Obviously the current dominating story with Taylor Swift is her budding romance with Travis Kelce. But that’s no excuse to let up the attention on how she’s a certified billionaire, is breaking all kinds of box office and concert ticket records, and has earned a Golden Globe nomination in a brand new category for her self-distributed Eras Tour concert film. As a birthday gift to Taylor, Guinness World Records announced that Eras Tour had become the highest-grossing music tour of all time. It feels incorrect to call this news, since we know she owns us all at this point. So let’s call it confirmation of an inherent truth. E! News rounded up some more facts and figures about this milestone:
Taylor Swift’s uber-popular Eras Tour has officially broken the record for the highest-grossing music tour of all time, Guinness World Records announced Dec. 12.
The Grammy winner’s concert series has reportedly become the first to make more than $1 billion in revenue — specifically, it has earned $1.04 billion in just nine months after opening in March 2023, Guinness notes, citing Pollstar. (Bloomberg also crowned Swift personally a billionaire in October.)
Before Swift’s achievement at age 33, Elton John, 76, held the record for highest-grossing tour thanks to his farewell concert series, which ended in Sweden in July 2023 after five years, reportedly making $939 million.
So, while there’s only so far new money goes, it’s clear Swift is going the distance. And she has more shows left, returning to the stage in Tokyo in February 2024, before heading to Australia, Singapore and then Europe.
For fans not able to make the trek (or score a stub on Ticketmaster), Swift also brought the experience to the big screen in October with the release of her Eras Tour movie. The concert film has brought in nearly $250 million worldwide in two months and will be available to rent on Prime Video Dec. 13.
Oh man, rub it in more, E! News. 33-year-old Taylor Swift + 9 months of touring = $1 billion whereas 76-year-old Elton John + 5 years of touring = $939 million. But it’s not like Taylor doesn’t work hard for her money. Later on the article quoted some parts of Taylor’s TIME Person of the Year interview where she talked about her training for the tour:
“I knew this tour was harder than anything I’d ever done before by a long shot,” she told TIME magazine in an interview published Dec. 6. “Every day I would run on the treadmill, singing the entire set list out loud. Fast for fast songs, and a jog or a fast walk for slow songs.”
The “Anti-Hero” singer then had three months of dance training, “because I wanted to get it in my bones,” she added. “I wanted to be so over-rehearsed that I could be silly with the fans, and not lose my train of thought.”
I love when artists talk shop about preparation and processes. And I especially love it when the method turns out to be “practice, practice, practice!” There’s often a magical notion out there that someone successful simply has something ineffable that makes them destined for achievement. Sure, people can have an “it” factor. But success comes down to doing the work, even when it’s repetitive or unglamorous. Even when it’s spending three hours everyday running on the treadmill while singing. And since I haven’t been on a treadmill in REDACTED years, that is the (one and only) reason why I am not as successful as Taylor Swift.
-
- Las Vegas, NV – “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” at Allegiant Stadium on March 24, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 24 MARCH 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Las Vegas, NV – “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” at Allegiant Stadium on March 24, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 24 MARCH 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Dallas, TX – American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performs at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 31 MARCH 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- New York, NY – Taylor Swift celebrated her 34th birthday in style in New York City, joined by Blake Lively, Miles Teller, and Keleigh Sperry. The evening began with a festive dinner at Freeman’s and continued with festivities at The Box. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 13 DECEMBER 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
photos credit: The Grosby Group/Backgrid and Getty
Don’t get the hype for this frequently problematic white woman at all.
You and I both.
💯
Michaelacat – Why do you have to highlight her race? Few public I guess are without fault
@V
Privilige.
And have you been on this blog before? Happens a lot and that includes people who have fewer problematic episodes than her.
Singing while running on the treadmill sounds like really good practice for a concert, actually. I used follow some k-pop bands and was always so impressed when they managed to produce any sounds coming close to their actual songs all while dancing super hard. It’s just hard to sing anything if you can’t maintain your breath.
That’s one of the reasons I like watching performances of BTS (and other Kpop groups).
They work sooooo hard on the dancing and performance side of things, that their perfomances are absolutely spectacular.
Now that all BTS members have enlisted in the army, I am not worried about them being able to handle it physically, after more than a decade of training for hours a day for their sometimes near acrobatic level performances 😀
@flowerlake
Yes BTS has already lived with extreme discipline and physical exertion. They’ll be fine
I’m not even going to lie, I cranked up the incline yesterday and walked briskly while singing the first 30 minutes of songs from Midnights and *phew*. And I’m just barely singing, not belting it out in concert lol.
She is soooooo Mediocre its shocking.
Except she’s clearly not.
Clearly she’s striking a chord somewhere and has some level of acumen, to be this level of successful for this long.
Doesn’t change our opinion on her mediocrity
She is white, a native English speaker, which helps massively with finding an audience, backed by the most powerful music industry in the world.
There are so many artists all around the world who don’t have 1% of the opportunities and privilige she has had.
McDonalds is popular too around the world. Are we going to act as if their food is amazingly delicious and great for your body?
@MichaelaCat…yuuuuuuuuuup, totally cosign this. and omg, i think your mcdonald comparison is gonna live rent free in my head😂, thanks for that 😄.
If this is mediocre then sign me up. Whenever people say this about her, I always wonder what they’ve accomplished while judging her from their sofa. Im not a swiftie but she has spent a LOT of time connecting with millions her fans online over the years, put on a great show that made millions of people happy in hard times, and took ownership of her own masters collection which was awesome to see.
I agree escondista
I mean, we can argue about her talent but one thing that’s not mediocre about her is her work ethic. She’s constantly making music, performing, creating something new.
People have been saying this about Madonna since she started.
She is still here.
Can’t be a billionaire and be mediocre
You never heard about Elon then?
(Really, what kind of weird logic is that?)
But as problematic and awful as Elon is, he is anything but mediocre. I would challenge anyone who thinks Taylor is mediocre to listen to the Midnights album (at least 6 times to let the songs sink in and attach themselves to you). She has grown and matured so much and her songs reflect that. The lyricism is so original to her own style, she has a cheeky sense of humour and self awareness and she has found a fantastic partner in Jack Antonoff. This is not something they’ve accomplished with mediocrity.
Elon IS mediocre.
Or did you think he founded Tesla? Check the history. He came from huge wealth compared to the great majority of the rest of the world.
Look at how he’s messing up Twitter. And Tesla is a mess as well, with yet another recall and huge safety concerns.
I don’t understand how people fall so easily for publicity surrounding very
priviliged people.
Good on her getting her money, but there is going to be outrage when people realize the streaming version of the Eras tour is rental only. Your $19.89 will get you 48 hours of Taylor. How many people have been planning this for their family holiday viewing, or promised it as a Christmas present for the young Swiftie in their family. The ads have been saying watch, not rent. She couldn’t just let people buy the concert video?
Money is tight this Christmas and people are going to be pissed when they figure this out.
Note: I like a lot of Taylor’s music, have a generally favorable opinion of her. My niece has been a Swiftie just about all of her young life, sis flew across the with her for a birthday trip to a second Eras show. It’s just seeing her young fans online getting so upset about wanting to buy her merch, but there’s so much and the whole system seems designed to get the max dollars out of fans.
they shouldn’t be “figuring it out” but paying attention. the entire announcement about it was that it was available to rent.
it’s the same as Barbie.
Why is this an issue? Pretty much all new-to-streaming movies are rentals (like Barbie, Oppenheimer, etc.). It states it clearly on the screen. This isn’t new. How many times do you think people are planning to watch it on Christmas that they need it for more than 48 hours?
Most movies on Amazon Prime are way cheaper to rent than $19.89. I know it’s symbolic due to the 1989 album and the price will probably drop over time. I am definitely not paying that much when most movies on Amazon can be rented for 5.99 (the cheapest I believe they tend to be). Paying $19.89 for 48 hours when I already pay $120 a year for Amazon Prime (or whatever it is now)? Nope.
When movies are still in theaters, yes, they are usually about $20 to rent. Movies that have been out for a while are the cheap ones. I rented Joy Ride this summer and it was $19.99.
I enjoy some of her music and was excited to stream her Eras concert and see what all the buzz has been about. Well, I want my money back. I got about 4 songs in and had to stop. I was so bored! She clearly works hard, but she’s not the best vocalist and she cannot dance to save her life. Give me Beyonce, Britney, Pink, or Lady Gaga any day, those ladies have “it” when it comes to truly wowing on stage.
Yeah, I went to see it in theatres because the hype was out of control and I was really underwhelmed for a concert doco. Save your money and wait til it hits streaming, people!
I would totally spend my concert money on P!nk. Both she and Beyonce were on the list of highest grossing tours this year too.
Regarding preparing with treadmill, I am surprised it took so long for Taylor to practice like that. She never talked about it, so I am assuming this is the first time she did it. That’s not her first stadium concert and it is really hard to dance and sing at the same time. I remember reading that Beyonce’s dad made her and her sister to sing while running on treadmill when they were very young and you know she can sing amazing while dancing.
I’m not trying to shame her. But all I got from this article is that her tour has only been 9 months now and she’s had THREE boyfriends during that time. As a lame-o who’s only had two big boyfriends – one of who is now my husband – that stat just blows my mind. But by all means, she is killing it. I saw the show in the theater and it was spectacular. The stamina that it takes to perform for three hours straight; I cannot even imagine. So good for her!
she ended a six year long relationship, had a month long rebound, and has now been dating Travis for like five months. that’s… pretty normal.
Sounds like you are shaming her. So just cuz you’ve had two boyfriends your entire life… anything beyond that blows your mind?
It has little to do with my two boyfriends. I think anyone would agree that three boyfriends in nine months is wild. I just found it remarkable, not shameful. Because it IS remarkable.
@Val, I don’t think “anyone” would agree that 3 boyfriends in 9 months is “wild.” Many of us did that/do that during our dating years. I did, and I’m not even an international pop star.
And if we’re being technical, it’s actually 3 boyfriends in 6 years and 9 months. So no, it’s not that wild.
Right? I have also only had 2 serious boyfriends. I married one when I was 30. That doesn’t mean I didn’t DATE many guys for a month or two. I don’t consider them boyfriends. I bet Taylor doesn’t either.
SHE’S A GROWN A$$ WOMAN. Shes single. She has no kids. She’s allowed to DATE. She’s allowed to have all the safe, consensual sex she wants to have. SHE’S ALLOWED TO WRITE SONGS ABOUT IT/THEM.
Val, you’re the one using the term “boyfriend”, though. Not everyone you go on a date with is a boyfriend.
And your comment is very judgmental and sexist. It’s not wrong to date people after you get out of a long term relationship. Such out dated, sexist thinking! Six years is a long time to be with someone, and everyone is going to have a different way to move on. You don’t know when her and the first guy ended, but even if the timeline is accurate, seeing a different guy every 2 months is measured, especially if it never gets serious.
Nice! She’s amazing. Some of her best work is not in the radio singles. She has something like 396 songs. Crazy!
I can take her or leave her.
But credit for her biz head, and she is a money making machine.
So odd that TS is making Sir Paul McCartney sized money.
Tip of the hat, that is impressive.
She definitely knows how to put asses in seats. I saw a clip where 2-3 thousand ‘listening’ to her concert outside Soldier Field in Chicago and pretty sure that’s happening at other venues. It’s crazy.
I appreciate the work effort and the determination to own her music free and clear. I hope all women in entertainment take a good look at who they are trusting in that industry.
It is the Year of Taylor Swift. So much so that my company division has used her for inspiration for our annual T-shirt we give out at an industry conference every year (it’s a very popular T-shirt and gets scooped up by clients in minutes). I won’t say the tagline (it’s not a song lyric) because it’ll just reveal the industry I work in but it does include the word “era.” We also decided on the tagline on her birthday which I didn’t realize until much later lol.
I don’t think she’s ‘problematic’ at all. I’m not her demographic but I was persuaded to go to the concert film and enjoyed it. She seems in charge of her own destiny and unlike some other – largely but not exclusively female – artists isn’t controlled by some Svengali. I enjoyed seeing all the girls and young women caught up in the joy of the concert.
Her success and work ethic is impressive. I’ve also heard that the way she treats her employees and pays them is great. I find it sad that there are negative commenters on every article. Somebody has a hate agenda. Is it because she’s a woman? Because she’s white? It doesn’t matter though, because it’s not working. Her positive message and fan support shines through.
For a fair amount of us, it’s the Matt Healy debacle. Dating a racist, misogynistic dirtbag and only ending the relationship when she couldn’t spin her way out of it says a lot about her.
A lot of jealousy going on in the comment section. What happened to women supporting women?
She stands for better things than what her worst boyfriend stands for. She clearly does not agree with him.