The Eras Tour is a trailblazing and record-breaking sensation. The tour encapsulates Taylor Swift’s abundant discography, spanning the entirety of her 17-year career. It includes 45 songs in an almost 3-hour long setlist, breaking records left and right, and creating a personal and economical impact. With beautiful costumes, magical production, and talented dancers, Taylor Swift created the ultimate post-pandemic outing. In addition, she also cultivated communities throughout her fanbase, proving that Taylor Swift has truly done it all.

Set to surpass $1 billion in revenue by March of next year, the Eras Tour has continuously broken artist touring records. Starting with ticket presale, an astounding 14 million people showed up, crashing the Ticketmaster website. In total, Taylor Swift sold 2.4 million tickets, the most ever in a presale, and during regular sale she broke the record for the most tickets sold by an artist in a single day. On May 5th, 2023, an all-time attendance record of 72,000 fans was made in Nashville, Tennessee in their Nissan Stadium, only to be broken night two!

Thousands of fans line up hours in advance to buy merchandise, which is highly acclaimed in the Taylor Swift community. In addition, fans have exchanged friendship bracelets, shared photos on social media, and speculated online about surprise songs and announcements throughout the tour. Fans also polish up really nice, dressing up as their favorite era to go to their show. Now dubbed “Taylor-gating”, fans crowd barricades and camp out in the parking lot. Not only are Swifties in the mix; but cities are joining in the Eras Tour craze. Minneapolis dubbed the city “Swiftie-apolis”, Santa Clara named Swift as their honorary mayor, and New Jersey titled their state sandwich after her, the Taylor Ham, Egg, and Cheese sandwich. In her hometown of Nashville, when Swift announced the re-release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge and the state capital building shined in a shade of purple, the album’s signature color.

Junior Sasha Zaprzalka at Shorecrest loved her experience at the Eras Tour Seattle show. She expressed, “I have never been to a concert where every single person in the stadium was singing along. The lights were amazing, the transitions between songs were awesome, and overall I just had the best time.”

Fans just can’t get enough of Taylor Swift. Her constant engagement with her audience has multiplied since the COVID pandemic. The inclusion of easter eggs in albums and her continual self-reinvention has led her to become the first singer to chart seven albums in the top 40 of Billboard’s Top 200. Fans are going all in, listening only to versions that Swift owns rather than the ones that were “stolen.” This process of re-releases began in 2019. Scooter Braun bought Swift’s record masters from the first 6 albums she made with Big Machine Records. He then resold the masters to Shamrock Holdings in 2020. In retaliation, Swift decided to begin re-releasing her music so that she owned “her version”. In these re-releases, she includes vault tracks and never-released songs from that era. So far she’s released Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). In her past two albums, she’s included the All Too Well Short Film for Red, and a music video for I Can See You (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault) for Speak Now.

Taylor Swift has also made a significant economic impact. Her tour is projected to generate almost $5 billion in consumer spending in the United States alone. Glendale, Arizona saw this during opening night when her concert brought in more revenue for local businesses than Super Bowl LVII. Fans are spending on average $300 each on outfits, $200 on merchandise, and $130 on food and drink. Retailers have seen a boom in clothes and accessories coinciding with one of Swift’s “Eras”. Cities along the tour have experienced shortages in beads and sequins from concertgoers who are buying the materials to make friendship bracelets. The Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, credited Taylor Swift for improving the state’s tourism industry. The average price of pre-sale and first-sale tickets was $450, and the average re-sale ticket price was $1600. Fans just can’t get enough!

Through this tour, Swift has seen an 80% spike in listeners, and after announcing the re-release of 1989, the Grammy’s have nominated the album as one of the 15 Must-Hear Albums of October. Celebrities are pouring into the stands in support of her music, interacting with fans by exchanging friendship bracelets and taking photos. Businesses have also taken a role in the Eras Tour by becoming official ticket-selling partners, such as Capital One and Canadian Bank RBC.

The Eras Tour is still generating money as the concert film premiered exclusively for AMC theaters October 13th. The film made $26 million in the first 24 hours, beating the existing record holder of Spiderman: No Way Home which sold only $16.9 million. You can see it in theaters now. I wasn’t able to see the Eras tour myself, but the movie in my opinion was perfect for those who missed the show. The movie was excellently filmed, and incredibly immersive. Sitting in that AMC chair, I felt and saw the tour experience from the concert-goer’s point of view.

Taylor Swift has achieved so much in her 17-year career and continues to do so today. Drop everything now, and listen to 1989 (Taylor’s Version), available now on all streaming platforms. I for one, adore this new album, and cannot wait to see the re-releases for Reputation and her debut album, Taylor Swift!

Sources

Aniftos, Rania. “Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ Film to Head to Los Angeles for World Premiere.” Billboard, 28 September 2023, https://www.billboard.com/culture/tv-film/taylor-swift-eras-tour-film-los-angeles-world-premiere-1235428212/. Accessed 2 October 2023.

Chow, Yumi. “What marketers can learn from the success of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour – Stryve Digital Marketing.” Stryve Marketing, 31 August 2023, https://www.stryvemarketing.com/blog/what-marketers-can-learn-from-the-success-of-taylor-swifts-eras-tour/. Accessed 15 October 2023.

“Historical Concert: Reasons Why Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Is On High Demand.” Outlook India, 2 September 2023, https://www.outlookindia.com/international/us/historical-concert-reasons-why-taylor-swift-s-eras-tour-is-on-high-demand-news-315182. Accessed 25 October 2023.

Hur, Krystal, and Bryan Mena. “First on CNN: Taylor Swift’s Eras tour could become the highest grossing tour of all time.” CNN, 17 August 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/17/business/taylor-swift-eras-tour-two-billion/index.html. Accessed 5 October 2023.

Kopstein, Jeannie, and Mariah Espada. “Why Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Has Made So Much Money | TIME.” Time, 23 August 2023, https://time.com/6307420/taylor-swift-eras-tour-money-economy/. Accessed 2 October 2023.

Recording Academy. “5 Reasons Why Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Will Be The Most Legendary Of Her Generation.” GRAMMY.com, 2023, https://www.grammy.com/news/taylor-swift-tour-eras-concert-review-ticketmaster-nashville-rain-show-records-speak-now-taylors-version-announcement. Accessed 5 October 2023.