event size, and so on. But generally, it’s split among the artist, their management team and other employees, venues, promoters, and taxes, as well as fixed expenses like rigging, security, transportation, and so on. Artists also have to pay out songwriter royalties when they perform, and Swift, who writes or cowrites all of her songs, gets a portion of that, as do any cowriters.

Without seeing her contracts, it’s impossible to know the exact breakdown of sales. Big artists known to sell out venues typically get paid a guaranteed rate to tour a certain number of dates. But Swift is a unique artist—“stratospheric,” as Herlihy put it—so it is possible she has a unique agreement with promoters and venues, such as the guaranteed minimum rate and then an additional percentage of ticket sales beyond that.

“With someone like Taylor Swift, there’s no risk whatsoever that her tickets won’t sell out,” says Herlihy. “Oftentimes, promoters will pay her more than the face value of the tickets. She may get 110% of the face value.”

Swift took the unusual step of not reporting her nightly figures to Billboard Boxscore, meaning the numbers available are all estimates from outlets like Billboard and Pollstar , but the costs associated with a tour the size of Eras will roughly break down to this:

Pre-tour expenses

Before the tour even kicks off, artists need to pay for rehearsal space. The specifics for the Eras Tour aren’t public knowledge yet, but Swift’s 1989 World Tour required three months of rehearsals, including four weeks of stage rehearsals and 10 days of dress rehearsals, according to the documentary about that event .

Then there’s the set design. Swift’s stage transforms for each of her “eras,” or different albums, sometimes more than once for a single set of songs. The show involves three different stages, lights, LED backgrounds, stage hydraulics, and pyrotechnics, among other elements , requiring tech and sound crews to devise and operate. The 1989 Tour employed hundreds of people to make it work.

Fixed expenses

There are thousands of moving components for a tour the size of Eras, and the “fixed” expenses on a tour are many, including sound engineers, security, transportation of stages and equipment, scaffolding, catering, medical staff, dancers, backup singers, the band, riggers, hotels for the crew and drivers, etc.

The cost for many of these components, especially transportation, has increased recently, given inflation. Michael Scherkenbach, founder and president of Shomotion LLC, one of the companies transporting Eras Tour equipment in the U.S., told Fortune he was bound by nondisclosure agreements and could not discuss how much it costs to transport the stage around the U.S., but the Guardian reported that it could cost upwards of $750,000 per day.

It will likely cost more than that to transport the stage and equipment internationally, requiring cargo ships or planes to move everything. Beyoncé’s last world tour, for example, reportedly required seven Boeing 747 air freighters and more than 70 trucks.

“There’s a lot of money coming off the top,” says Herlihy. “Perhaps 25% to 40% of the ticket revenue goes to cover the expensive touring.”

In its annual report for 2022 , Live Nation Entertainment, which owns Ticketmaster and promotes artists, says it may “reimburse artists for certain costs of production, such as sound and lights.” Exactly what comes out of the promoter’s cut and what comes out of the artist’s varies from contract to contract. Swift is working with promoter Messina Touring Group , which could get a cut of the sales.

Swift will also need to pay her management company, in this case 13 Management, which is run in part by her parents, Scott and Andrea Swift.

Typically a booking agent is also involved, but Swift did not employ one for the Eras Tour—a major cost savings. The demand was so high for the concerts—see: Ticketmaster’s break down —that a booking agent wasn’t needed.

The venues themselves—the stadiums Swift performs in—take a cut of ticket sales or a fixed fee as rental income, according to Live Nation’s annual report for 2022.

They also “receive some or all of the revenue from concessions, merchandise, parking, and premium seating.” Live Nation owns and operates some venues, so the company makes money this way as well.

The impact of the U.S. leg of the Eras Tour will be included in Live Nation’s 2023 annual report.

Also not included in the $1 billion–plus figure: merchandise sales. At every show—and even days before —fans have waited in hours-long lines to buy T-shirts, posters, and sweatshirts donning Swift’s face and commemorating the tour. As noted above, the venues get a cut of the merch sales, which can be as high as 30%, says Herlihy. Swift could easily pull in tens of millions of dollars from merch sales at her shows, and that’s a conservative estimate. Fans and resellers have been buying out the concert merch at every show.

“Taylor can negotiate that percentage down, so maybe the venue is only getting 20%,” Herlihy says. “She’s a merchandising juggernaut, a merchandising machine. She makes a lot of money.”

Universal Music Group (UMG), Swift’s record label, is in charge of her merchandise and also gets a cut of sales. In its earnings call for the second quarter of 2023 last month, the company called out the “Swift Lift.”

“Merchandising revenue grew 12% in the quarter, with growth in direct-to-consumer revenue, fueled by a strong performance from Taylor Swift, more than offsetting a decline in touring revenue,” Boyd Muir, UMG's chief financial officer, said on the call .

Swift also sells merch for the tour on her website and encourages fans to buy from there with a discount code provided after they attend the tour in person.

Ticket fees

The fees that concertgoers pay to the likes of Ticketmaster, primary seller for the majority of U.S. shows, can add significantly to the total price of attending. The ticketing company “generally gets paid a fixed fee per ticket sold or a percentage of the total ticket service charges,” according to Live Nation. That said, the artist also gets a cut of the fees, according to Herlihy.

Live Nation controls not only the ticket distribution for many shows, it also owns, leases, operates, or has exclusive booking rights for hundreds of venues around the world, according to its annual report. That means it can require artists who want to play in those venues to use Ticketmaster to sell tickets to those shows. Since the start of the Eras Tour and multiple screwups during the presale, that’s put them under public and congressional scrutiny, with fans and lawmakers saying it’s unfair for one company to control so much of the live events market.

Sponsorships

The Eras Tour is sponsored by Capital One , a company with which Swift has had a long relationship. Swift will get a significant payday for that, and has appeared in Capital One commercials.

The Eras Tour—coupled with the release of new versions of her first six albums—has led to renewed interest in some of Swift’s extensive catalog, resulting in increased streams as well as sales of physical vinyls and CDs.

And the tour has proved to be a brilliant marketing opportunity for another project of Swift’s— rerecording her first six albums . The goodwill from the tour is helping to make the pop star even more popular, which in turn likely boosted sales of her latest rerelease, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) , which came out last month during the Eras Tour run and sold more than her previous rerecorded albums.

Of course, UMG also benefits from the bump in records Swift has made under her contract. JPMorgan credited her album Midnights, which came out in October 2022, with generating $230 million in sales for the company—close to 3% of its annual revenues from recorded music, per Bloomberg .

Ticket resellers

Swift doesn’t get a cut of tickets that are resold on sites like StubHub, so the resale values don’t figure into the $1 billion–plus total. But resellers have made out handsomely on this tour.

“Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour demand is like nothing we’ve ever seen in the 20-plus years StubHub has been operating,” the ticket reseller told Fortune in a statement, noting she has outsold her previous tour, Reputation, 11-fold.

According to TicketIQ , a no-fee ticket seller, the secondary market average list price for the Eras Tour was $2,183 in early August, compared with an average face value of $253.56, according to Pollstar. Tickets for the U.S. dates maxed out at $499 (VIP packages cost as much as $899), and Swift opted not to turn on dynamic pricing for the sale, meaning she left a ton of money on the table, given the unprecedented demand.

Local economies

Local economies have benefited greatly from the Eras Tour, as has been widely documented , through increased consumer spending on hotels, restaurants, and more. They also benefit from taxes on the tickets, which are typically included in the face value .

And Swift herself has been generous, donating to food banks in each city she visits and giving bonuses reported to be upwards of $55 million to crew members.

Swift herself

Swift can more than afford to make such donations. While it’s unclear exactly how much she’ll take home, the singer will earn, conservatively, hundreds of millions of dollars from the Eras Tour, given all of the different revenue streams.

On ticket sales alone, the Eras Tour could surpass all five of her previous tours combined. The Reputation Tour was her previous highest gross, at $345.7 million, according to Billboard .

“The dollar bill should have her face on it,” jokes Herlihy. “She’s the point one percent, the pinnacle. If capitalism is evolution, survival of the fittest, she is the fittest.”

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Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is the first tour to gross over $1 billion, Pollstar says

Taylor Swift’s incomparable year has reached another milestone — the concert trade publication Pollstar says Swift’s Eras Tour has earned more than $1 billion.

FILE - Taylor Swift performs at the Monumental stadium during her Eras Tour concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is the first tour to cross the billion-dollar mark, according to Pollstar’s 2023 year-end charts.

Not only was Swift’s landmark Eras Tour the No. 1 tour both worldwide and in North America, but she also brought in a whopping $1.04 billion with 4.35 million tickets sold across 60 tour dates, the concert trade publication found.

Pollstar data is pulled from box office reports, venue capacity estimates, historical Pollstar venue ticket sales data, and other undefined research, collected from Nov. 17, 2022 to Nov. 15, 2023.

Representatives for the publication did not immediately clarify if they adjusted past tour data to match 2023 inflation in naming Swift the first to break the billion-dollar threshold.

Pollstar also found that Swift brought in approximately $200 million in merch sales and her blockbuster film adaptation of the tour, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” has reportedly earned approximately $250 million in sales, making it the highest-grossing concert film of all time.

According to their estimates, Pollstar predicts a big 2024 for Swift as well. The magazine projects the Eras Tour will once again reach $1 billion within their eligibility window, meaning Swift is likely to bring in over $2 billion over the span of the tour.

Worldwide, Swift’s tour was followed by Beyoncé in second, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band in third, Coldplay in fourth, Harry Styles in fifth, and Morgan Wallen, Ed Sheeran, Pink, The Weeknd and Drake.

In North America, there was a similar top 10: Swift, followed by Beyoncé, Morgan Wallen, Drake, P!nk, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Ed Sheeran, George Strait, Karol G, and RBD.

Beyond the Swift of it all, 2023 was a landmark year for concert sales: worldwide, the top 100 tours of the year saw a 46% jump from last year, bringing in $9.17 billion compared to 2022’s $6.28 billion.

In North America, that number jumped from $4.77 billion last year to $6.63 billion.

Earlier this week, Swift was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year . Last month, Apple Music named her its artist of the year ; Spotify revealed she was 2023’s most-streamed artist globally , raking in more than 26.1 billion streams since Jan. 1 and beating Bad Bunny’s three-year record.

Consider 2023 a year of incredible pop music dominance — (Taylor’s Version.)

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Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is set to earn a record-breaking $1 billion in sales—here are the 10 highest-grossing tours

Taylor Swift is already one of the highest-paid entertainers in the world , but now it looks like her Eras Tour could be the highest-grossing tour of all time, earning a record-setting $1 billion in sales.

Swift's stadium concert tour — which features sprawling 40-song sets with elaborate staging, choreography and over a dozen costume changes — is expected to eclipse Elton John's farewell tour in terms of gross revenue for tickets, merchandise and sponsorships, as reported by the Wall Street Journal .

Exactly how much Swift's tour has earned is unclear, as it hasn't been reporting nightly grosses to Billboard Boxscore, which tracks concert tour data.

Last December, Billboard estimated that Swift's tour would gross $590 million based on 52 tour dates. But with recently added concerts in Latin America, Asia, Australia and Europe through 2024, the tour has a total of at least 106 dates, for now.

This suggests that over $1 billion in total gross revenue is likely. With the added dates, another estimate has Swift taking in a total of $1.4 billion in gross revenue, according to concert data tracker Pollstar .

Have any other artists come close to that amount? Here's a look at the 10 highest-grossing concert tours, based on Billboard Boxscore's most recent data as of April 20, 2023.

• Elton John — Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour (2018-20, 22-present) : $853 million
• Ed Sheeran — The ÷ (Divide) Tour (2017-19) : $776 million
• U2 — U2 360° Tour (2009-11) : $736 million
• Guns N' Roses — Not in This Lifetime... Tour (2016-19) : $584 million
• The Rolling Stones — A Bigger Bang Tour (2005-07) : $558 million
• The Rolling Stones — No Filter Tour (2017-19, 21) : $547 million
• Coldplay — A Head Full of Dreams Tour (2016-17) : $524 million
• Roger Waters — The Wall Live (2010-13) : $459 million
• AC/DC — Black Ice World Tour (2008-10) : $442 million
• Harry Styles — Love on Tour (2021-present) :$418 million

The success of Swift's tour is not surprising. When tickets first went on sale in November 2022, Ticketmaster's website crashed from all the traffic . During the first day of ticket sales, the Eras Tour sold over 2.4 million tickets, the most sold by an artist in a single day, according to Ticketmaster .

Tickets for the Eras Tour range from $50 to $899 for the most expensive VIP package. However, in the resale market tickets are much pricier, as even the cheapest seats go for $1,000, according to Axios .

Including other expenses like clothing, hotel accommodations and travel arrangements, concert-goers spend $1,300 on average to attend the tour, according to a recent survey by QuestionPro, a research company.  

Based on the survey's findings, total spending on Taylor Swift's tour in 2023 is expected to be around $5 billion. That's larger than the gross domestic product of 50 countries, according to Billboard.

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Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ Becomes Highest-Grossing Concert Film of All Time, Surpassing Michael Jackson

By Steven J. Horowitz

Steven J. Horowitz

Senior Music Writer

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Taylor Swift is starting off 2024 with yet another historic milestone under her belt.

Following the release of “ Taylor Swift : The Eras Tour” to United States theaters on October 13, Swift’s movie is officially the highest-grossing film in box office history among concert and documentary films with more than $261.6 million earned globally. The feat comes a week after “The Eras Tour” opened in China , with a tally of $8.7 million following its debut on December 31.

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Swift’s latest accomplishment comes after a non-traditional release for “The Eras Tour.” Instead of opting for distribution from a major studio, she partnered with AMC Theatres , the world’s largest cinema chain. This allowed for Swift, as a producer on the movie, to reap about 57% of ticket sales, while theaters kept the remaining revenue and AMC took a small distribution fee. AMC didn’t exclusively screen the film, though, as it played in 3,855 theaters throughout the U.S. and Canada and 4,527 venues internationally.

“On behalf of all of us at AMC Theatres, I send my congratulations and eternal gratitude to Taylor Swift for her remarkable and record-setting box office performance with ‘ Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour ‘ concert film,” says AMC Chairman and CEO Adam Aron. “Her spectacular performance delighted fans around the world and serves as another strong reminder about the power of extraordinary filmmaking and magic of movie theaters.”

Swift mania shows no signs of slowing down, as the pop superstar plans to resume her Eras Tour on Feb. 7 with a four-night stint at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. She’ll tour the world throughout the year, concluding the trek in Vancouver, BC in December.

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How The Eras Tour Could Boost Taylor Swift's Net Worth

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Taylor Swift performs "The Eras Tour" held at Allegiant Stadium on March 24, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The tour that crashed Ticketmaster is on track to bring in $1.4 billion, according to a new report. Forbes breaks down how much the pop star could pocket.

Taylor Swift could be getting close to entering her “billionaire” era, thanks to ticket sales from The Eras Tour.

The first 22 performances grossed over $300 million—making the show the highest-grossing tour in North America and around the world from November 17 2022 to May 17, 2023 —according to mid-year reports released Monday by Pollstar, a trade publication dedicated to the touring industry.

Forbes estimates Swift has grossed nearly $110 million from these performances so far, after paying concert promoter Messina Touring Group and production costs. But that’s not what she’ll personally deposit in the bank. She still has to pay taxes and expenses, like for her manager, publicist and agent. When the bills are paid, Forbes estimates she has earned roughly $30 million from The Eras Tour performances so far, lifting her net worth to $780 million, including real estate and other assets .

A representative for Swift did not respond to Forbes’ request for comment.

The Eras Tour is already twice as big as the second top-grossing tour worldwide—Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band’s $142 million, 36-date run—by a factor of two. Harry Styles’ Love On Tour, the third highest-grossing act worldwide, brought in $124 million from 34 performances.

And Eras is showing no signs of slowing down. With an average gross of $13.6 million per show, the North American leg of The Eras Tour could gross over $700 million overall. That number gets even higher when factoring in the 50-plus international performances.

Pollstar is already estimating that Eras could eventually hit a record-breaking $1.4 billion when it ends in August 2024. That, along with earnings from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) , a re-record of her 2010 album that drops next week, could push the singer’s net worth to around $900 million next year.

Looks like it’s not going to be a “cruel summer” after all.

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Taylor Swift May Earn $4.1 Billion From Her Eras Tour

The singer must be feeling pretty bejeweled right about now., tori latham, tori latham's most recent stories.

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Taylor Swift might have finished the first leg of her Eras Tour, but that doesn’t mean her money-making era has come to an end.

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“You look at how much consumers are spending to see Taylor Swift, and it is quite an astonishing amount,” Dan Fleetwood, the president of research and insights at QuestionPro, told the Post . “And not only are they spending this money, but in a lot of cases, they’re saying they would gladly do it again.”

Fleetwood’s company surveyed 592 Swifties and estimated that fans spent about $93 million per show on everything from tickets to merch to food to travel. That all adds up to a $5.7 billion influx to the U.S. economy, with individual cities seeing an additional millions of dollars each. For example, the California Center for Jobs and the Economy predicted a $320 million bump for Los Angeles County. The Common Sense Institute, which looks at Colorado’s economy, expected Denver to get a $140 million boost.

Throughout the country, hotels, restaurants, and other local businesses around Eras Tour stops saw the benefits. In Seattle , downtown hotels set a record for single-day revenue, bringing in $7.4 million. Small businesses that hosted Swift-themed events or sold items related to the tour saw extra profits of $10,000 or even $50,000. And around the stadiums where Swift performed, there were more jobs with better pay than usual.

“The [Eras Tour] was a shot in the arm to a part of the regional economy that’s really been lagging,” Mike Kahoe, the chief economist for California’s Center for Jobs and the Economy, told The Washington Post . “It brought some much-needed dollars to the tourism industry.”

It may have been Taylor Swift’s summer, but it’s on track to be her year, too.

Tori Latham is a digital staff writer at Robb Report. She was previously a copy editor at The Atlantic, and has written for publications including The Cut and The Hollywood Reporter. When not…

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The Federal Reserve says Taylor Swift's Eras Tour boosted the economy. One market research firm estimates she could add $5 billion

By Caitlin O'Kane

Edited By Faris Tanyos

July 18, 2023 / 5:09 PM EDT / CBS News

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia announced this month that Taylor Swift's tour helped boost travel and tourism in the region, a claim also made by several other U.S. cities regarding the musician's widely popular concerts . 

Market research firm QuestionPro estimated last month that her tour could help add $5 billion to the worldwide economy. 

Following the pop star's Eras Tour stop in Philadelphia in May, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, one of the reserve's 12 regional banks, said in its "Beige Book" that tourism in the area continued to show slight growth.

"Despite the slowing recovery in tourism in the region overall, one contact highlighted that May was the strongest month for hotel revenue in Philadelphia since the onset of the pandemic, in large part due to an influx of guests for the Taylor Swift concerts in the city," the reserve wrote in the Beige Book, which is published by the regional banks to share information about the state of the economy. 

Chicago's tourism and conventions bureau announced last month the city set a record for occupied hotel rooms, thanks in part to Taylor Swift's three sold-out nights of concerts at Soldier Field. An annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting was also being held in the city, as well as the James Beard Awards and other events. 

This just in! 🚨 Chicago set its new all-time record for total hotel rooms occupied! Thanks to three nights of Taylor Swift, the ASCO Annual Meeting, the James Beard Awards and more. This isn’t just post-pandemic–we had more rooms filled than ever in Chicago’s history! pic.twitter.com/OqEGB3ZB2C — Choose Chicago (@ChooseChicago) June 7, 2023

With the COVID-19 pandemic over, events appear to be attracting guests and raking in money at or above pre-pandemic levels. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said hotel revenue figures for 2023 have already reached $308 million, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. 

Cincinatti saw a boost when Swift was in town. 

"Taylor Swift is a force to be reckoned with," Julie Calvert, president and CEO of Visit Cincy, told WKRC. "The economic impact Swift creates is staggering, as fans travel from far and wide to attend her concerts, filling hotels, restaurants, and local attractions. Swift's influence on tourism is a testament to her ability to captivate audiences and drive economic growth." 

The weekend Swift performed, downtown Cincinnati hotels grossed $2.6 million, according to the local CBS affiliate 

Santiago Corrada, CEO of Visit Tampa Bay,  told WTOG , a CBS affiliate, that Swift's concerts had a "huge impact." 

"I would say on the hotel side of things, pretty similar to a Super Bowl," Corrada said.

The Eras Tour has grossed more than $300 million so far according to PollStar , a trade publication for the live music industry. More than 1.1 million tickets have been sold at an average price of $253.

In a survey of 596 people , QuestionPro found that Swift concertgoers spent an average of $1,300 per show on expenses like tickets, outfits, travel and food — which was an average of $720 higher than their intended budget. 

Still, 71% said it was worth it, and 91% said they'd go again.

An influx of Beyoncé fans for two May shows in Stockholm, Sweden, also made an economic impact there. Hotel prices skyrocketed and inflation was bumped up 0.2% that month, Danske Bank Chief Economist Michael Grahn  told  the Financial Times, describing her impact on the economy as "very rare." 

"Beyoncé is responsible for the extra upside surprise this month," Grahn told the Financial Times. "It's quite astonishing for a single event. We haven't seen this before." 

Forbes projected that  Beyonce's Renaissance Tour could gross $2 billion , while Swift's Eras Tour could gross $1.6 billion. 

• Taylor Swift

Caitlin O'Kane is a New York City journalist who works on the CBS News social media team as a senior manager of content and production. She writes about a variety of topics and produces "The Uplift," CBS News' streaming show that focuses on good news.

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How much is Taylor Swift making from the Australian concerts of her Eras tour?

It is estimated the seven shows will earn the singer $35m on top of the expected $700m for her US concerts

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Australians will be playing their part in possibly inducting Taylor Swift into the billionaires club, with some industry insiders estimating the pop star could pocket as much as A$35m from the Australian leg of her Eras tour alone.

Estimates in the US put Swift’s earnings at an average of US$13.6m (A$20.5m) a show, based on an average ticket price of US$215, meaning she would gross more than US$700m from the 52 dates in the North American leg. That is without taking into account the more than 50 concerts she is performing around the world.

Some observers have estimated that a huge star like Swift could pocket about 40-60% of the profits a show, and that her North American leg generated more than US$2m in merchandise sales a concert.

An industry insider estimates that Swift will earn about $5m for each of her seven concerts in Australia, after her transport, accommodation, production and publicity costs, venue hire and management fees have been taken care of, and the ticketing partners have collected their share.

The insider said $5m a show was a reasonable ballpark figure, based on the average cost of a ticket, multiplied by the two venues’ capacity over seven shows, and less all the associated costs, which the industry keeps close to its chest on the grounds of commercial in confidence.

A huge rise in the costs of touring live music could however eat into Swift’s potential $35m Australian payday. Evelyn Richardson, the chief executive of Live Music Australia, said the costs of putting a major show on the road have risen by 30% since the country emerged from pandemic lockdowns.

“This is what the promoters are telling us, that there are major supply chain issues and significant increases in freight costs,” she said. “We’ve also got a rise in inflation, and we know ticket sales to live concerts are still down about 35% on pre-Covid figures, so rising costs and less demand has created a perfect storm.

“But a Taylor Swift concert is obviously in a different category, where demand is clearly outstripping supply when it comes to buying tickets.”

General sales for Swift’s four concerts at Sydney’s Accor Stadium and three concerts at Melbourne Cricket Ground sold out on Friday afternoon. The stadium capacity at the MCG will be more than 100,000, while Accor has a capacity of 83,500.

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When asked to comment on the costs and logistics of the Swift Australian tour, a spokesperson from Frontier said “no one is permitted from Frontier, or venues, ticketing agencies, partners, [to talk] on behalf of the tour”.

The Sydney and Melbourne-only tour has resulted in Virgin Australia reporting a 656% increase in bookings from Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth to the cities around the seven concert dates: 16-18 February in Melbourne at the MCG and 23-26 February in Sydney at the Accor Stadium.

By then, Swift will be nearing a year on the road, with the Eras tour having begun in the US in March.

Forbes, which put Swift’s net worth at US$570m in 2022, estimates that once she has paid her costs, the US leg of the tour will probably lift her net worth to $780m, including real estate and other assets. In May, CBS estimated the tour could lift her net worth by US$500m – and if Forbes’ estimates are correct, would make her a billionaire. The Wall Street Journal has predicted it could be the first global concert tour to generate more than US$1bn, breaking the record held by Elton John.

• Taylor Swift
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