In a year full of numerous record-setting and “music history” milestones in streaming, record sales, and on the charts, Taylor Swift may become the first artist to have a billion-dollar tour.
Swift’s Eras Tour could become the first billion-dollar run of shows and the highest-grossing concert tour in history. The tour is also estimated to be grossing nearly $2 million a night through merchandise alone.
The initial 52-date tour, which has now been expanded to 106 shows worldwide, could gross $1 billion in revenue. This would surpass Elton John’s five-year-long Farewell Yellow Brick Road world tour of more than 300 shows in more than 20 countries. John’s trek has already brought in more than $887 million with nearly six million tickets sold.
In November of 2022, sales of the U.S. leg of the Eras Tour tickets crashed the Ticketmaster website with a single-day sale of more than two million tickets.
Just eight weeks after the release of her 10th album Midnights in October 2022, Swift also made global music history as the only artist to have five albums with more than one million units sold during release week. Midnights sold six million units total, including three million in the U.S. alone, within eight weeks of its release.
“Taylor’s achievements over the past year have been absolutely spectacular,” said Monte Lipman, founder and CEO of Republic Records, in a statement. “With more than two dozen historic milestones set by Midnights, it’s nearly unimaginable for any artist to sell more than six million albums in less than eight weeks during any era of our business. These accomplishments further exemplify Taylor’s prowess as the consummate artist and storyteller defining a generation.”
Swift also reached several other records as the first artist to fill the entire Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with an album, when her Midnights tracks filled each slot. Midnights also broke three Spotify records for Swift as the most streamed album on Spotify in 24 hours and the most day-one streams of an album on Spotify. She was also the most streamed act on Spotify in 24 hours.
