Washington CNN —
Taylor Swift is continuing her lucrative legacy with the release of her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Swift commands a fiercely dedicated fan base — one that helps her break streaming records, crashes websites, and sells out major stadiums across the world. Her latest album – a surprise double album that had fans up all night to stream a whopping 31 tracks – is expected to draw that same burning enthusiasm from fans, yet again.
It’ll be an extension of her legacy not just as a pop superstar, but also as a businessperson.
Swift proved just how much economic power she wields in 2023. Tickets for her career-defining “Eras” tour sold out almost immediately, fans splurged on merchandise while attending her concerts, the film of her tour broke box office records in its opening weekend, and Swift herself became a billionaire along the way.
Swift achieved remarkable feats that would be impressive for any typical business leader running a Fortune 500 company. She provided an excellent case study of understanding your customers and giving them what they want.
“She’s a powerhouse, business-wise,” Armen Shaomian, an associate professor of sport and entertainment management at the University of South Carolina, told CNN.
Here’s a look at Swift’s booming track record as a businessperson.
The commercially successful ‘Eras’ tour
The Eras tour was massively successful in 2023 and it’ll stretch through the end of this year. StubHub said Swift’s tour “was the biggest” in the ticket company’s two-decade history, outpacing other successful acts in terms of ticket sales.
“Taylor Swift wasn’t just performing; she was rewriting the playbook, leaving a trail of glitter, economic stimuli and friendship bracelets wherever she went,” the company’s year-end report said.
Swift herself hasn’t released official sales figures, but some estimates show the tour is already raking in 10 figures. Pollstar estimated that the tour’s first 60 shows grossed more than $1 billion.
An analysis shared exclusively with CNN last year projected that Swift’s shows in North America alone could bring in more than $2 billion in revenue, making it the highest-grossing tour ever.
Swift’s gravitational pull was so strong that fans were aggressively bidding up ticket prices on the re-sale market. SeatGeek previously told CNN the average resale price of an “Eras” ticket was $1,607, up 741% from her “Reputation” tour in 2018, for which the average resale ticket price was $191.
Taylor Swift looks at the crowd at a concert in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in May 2023.
Swift performs during the "Folklore" set in Chicago in June 2023.
Fans sing along in Las Vegas in March 2023.
Swift performs "Lover" with her band, backup singers and dancers in Nashville, Tennessee, in May 2023.
Swift performs in Glendale, Arizona, during the opening weekend of "The Eras Tour" in March 2023. Glendale was temporarily re-named Swift City in honor of the concert.
Swift performs her last show in Los Angeles in August 2023. She was announcing the upcoming release of the album "1989 (Taylor's Version)."
Glow bracelets light up Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh in June 2023.
Swift performs "22" in Glendale in March 2023.
Fans in East Rutherford trade friendship bracelets in the parking lot of MetLife Stadium in May 2023.
Phoebe Bridgers joins Swift to perform "Nothing New" in Nashville in May 2023. Bridgers was also one of the opening acts.
Fans wait in line to buy tour merchandise outside Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, in April 2023.
Swift gives her hat to a fan in Mexico City in August 2023. Each night of the tour, Swift selects one lucky fan to receive a signed hat at the end of her song "22."
Swift watches the music video premiere of "I Can See You" in Kansas City, Missouri, in July 2023.
Swift performs during the "Evermore" section of the show in Sydney in February 2024.
Fans react outside Lincoln Financial Field as Swift begins her set in Philadelphia in May 2023.
Swift dances during the "Reputation" set in Atlanta in April 2023.
Fans show the Ticketmaster queue from the parking lot outside Swift's show in Philadelphia in May 2023. Ticketmaster apologized to Swift and her fans after a ticketing debacle in November made it difficult to buy tickets when they went on sale.
Swift smiles at a crowd in Nashville as it gives her a standing ovation for "Champagne Problems" in May 2023.
Swift opens the "Midnights" set with "Lavender Haze" during a show in Glendale in March 2023.
Swift sings "Look What You Made Me Do" while dancers in Glendale wear outfits from Swift's previous eras in March 2023.
Swift performs with the band Haim in Santa Clara, California, in July 2023.
Swift dances across the stage while singing "August" in Atlanta in April 2023.
Swift performs the "Folklore" set in the rain in Nashville in May 2023. The show was delayed several hours due to storms in the area.
Fans apply jewels on their way to Swift's show in Foxborough, Massachusetts, in May 2023.
Fans cheer in East Rutherford in May 2023.
Sabrina Carpenter joins Swift for the acoustic section of the show in Sydney in February 2024. They performed a mashup of "White Horse" and "Coney Island."
Swift makes a heart with her hands while performing "Fearless" in Glendale in March 2023.
Swift and dancers perform during the "Speak Now" set in Sydney in February 2024.
Swift performs "The 1" in Chicago in June 2023.
Swift performs in Houston in April 2023.
Swift and her backup dancers watch the premiere of the "Karma" music video while in East Rutherford in May 2023.
Swift opens a show in Las Vegas in March 2023.
Swift wraps her arms around her backup singers, known as The Starlights, during the "Fearless" set in Las Vegas in March 2023.
Swift announces the release of "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)," a rerecording of her 2010 album, during her show in Nashville in May 2023.
"Swifties" arrive at a metro station temporarily renamed "Speak Now/Taylor's Station" in Inglewood, California, in August 2023.
Swift performs the 10-minute version of "All Too Well" in Nashville in May 2023.
Swift leaves the stage after the "Speak Now" set in Nashville in May 2023.
Backup dancers join Swift during the "Reputation" set in Cincinnati in June 2023.
Confetti falls as Swift closes a Nashville show with "Karma" in May 2023.
In pictures: Taylor Swift's 'Eras Tour'
She is a generous boss, too, awarding $100,000 bonuses to Eras Tour truck drivers during the summer.
The tour itself was like a traveling ball of economic activity, crisscrossing through major American cities as fans descended with cash burning holes through their wallets.
Hotel rooms in cities hosting Eras shows filled up fast, retailers said they got a boost from concertgoers seeking clothes to match the tour’s theme, and a Federal Reserve report even noted how the tour boosted hotel revenue in Philadelphia, according to one business in the survey.
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Swift’s business acumen
What really highlights Swift’s business acumen is how the singer capitalized on that burning enthusiasm to drive even more sales. Electrified fans opened their wallets to snap up shirts, sweaters, hats, posters and other kinds of merchandise exhibiting the singer in all her glory.
“The merchandising aspect of the tour was so important because it allowed fans to bring home some of that experience since it’s all about the memories,” Shaomian of the University of South Carolina said.
“Fans were lining up hours before the arena even opened because the merchandise was set up in a different area and they wanted first dibs on buying. Even if only a quarter of those people bought something, that’s easily at least a million dollars a night,” he said.
That’s on top of merchandise available online. From guitar picks to nail gems, Swift gave her ardent fans another reason to spend more, and spend they did.
Swift’s business strategy went beyond the concert stage to the big screen, again capitalizing on the already-feverish hype for the singer and her signature tour.
The singer-songwriter released a film of last year’s shows in mid-October, titled “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.” The film raked in a staggering $96 million in its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, according to movie theater chain AMC. That made it the highest grossing concert film domestically for an opening weekend.
“It took less than 24 hours for the Taylor Swift The Eras Tour concert film to shatter AMC’s US record for the highest ticket-sales revenue during a single day in AMC’s 103-year history,” AMC said at the time.
And what business leader doesn’t benefit from some good publicity?
In addition to countless other news stories, Swift was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2023, an honor usually reserved for changemakers such as Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and Pope Francis.
“It feels like the breakthrough moment of my career, happening at 33,” Swift told Time. “And for the first time in my life, I was mentally tough enough to take what comes with that.”
