Taylor Swift’s tour could cause almost $5 billion economic impact in the US alone

Eras is scheduled to conclude by the end of next summer, rounding out at 131 performances overall. Swift, who boasts the greatest number of simultaneous records on the US Billboard 200 than any other living artist, will play 52 American shows across about 20 cities and then travel to Latin and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Her sixth and most popular (by far) tour, Eras could break records by becoming the highest-grossing tour of any artist ever worldwide.

To be sure, this is the first time Swift will travel to South American destinations as part of a concert tour. Further, the only Asian destinations on the Eras tour are Japan and Singapore, so the closest concert for Indian Swifties would be in Singapore from March 2 to 4 and March 7 to 9, 2024.

Here are seven charts that explain the expected impact of the 12-time Grammy winner’s ongoing tour.

1. Eras could surpass $1 billion in total gross revenue from the tour

Having not even concluded its American leg, the Eras tour as of May 15 – it ends on August 9 – had already surpassed total gross revenue from her first four tours and just about matched that of her fifth and most recent one. She embarked on world tours for each of her second through sixth albums – the Fearless Tour, Speak Now World Tour, Red Tour, 1989 World Tour and Reputation Stadium Tour. Loverfest, the festival-based world tour planned for her seventh studio album, was cancelled due to public health concerns around Covid-19.

Of her five previous tours, each one’s gross income increased over the last, with Reputation rounding out at $345.7 million. After just the first 22 Eras shows, however, Pollstar, a trade publication focused on the concert and live music industry, estimated that the ongoing tour had already grossed $300.8 million, putting Swift well on her way to topping Reputation’s gross income by far.

Aside from beating Swift’s own records, the Eras tour could become the first to ever break the $1 billion benchmark. Pollstar projected on June 26 that the Eras Tour would total $1.4 billion at its conclusion, marking the first tour to pass the billion-dollar benchmark. This projection, however, came before Swift in July added 14 more dates to the international segment of her tour, so this number could reasonably be expected to increase.

Over his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, John brought in about $2.85 million per show. Crucially, the number of shows an artist plays over the course of their tour and the average ticket price are the primary indicators of what their gross revenue will shape out to be. John played 330 shows, almost 100 more than runner-up Ed Sheeran did over his 2017-19 Divide tour, which brought in $776 million. Even though Sheeran averaged more income per show than John – $3.01 million – John takes the cake for the highest-grossing tour since he played more shows and sold generally more expensive tickets.

This is evidenced perhaps most strongly by The Rolling Stones’ No Filter tour, which began in 2017. They played just 58 shows but still made it to the list of top 10 grossing tours, rounding out at $547 million. Despite playing comparatively fewer shows, they sold pricier tickets and brought in almost $7 million more per show than John did, earning them the eighth place on the list of highest-grossing tours.

This logic is how Swift can rake in so much money despite only having played 22 shows at the time of Pollstar’s data release: her average ticket price far exceeds those of the tours currently in Billboard’s list of top 10 grossing tours of all time, and accordingly, so does her average gross revenue per show. It’s simple supply and demand: Swift plays fewer shows, making demand – and the price – skyrocket for the shows.

In the first two quarters of the year, Swift significantly outperformed all other concert tours, earning more than second-place Bruce Springsteen & the E Band and third-place Harry Styles combined. Looking to the rest of the year, Drake’s It’s All a Blur tour is among the 2023 tours that could chart somewhere in this year’s concert rankings. But the only concert tour that comes anywhere near matching the buzz and bank associated with Eras is Beyonce’s Renaissance. Forbes in May reported that the Renaissance tour could bring in anywhere between $275 million and $2.4 billion, the upper end of which stands a full billion dollars above Pollstar’s $1.4 billion estimate for Eras.

Given that Pollstar’s estimate of Eras’ grossing between March 17 and May 15 – after just 22 shows – already stood at $300.8 million, it seems likely that Eras will soon surpass Sticky & Sweet. In fact, after the U.S. presales for Eras tickets last winter, Billboard estimated that grossing from Ticketmaster sales alone had exceeded $500 million, so Madonna’s reign as the highest-grossing tour by a female artist may have already come to an end.

But even if Swift gets the spot, she might not keep it for long. While extensive data about earnings from Beyonce’s ongoing Renaissance World Tour are not yet available, Beyonce last month earned $67.5 million in just her tour’s first nine shows, Billboard reported, marking an average gross per show of $7.5 million. Swift’s average earnings per show, based on data from Pollstar, still stand higher. It remains to be seen, however, if Swift will retain the top spot, as Beyonce began her tour’s North American leg in Toronto, Canada on July 8 and is scheduled to perform in the US from July 12 until the end of September.

Regardless of who takes the seat, 2023 marks a big year for live music – particularly for female performers. Before the tours kicked off, as evident from the Billboard ranking of highest-ever grossing tours (Chart 1A), not a single female performer was placed in the top 10. After this year, however, it seems almost certain that at least two women will join the list, putting on shows that prove exciting for all concertgoers and fans no matter who earns more.