Taylor Swift’s record-breaking tour
Taylor Swift’s The Eras world tour concludes Sunday in Vancouver, Canada, and the final figures are in: It was the highest-grossing tour in the world by a considerable margin.
Over the span of 149 concerts and almost two years, The Eras generated US$2,077,618,725 in ticket sales. Taylor Swift Touring, the singer’s production company, confirmed this figure to New York Times.
This results in more than $13.9 million in gross sales per show, which is, without a doubt, a record of its own.
Total attendance and ticket prices
Total 10,168,008 attendees witnessed the performances, indicating that the average ticket price for the entire tour was US$209, according to Time, significantly higher than the 2013 average of US$131, as reported by Polstar.
This isn’t Taylor’s only achievement. Earlier this year, the concert film associated with the tour became the highest-grossing concert film and documentary of all time, earning $261.6 million at the global box office.
Target announced last week that “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Book,” sold exclusively at retail, had reached nearly 1 million copies sold within the first week, making it the best-selling new title in the United States over the past four years.
Comparing earnings with other tours
In terms of concert tour earnings, the figures for Eras are nearly double those of the next highest-grossing tour, Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres world tour, which included more concerts (164 in total) and grossed US$1,144,590,969 with an average of $6.54 million per show—again, roughly half of what Taylor’s tour earned.
In third place is Harry Styles, whose Love is on Tour grossed $617.3 million from 2021 to 2023, with average earnings per performance of $3.65 million.
Many previous high-profile tours do not come close to the financial success of Taylor Swift and Coldplay’s tours, even when adjusting for inflation.
For instance, Rolling Stones’ Steel Wheels Tour (1989) brought in approximately $241 million in today’s dollars, whereas Eagles’ Hell Freezes Over tour in the mid-90s generated about $126 million.
Several factors contribute to this success. According to Living Nation General Manager Michael Rapino, the sales of VIP tickets are increasingly pivotal to the ticketing landscape.
“We’ve been catering to super fans for quite some time,” Rapino commented during the company’s third-quarter earnings call in November.
“We consistently sell out, prioritizing premium inventory. We never struggle to sell it,” he continued.
He also noted that Live Nation’s site improvements include an expansion of VIP seating and expressed optimism about enhancing the premium ticket segment to 20% of total sales.
Another contributing factor is the rise in world tours by major artists, which has led to more concerts due to the globalization of music fandom.
Increasing numbers of fans in emerging markets are now able to purchase tickets to major performances, and social media has revealed to artists that they have fan bases in regions previously untapped by touring acts.
In a press conference in September, Live Nation CFO Joe Berthold stated that he witnessed a rise of 20% to 50% in the number of additional dates artists are incorporating into their tours, with “almost all” of these dates falling outside traditional touring hotspots in North America and Western Europe.
“Ten years ago, the discussion revolved around a US tour, perhaps some shows in Europe. Now it’s about strategizing a three-year plan. What role does the USA play? What about Europe, Latin America? Are we considering Asia?” Berthold articulated.
Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras’ is biggest-grossing tour of all time, generating over $2bn (report)
