2024 will forever be remembered as the year when Taylor Swift soared up to where no music star has gone before. That means she reached phenomenal levels of popularity and earning power once deemed only impossible or even unimaginable.
Well, maybe not for the likes of Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos who need special calculators with enough screen space to accommodate the billions they count every day. But for a singer and songwriter like Swift, who is only 30 years old, the accomplishment is certainly remarkable.
Elvis Presley and The Beatles were the singing idols who made kids aware that they can do music and also become millionaires. Remember, music, which is one of the arts, was and still is, not considered a good way to make a living. As Jose Mari Chan emphatically advised, “Get a day job.” But with examples like Presley and the Fabulous Four, it became clear that it can happen. And now here is Taylor Swift.
Swift, a hitmaker with the likes of Lover, Cruel Summer, You Belong with Me, Love Story, The Man and many others, embarked on her retrospective “ERAS” tour in March 2023. After this, she swept across, North and South America, Europe, Australia and Asia like an overwhelming force of nature impacting the cities she visited culturally and economically.
By the end of the year and after 66 shows, “ERAS” had become the biggest grossing tour of all time with gross receipts of $11M.
On to the next chapter. Swift continues through to do 86 more shows. By the time the tour ended last Dec. 8 in Vancouver, British Columbia, she had performed before almost 11 million people and “ERAS” had grossed an amazing $2.2B, the first tour ever to hit the billion mark.
Not only that. Aside from ticket sales, revenue from “ERAS” also included the sale of special concert merchandise like T-shirts, caps, bracelets, light sticks, etc., which is said to be nearly $500M; an “ERAS” movie, which is now the highest grossing concert film of all time, $260M and still earning; and an “ERAS” book which sells at $39.99 each and which broke existing records on its first week in the stores.
Take note, “ERAS” also positively affected tourism as fans traipsed across five continents to catch shows, a lot of times on repeat. These caused a spike on the sales of airline, bus, train or whatever tickets, food and lodging accommodations, and also fashion. If you were going to watch an “ERAS” show, you just have to be dressed right. Definitely yes. And so, the Swifties were constantly shopping for clothes and accessories.
And so now, there is a new goal that music artists can aspire for. Billions in income.
How did something like this happen to a little girl who only wanted to write about her feelings and to be able to sing her songs? Well, Taylor Swift is pretty and talented. But a lot of others also are. Maybe it is because she was born a marketing genius and an astute business woman.
Most importantly, she works very hard and seems to honestly love what she does. Her high regard for her fans is always evident and she maintains a degree of closeness with them that is almost like real friendship. Of course, it also helps that she enjoys the limelight and has no qualms about being under media scrutiny most of the time.
Anyway, there are lots of better looking and better sounding singers around, also better songwriters but it will take a miracle for them to be another Taylor Swift.
You all, can now start wondering. What will Taylor Swift do next?