How Taylor Swift became her own economy
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 27 October 2023
⏱️ 23 minutes
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Summary
Taylor Swift’s 2023 Eras Tour is projected to rake in billions of dollars, becoming the highest grossing concert tour in history. But her economic impact doesn’t stop there. Today, we break down the economy (Taylor’s version).
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Pop powerhouse Taylor Swift has been in the music business for nearly two decades. But 2023 is turning out to be her most remarkable – and highest-earning – year. Swift is on pace to earn billions of dollars from her Eras Tour, more than any other touring artist in history. That includes the Beatles, Elton John and pop legend Michael Jackson. According to a new analysis from Bloomberg News, Swift herself is a billionaire.
What’s even more surprising is that Swift’s Eras Tour has also generated millions for the U.S. economy. That includes the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars cities from Cincinnati to Los Angeles have projected they’ll earn from these shows, and jobs for some dedicated Swifties.
Today on “Post Reports,” class is in session for Swiftonomics 101. Guest host and economics correspondent Abha Bhatterai and entertainment reporter Emily Yahr discuss how the pop icon became such a business behemoth.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Fans of Taylor Swift are very passionate about the pop star. |
| 0:06.0 | When I like the most is that she's kind of grown up with me. |
| 0:09.0 | So she very much sang my high school feelings, |
| 0:11.0 | but she's also very much singing my 30-something films. |
| 0:14.0 | So she's really, she's matured with all of us, |
| 0:18.0 | or we matured with her. |
| 0:19.0 | Yeah. |
| 0:20.0 | Yeah, so no matter what age I am, |
| 0:22.0 | she can totally sing my heart. |
| 0:24.0 | That's Brianna McRenalds at a Taylor Swift concert |
| 0:27.0 | near Phoenix back in March. |
| 0:29.0 | She's 32 years old, and Brianna's just one of the millions of fans, |
| 0:34.0 | also known as Swifties, who got to see the star up close |
| 0:38.0 | at her era's tour this year. |
| 0:40.0 | Brianna, like many other Swifties, |
| 0:43.0 | dropped a lot of money on tickets. |
| 0:46.0 | So the upper seats were like 300? |
| 0:49.0 | Mm-hmm. |
| 0:50.0 | The four seats I got yesterday were a thousand. |
| 0:53.0 | For both of us. |
| 0:55.0 | Brianna spoke with my colleague Emily R. |
| 0:58.0 | Emily as an entertainment reporter for The Post, |
... |
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