Taylor Swift Breaks Astonishing Record

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour has officially made over $1 billion—breaking the Guinness World Record for the highest-grossing tour of all time.

The 34-year-old singer-songwriter's tour began in March 2023 and is set to conclude in December 2024 after a total of 151 shows worldwide. It's seen unprecedented demand and according to Pollstar, it has earned $1.04 billion to date. The tour is also projected to generate close to $5 billion in consumer spending in the United States alone, bringing fans together from across the globe.

The star broke the previous record set by Sir Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, which brought in $939 million over five years and 328 shows. Swift's tour is also the first to cross the 10-digit threshold, per Pollstar.

Swift's sixth concert tour has been so successful that it has made more money than the combined earnings of the next two highest-grossing tours of this year—Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen.

Newsweek reached out to Swift's publicist for comment via email on Wednesday.

During Pollstar's chart year—November 17, 2022, to November 15, 2023—Swift played 60 shows. In that time, she sold an impressive 4.3 million tickets at an average price of $238.95, putting her average show gross at more than $17 million for this leg of the tour. Overall, it has the potential to earn nearly $2 billion if all of the remaining scheduled concert dates go ahead.

Each show is over 3 1/2 hours and consists of 44 songs divided into 10 acts as Swift takes the audience on a journey through all of her musical "eras." This is after having released 10 original studio albums, four re-recorded studio albums, five extended plays, and four live albums.

Critics have given the tour overwhelmingly positive reviews, praising Swift's performances as well as the production's concept and quality.

Her ardent fan base has flocked in droves to see their idol, overwhelming websites with ticket sales, packing hotels to capacity, and even those without tickets have turned up to concert venue car parks to sing along.

She was crowned Person of the Year by Time, an award that goes to an event or person deemed to have had the most influence on global events over the past year. Swift is the first person to win the title purely for her "success as an artist" and it comes as no surprise amid the record-breaking year.

Like no other artist before her, Swift has dominated the marketplace, a large portion of the cultural zeitgeist and media attention over the past year. Her new and re-recorded music topped the charts and she currently has six albums in the Top 20 of the Billboard 200 Albums.

Her album 1989 (Taylor's Version) sold 580,000 copies on vinyl between October 27 and November 1. According to Billboard, it was the fastest-selling vinyl record ever, since the stat was first tracked in 1991.

In just its first weekend of release, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour became the highest-grossing domestic concert film ever. It made $92 million in its opening weekend and since its October 13 release, the movie has made more than $200 million globally.

Swift shared her Time magazine cover to X, formerly Twitter on December 6.

She wrote: "@samlansky has such a wondrous way with words, and I've loved reading his pieces for over a decade. If you've ever been around him, you know he's just the best type of person: Curious. Interested. Hilarious. Intriguing and intrigued. I have tRuSt iSSueS when it comes to interviews but I couldn't be happier that I did this one with him.

"I was blown away to see quotes from people I adore and admire like Stevie Nicks, Greta Gerwig, Shonda Rhimes, Phoebe Bridgers, Natalie Maines, Kenny Chesney, and Lucian Grainge. I was so happy he spoke to fans Madison and McCall who were so eloquent, loyal, and kind. I'm really reflecting on this year, and all the years that led up to it. Can't say thank you enough times."