At this point, it feels as though there is very little left to say about Taylor Swift’s astronomical success.
Since she was first discovered while performing at the 90-seat Blue Café, where a scout for Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Records signed her aged 14 (to this date, she is the youngest signing in the company’s history), she has been smashing records and charting a course unparalleled in music history.
PA Wire
Now, almost two decades into her career, as Swift prepares to turn 35, one could argue that this year has been her most successful yet. In 2024 alone, she has broken more records than it is possible to enumerate – the most number one albums by a woman in history, the only artist to win the coveted Grammy Album of the Year award four times, the first tour to gross $1 billion, and the highest-earning female musician in history.
Her barnstorming, 21-month Eras Tour, which came to a close this week, has been discussed ad infinitum – its boost to local economies, its record-breaking revenue, and its seismic cultural clout. And her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, while receiving mixed reviews from critics, still became the biggest Billboard debut of Swift’s career. It is a year that cemented her – if it was in doubt already – as the most commercially successful pop star in the world.
PA Wire
Her status as a pop behemoth has sparked inevitable debates about how her success ranks not only alongside her contemporaries but also to the greats of old – Billy Joel even famously said he could only compare the current Swift moment to Beatlemania.
Here, we take a look back at Swift’s career-defining year in numbers.
£1.5 billion in ticket sales
According to Forbes, Swift has grossed $1.93 billion in ticket sales (£1.52 billion) for her 21-month Eras Tour, streaking well ahead of the runner-up, Coldplay, whose Music of the Spheres tour will continue into next year. Compared to others in the top five, which include Elton John, Ed Sheeran, and U2, Swift plays significantly fewer dates and charges a lot more per ticket.
In February, Swift took home Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year for her 10th studio album, Midnights, at the Grammy Awards, bringing her total Grammy wins to 14 out of 52 nominations. This was also where she announced to the world that she would be releasing a new album, The Tortured Poets Department.
Two albums released (sort of)…
This year saw Swift release her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, quickly followed by an expanded double album two hours after its release, subtitled The Anthology, containing a second volume of 15 songs. Critical reception was mixed, with some praising Swift’s songwriting, while others deemed the album bloated and overwritten. Nevertheless, it broke various sales and streaming records, including the highest single-day and single-week streams for an album on Spotify.
36 versions of The Tortured Poets Department
Swift received some flak when she released various acoustic versions and remixes of songs from her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, ostensibly a way to keep that album at number one and prevent other artists from reaching the top of the charts.
The criticism came in particular when, in June, Charli XCX’s Brat looked as though it would debut at No. 1, before Swift announced the release of six deluxe reissues of TTPD, available only in the UK until 11:59 pm that evening – the end of the tracking week for the album charts.
2.6 million copies sold of TTPD in opening week
The best one-week figure for any album in nine years, it was also the biggest Billboard debut of Swift’s career. It ranks behind only Adele’s 25 (2015), which sold a stunning 3.4 million copies in its opening week. TTPD remains the top-selling album of 2024 to date.
97 dates on the Eras tour
PA Wire
Undoubtedly the tour of her career, Swift’s 21-month-long Eras Tour kicked off at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, in March 2023. An exploration of the Grammy winner’s expansive discography, the tour spanned more than 630 days. Swift delivered 149 performances, including 97 this year – each lasting over three hours – across more than 50 cities on five continents before its grand finale this year.
Swift’s almost two-year-long Eras Tour has often been described as seismic, and on one occasion, it quite literally was: her concert in Seattle last year generated the equivalent of a 2.3-magnitude earthquake.
10 million concert tickets sold
Despite its resounding success, the Eras Tour was not without hiccups. Initial ticket sales were marred by chaos when Ticketmaster’s system crashed under unprecedented demand during the presale in November 2022. Fans faced hours-long delays, technical failures, and inflated resale prices, leading to wide-spread backlash and accusations of monopolistic practices.
Swift criticised Ticketmaster for mishandling the sales, and fans filed lawsuits alleging negligence and antitrust violations. The controversy triggered a Senate investigation into Ticketmaster’s dominance in the live event industry, highlighting calls for greater competition and consumer protections.
Eight Kansas City Chiefs games
In the time between her weeks touring, the 14-time Grammy winner quickly became a staple in the stands to watch Kansas City Chiefs football games – in support of her long-term boyfriend Travis Kelce, who plays for the team.
Taylor Swift Super Bowl celebrations
Swift’s appearances at Arrowhead Stadium always garner frenetic attention from fans, eager to see what she’ll be wearing – often her signature red lip and a plaid mini skirt – and her sweet dedication to Kelce’s club.
This year, Swift flew her jet 98 times in 2024, according to the aviation publication Simple Flying. Her total flight time amounted to about 225 hours. The airports at which her plane visited most frequently were Nashville International Airport, Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport in Kansas City – where Kelce lives – and Hollywood Burbank Airport in Southern California.
Swift has come under sustained criticism for her private jet usage over the years. (In the past, Swift’s lawyers have emphasised that her private jet usage is often misrepresented because she frequently lends the plane to others).
As Swift’s Eras Tour odyssey comes to a close, fans are wondering what could be next for the singer. With six new studio albums and two re-records in the last six years alone, many are suspecting that a well-deserved break might be in order.
Some sources have also spoken about what’s next for Swift, including a break to spend time with her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. “She had such a great experience on Eras,” a source told Us Weekly last week. “She really wants to do it again,” they said. “She loves being with all her fans; it inspires her.
“Things can change,” the insider said. “A lot of it hinges on what happens over the next year with Travis. She’s told her team to give her one year to see how things go in her personal life.”
AFP via Getty Images
However, after the final concert came to an end, her team, Taylor Nation, hinted that a new era is coming, posting an Eras Tour audience video on Instagram, ending it with a title card that said “see you next era.”
Swift fans do have two upcoming projects to look forward to. First, there has been long-standing anticipation for Swift’s re-recorded Reputation album. Additionally, in December 2022, Searchlight Pictures announced that Swift was collaborating on a new film. She wrote the script and is directing the project, with the studio praising her as “a once-in-a-generation artist and storyteller,” expressing excitement over their creative partnership.
So it might be the end of an era, but there are certainly more to come for Swift.
