Taylor Swift has made history after grossing a record $2 billion in ticket sales for her career-spanning, 21-month Eras Tour, which consisted of 149 shows in 21 countries.
In addition to having the highest-grossing tour of all time for a second year in a row, the pop star, 34, became the first to have a $2 billion tour.
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The 14-time Grammy winner sold a whopping $2,077,618,725 in tickets, according to the New York Times, which confirmed the number with Swift’s camp after she took her final bow at BC Place stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia on Sunday night.
Last year, her mammoth tour, which packed stadiums and inspired Swifties to make countless friendship bracelets, became the first to cross the billion-dollar mark.
As a reward to her team, Swift quietly gave out more than ‘$197 million in bonuses to everyone working on her tour — including truck drivers, caterers, instrument techs, merch team, lighting, sound, production staff and assistants, carpenters, dancers, band, security, choreographers, pyrotechnics, riggers, hair, make-up, wardrobe, physical therapists and video team,’ according to People.
This comes over a year after it was revealed that she shelled out $100,000 in bonuses for her truck drivers, who were responsible for hauling her equipment around the country amid the US leg of her tour.
Per TMZ, she handed out the huge six-figure bonuses the workers ahead of her Santa Clara, California.
At the time, the publication stated that there were around 50 production truck drivers taking part in the US leg of the tour, meaning that if she did indeed pay $100k in bonuses, she would have written a check for upward of $5 million.
In October, the Cruel Summer hitmaker officially became the world’s richest female musical artist, with a a net worth of $1.6 billion, according to Forbes.
The Fortnight artist – who has a real estate portfolio estimated at about $125 million, Forbes said – achieved the financial feat of becoming a billionaire solely through her musical endeavors, royalties and concerts.
Amid a business dispute with music magnate Scooter Braun over her catalogue, Swift recorded new versions of her material on her first six records and began releasing them three years ago.
The results have been wildly profitable, with the Eras Tour creating such high demand that the U.S. Congress began making inquiries to Ticketmaster in regards to its take on concert ticket sales.
Over the summer, Pollstar editor Andy Gensler predicted that Swift’s Eras Tour was on track to reach $2 billion, excluding resale inflation and the hundreds of millions she’s made from merchandise.
‘She is the torchbearer for the live industry,’ Gensler told Variety. ‘It’s nothing we’ve ever seen before, and it’ll be a long time before we see it again.’
He continued: ‘Her timing was exquisite: The pandemic created this yearning and hunger for live entertainment like nothing else in our history, so she couldn’t have picked a better time to go out.’
Additionally, the Eras Tour film, released last fall before the tour ended, grossed over $180 million domestically and $261 million worldwide, surpassing records set by Justin Bieber’s concert film in the U.S. and Michael Jackson’s globally, per Variety.
Previously, Swift’s 2018 Reputation stadium tour broke Taylor’s own record for the highest-grossing tour by a female artist on that continent, previously held by the 1989 World Tour, as it grossed $202.3million across just 53 shows.
The overwhelming demand for tickets to The Eras Tour caused Ticketmaster’s system crashed in November 2022.
Despite setting a record with 2 million tickets sold in a single day, the blame fell on the ticketing platform, not Swift herself.
In August, Swift was forced to abruptly cancel three shows in Vienna due to a foiled terror attack plot.
After wrapping the end of the European leg of the Eras Tour later that month, she took to social media to admit that the incident ‘filled her with a new sense of fear’ and a ‘tremendous sense of guilt.’
‘Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating. The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows,’ she said.
The star went on to thank the authorities who helped take the correct security measures.
She said: ‘I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives.
The Fortnight artist – who has a real estate portfolio estimated at about $125 million, Forbes said – achieved the financial feat of becoming a billionaire solely through her musical endeavors, royalties and concerts; seen on December 6, 2024
‘I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London.
‘My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us.’
Taylor also explained why she had until that point chosen to remain silent on the circumstances and confessed her priority was finishing the European leg of the tour safely.
She wrote: ‘Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows.
‘In cases like this one, ”silence” is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to. My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that.’