Taylor Swift’s Recording-Breaking Tour

Illustration by David Yang

World-renowned singer-songwriter Taylor Swift began her sixth concert tour in March of this year. The Eras Tour, named as an homage to each of her characteristic albums, is Taylor’s most expensive and ambitious tour yet, with 146 shows stretching across five continents. Each show lasts over three hours, featuring a forty-song setlist and two highly-anticipated surprise songs. Taylor brings unmatched energy to each and every show, displaying elaborate choreography and executing incredible costume changes. Because of the notable quality of Swift’s concerts and her enthusiastically devoted fan base, The Eras Tour is expected to make concert history as the highest-grossing tour of all time, with an predicted estimate of one billion dollars or more in sales.

Of course, The Eras Tour’s massive financial success would not be possible without the absurd amount of money poured into it. For example, just setting up each stage costs Swift and her team hundreds of thousands of dollars.Yet this massive expenditure has proven to be a success for domestic and global economics: Swift’s tour is responsible for a possible economic lift that economists are referring to as “Swift Lift.” By the end of the last show, analysts predict that the tour will have generated around 4.6 billion dollars of consumer spending in the United States alone. This spending benefits people from all facets of the tour’s design, from choreographers to stadium food vendors. One hotel operator in Phoenix, AZ states that his hotels generated over twice the amount of money per day when Taylor Swift performed her first shows in Glendale than during Superbowl weekend.

Part of Taylor Swift's excellence comes from her unique and timeless discography. Unlike most other popular musicians, singers, and songwriters, Swift generates money directly from her music, while a majority of artists rely on alternative sources of income, such as a makeup or beauty line. Taylor Swift fans appreciate her for the warm personality that she exudes, the wonderful music that she produces, and the stories she conveys through her songs. Ever since her debut as a 16-year-old from Tennessee, Swift, as she would put it, has never gone “out of style,” especially not now at 33 years old. Many people grew up hearing Swift’s most popular songs on the radio, and many of her newer listeners are growing up as “die-hard” Taylor Swift fans, creating generations of “Swifties.” Regardless of how big a fan one is, there is no denying that Swift’s almost two decades of musical creations have amassed a following ranging from child to senior. Swift holds a special place in the hearts of many people, keeping her music in millions of ears, and encouraging people to attend these fantastic shows even after all these years.

Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour will go down in music history, perhaps as the highest-grossing tour of all time, but certainly as a testament to the power of her music and her devoted fanbase, as well as the hard work she puts into each and every jaw-dropping show. Not only is this tour unifying the incredibly diverse Taylor Swift community, but it is truly stretching the boundaries of what music and performance can accomplish.

Florence Morlock