It seems Taylor Swift has officially joined Jay-Z, Rihanna and Ye in the billionaire club.
The beloved singer-songwriter famously embarked on her record-breaking “Eras Tour” this year, which CNN recently reported could gross $2.2 billion in ticket sales — and has raised Swift’s net worth to $1.1 billion, according to a Bloomberg News analysis Friday.
Swift is in rarified air as one of the few artists to reach that milestone through music and concerts alone, and without business ventures outside of music.
The 33-year-old has plenty other reasons to celebrate, however, including Friday’s release of her re-recorded “1989” album and her “Eras Tour” concert film dominating the box office.
“Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour is rewriting the playbook of entertainment economics,” Chris Leyden, director of growth marketing at event tickets platform SeatGeek, told CNN in August. “She’s not just a performer — she’s an economic phenomenon.”
That phenomenon reportedly included average ticket prices of $455.78 and an average attendance of 72,459 people across all 68 concerts in North America. Swift not only surpassed Elton John’s “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour as a result, but created actual micro-economies.
A recent report from the California Center for Jobs and the Economy noted that, while travel and tourism in the state have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels, Swift’s final six shows in Los Angeles brought much needed relief to the city — in the form of $320 million.
Los Angeles alone saw 3,300 new jobs created as a result of Swift’s sold-out concerts.
The U.S. Travel Association reported that all 21 cities in the tour were impacted, however, as fans spent an average of $1,300 on travel, hotels and food. A study conducted by QuestionPro determined “Swifties” spent a total of $5 billion as a result of the tour.
Chris Pizzello/Associated Press
“It was a confluence of people having the savings, people having the desire to spend and the fact that she produced a number of albums that for many people were the soundtrack of the pandemic,” Brett House, a Columbia Business School economics professor, told Bloomberg.
The cultural phenomenon saw A-listers like Emma Stone and Reese Witherspoon at Swift’s concerts, spurred Beyoncé to attend the “Eras Tour” concert film premiere — and led an entire town to temporarily change its name in honor of Swift’s arrival.
Her fans danced so passionately at the Seattle concerts in July that seismologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbach reportedly compared it to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake. Swift admitted on Instagram the following day: “That was genuinely one of my favorite weekends ever.”
Swift decided to re-record her first six albums after her former record label sold the master recordings in 2019, and has since released “Taylor’s Version” for the first four. “1989” was nominated for 10 Grammy Awards after its popular 2014 release.
Swift’s undeniable Midas touch has even extended to those merely associated with her, as jersey sales for NFL player Travis Kelce reportedly spiked by 400% when rumors first swirled of their romance.
The international leg of Swift’s “Eras Tour” begins in November in Argentina.