Taylor Swift's Eras Tour came to a close Sunday night, capping off nearly two years of sparkly outfits, friendship bracelets and record-breaking sales.
The tour, an autobiographical journey through Swift's extensive discography, started in Arizona in March 2023. Over the next 630-plus days, Swift performed 149 shows ” each more than three hours long ” in over 50 cities across five continents.
The show's 10 acts span the distinct eras of Swift's career, each defined with its own color scheme, costume and stage design, plus two ever-changing "surprise songs" during the acoustic portion of the night.
A steady stream of surprises, setlist changes and special guests held fans' attention for the duration of the tour, with many tuning into livestreams and following dedicated fan accounts on social media.
And, of course, people watched in person.
Much has been written about "Swiftonomics," or how the tour boosted local economies across the U.S. and around the world. Fans traveled hundreds or even thousands of miles, sometimes for more than one show, spending money on lodging, food and costumes along the way.
Their enthusiasm made history.
The tour set attendance records at scores of iconic stadiums, from Pittsburgh to São Paulo. Swift also set records for the most shows by a female artist at multiple venues, from Chicago to Mexico City to Lisbon to London ” where she headlined a record eight shows at Wembley Stadium.
Eras set an all-time record when it grossed $1 billion last December ” the first tour to ever cross the 10-digit threshold ” according to the concert trade publication Pollstar. And that was with one year still to go.
This week, after her final shows in Vancouver, the singer's production company confirmed the tour's total ticket sales for the first time, telling the New York Times that it had brought in a whopping more than $2 billion.
That's not including the secondary market of ticket sellers (remember when a botched Ticketmaster rollout prompted a Senate hearing and class-action lawsuit against the company?).
And it doesn't account for other profits from the tour, including sales from merchandise ($200 million in 2023 alone) and tickets to Swift's concert film, which became the highest-grossing concert film of all time (more than $261.6 million globally) after its October 2023 release. Swift also released a $40 coffee-table book with pictures and reflections from the tour in late November, which sold nearly 1 million copies in its first week.
On her final night onstage in Vancouver on Sunday, Swift described the tour as "the most thrilling chapter of my entire life to date" and credited her fans. Swifties started their own special set of Eras Tour traditions, like trading homemade friendship bracelets in the crowd and chanting and clapping at specific cues with archer-like precision.
"Making friends and bringing joy to each other, that is I think the lasting legacy of this tour, is the fact that you have created such a space of joy and togetherness and love. You're why this is so special," Swift said. "And you supporting me for as long as you have is why I get to take these lovely walks down memory every single night because you cared about every era of my entire life that I've been making music, so thank you."
