The tour keeps breaking records and Swift is singlehandedly raising consumer spending in local economies—by hundreds of millions.
No one could have predicted that The Eras tour would be THIS big.
This is not just a shiny new thing that trends on TikTok only to be buried by another fad after a few days. As we speak, Netflix must already be in the early stages of producing a documentary on the tour and its massive success.
Think Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather when boxing peaked in the Philippines in the early 2000s, the Los Angeles Lakers-Boston Celtics rivalry, or when Apple released the first iPhone—except The Eras Tour is, arguably, still way bigger in scale.
When the tour makes a stop in a city, Swifties from across the world book their flights and concert tickets, buy their concert outfits, book accommodations, spend on food, drinks, and other travel expenses. This phenomenon is affecting local economies. For instance, it reportedly increased the local earnings in Los Angeles by $160 million, millions of dollars in tax revenue for the city and the state. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
We haven’t just been singing Taylor Swift’s songs all these years. We have been evolving with her. And she narrates her musical eras through a 44-song setlist from her 17-year career.
The tour is projected to net a maximum of $1.5 billion by the end of it or after more than 140 shows across 5 continents. This means that Taylor is set to surpass the highest-grossing, most-recent tour, Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour by Elton John, which grossed $900 million when it ended in June this year.
“What if I told you none of it was accidental?”
The Eras Tour’s success, however, did not happen overnight. It is the result of years of musical, artistic, and personal evolution, or as Taylor described it, “her journey through all of her musical eras.” We’re talking about years—some of us weren’t even teens yet when we started listening to her music, and a lot of us are adults now.
The show is segmented into 10 eras, signifying each of her albums—it is important to note that she has not toured since her Reputation World Tour in 2018. From then, she released Lover (2019), Folklore (2020), Evermore (2020), and her re-recorded albums, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) in 2021, and finally, Midnights (2022). With all these albums, in each 3-hour performance, Taylor performs 44 songs that tell a different story—or an era in her musical career. Not to mention the staging, explosive visuals, and choreography which transcend mere entertainment.
One word: EPIC.
The soundtrack of heartbreak
True to her art, Taylor draws inspiration from her own personal experiences—another aspect that helped set the stage for the overwhelming success of The Eras Tour. For years, she has turned her heartbreaks into music, tears into success, and vulnerability to relatability. Her ability to show us a glimpse into her emotions and turn it into a universally relatable narrative immortalizes her and, in some cases, those around her.
Taylor said it herself, “There’s really nothing that they can accomplish. They’ll get on it. Just tell them what you need.”
The Eras Tour is projected to net $1.5 billion in ticket sales by the end of it or after more than 140 shows across 5 continents. Then there’s billions more from the merch.
It is also fair to attribute the tour’s success to her fans who crash Ticketmaster every time and fight tooth and nail to “survive the Great War.” And when a packed stadium breaks record attendance, fans without tickets gather outside (which gave birth to a new term, Taylor-gating) to be as near as they could to the show.
And it wasn’t an exaggeration when 144,000 devoted fans did actually shake it off during the show at Seattle’s Lumen Field, causing earthquake-like tremors equivalent to 2.3 magnitude. Also, 31 million registrations—I repeat, 31 million!—for the Eras Toronto tickets. She could easily win a presidential election in the Philippines, don’t you think?
Each era narrates a relatable story, presenting a unique style, fashion, and genre. To a lot of Swifties, the eras represent their own personal growth and journey, referencing a specific album or song for the phase that they have been or are in. For some, the Eras Tour could be a celebration of their Lover era (or the unconditional love that they have), or the start of a teenager’s Reputation era (a comeback that introduces a stronger character).
We haven’t been just singing her music all these years. We have been evolving with her. Tickets being sold out, breaking of records, and the economic growth are just incidental. Or maybe not. Taylor Swift, at some point, has portrayed herself to be a mastermind, after all.
