How Taylor Swift Became a Billionaire on Tour

“It was the end of an era, but the start of age,” Taylor Swift said as the curtain came down at her "Eras Tour" Sunday night after she played her last show in Vancouver, Canada. The highest-ever grossing tour has come to an end after nearly two years. The 34-year-old pop star poured herself into the career-changing moment, and it poured back into her: During the tour’s multiyear run, Swift also became a billionaire.

After 149 shows, the tour grossed a record $2 billion in ticket sales. Spanning six continents, over 10 million fans attended its shows, trading friendship bracelets and cementing memories while dancing for hours with Swift in her assortment of high-fashion outfits. Of all Swift’s feats across her 20-year career, the one that might surpass them all includes her becoming the world’s richest female musician as of November 2023, which Forbes bestowed upon her while she was in her seventh month of touring in October 2023.

Her net worth now sits at an estimated $1.6 billion compared to her $570 million value when the tour began. Its ability to triple at this rate over the last couple years is evidence of her creative and entrepreneurial prowess in the music industry. How did she do it?

Did the "Eras Tour" Make Taylor Swift a Billionaire?

While ticket sales made up a big portion of her billionaire-boosting earnings, plenty more helped: Merchandising, royalties, and her music catalogue have been other key sources of income. According to Forbes, her income includes “nearly $600 million amassed from royalties and touring, plus a music catalogue worth an estimated $600 million and some $125 million in real estate.” The singer released Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour film in December 2023, which became the highest-grossing concert film  of all time, bringing in $181 million at the U.S. box office and a total of $262 million globally.

She was named as Spotify and Apple Music’s most streamed artist of 2024 and her eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Department, received over 300 million streams in a single day becoming the first album in the platform’s history to do so. It sold 2.6 million copies in the first week of its release.

During the tour, merchandise alone brought in $500 million for the pop star along with her latest releases of The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology and The Eras Tour Book selling one million copies in the first week of its release. Fans were excited to get their hands on this 295-page book containing 500 photos from the iconic tour, but it caused disappointment for its grammatical mistakes and blurry images. 

Swift is not only an artist and poet but also a savvy businessperson. Yes, honing in on her craft has made a world of difference, but her commitment to the multiyear tour (while stirring plenty of buzz outside of performing thanks to her relationship with Travis Kelce) has been crucial in boosting her to become a billionaire.