How do you measure the impact of a musician in the 2020s? Streams can be inflated. Awards, strategically campaigned for. Is it when overwhelming demand for concert tickets triggers a congressional hearing into Ticketmaster’s practices? When flight attendants shout out a fanbase en route to opening night in a city temporarily renamed Swift City? Or when a single lyric sparks a global comeback of trading friendship bracelets?
Nearly a decade prior, TIME had declared: “Taylor Swift Is the Music Industry.” Anyone even remotely tuned into pop culture knew—she had only grown more omnipresent since. It all built to Midnights and “The Eras Tour.” In March 2023, Taylor unveiled a three-hour, career-spanning setlist and launched a stadium run destined to become the highest-grossing concert tour of all time. And so, TIME‘s statement had aged into prophecy—when the publication named Taylor “Person of the Year” in December 2023 it wasn’t just a music milestone: that year, Taylor didn’t just dominate pop culture—she single-handedly was pop culture.
She kept her promise, taking to social media to reveal that the album would (unsurprisingly) feature 13 tracks. “This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night,” she wrote, “a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching—hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve…we’ll meet ourselves.”
Before concluding her speech, Taylor shared: “Writing songs is my life’s work, my passion, and my never-ending thrill. I am deeply moved that you, my peers, have chosen to honor me for work I would still be doing, even if I had never received recognition for it. […] Writing songs is a calling, and to have it be your career is a rare and incredible blessing. Every day, you must be grateful for it—and for all the people who believed your words were worth listening to. This town [Nashville] is the school that taught me that. To be honored by you means more to me than any of my lyrics could ever express. Thank you.”
The 14-minute short film for “All Too Well,” written and directed by Taylor, made its debut at both the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. It also received a special screening for the Directors Guild of America, held at Lucasfilm headquarters in San Francisco on November 20.
Taylor celebrated her 33rd birthday on December 13 in New Orleans, already writing and recording songs for her next album with longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff. She was marking the end of one of the most industry-defining years of her career—a year so influential that it even caught the attention of US officials, who made a federal case out of her immense popularity.
In fact, aside from Congress getting involved, over four dozen of Taylor’s fans had filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, over the botched ticket sales for her highly anticipated “The Eras Tour.” The suit accused the companies of fraud, misrepresentation, and antitrust violations. Despite verified fan club members being given early access through invite codes, with more than 12 million users waiting in line it felt as though the shows were sold out before the pre-sale even began. Nonetheless, over 2 million tickets were sold in just one day. On November 17, Ticketmaster announced the cancellation of the general public sale “due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand.” Taylor was less than pleased with how the situation unfolded, writing:
The day after the ticketing chaos, Ticketmaster issued a public apology to Taylor’s fans and anyone who had a “terrible experience” trying to secure tickets for “The Eras Tour.” At Taylor’s request, Ticketmaster began reaching out to fans who had registered for the pre-sale, offering them an “additional opportunity” to purchase tickets. However, the trouble wasn’t over for Live Nation and Ticketmaster: The Justice Department had launched an antitrust investigation into their business practices, setting the stage for a showdown on Capitol Hill.
In January 2023, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a high-profile hearing to address Live Nation’s dominance and the lack of competition in the ticketing industry. Several lawmakers acknowledged that the “Eras Tour” fiasco and Taylor’s vocal fanbase had forced Ticketmaster back into the public eye. While the hearing primarily focused on broader issues, the impact of the Taylor Swift debacle was undeniable. The session, which lasted over three hours, included pointed questions, heated statements, and, of course, multiple references to Taylor herself.
Fan demand broke Ticketmaster, but that was just the prologue. A Taylor Swift stadium tour—her first since 2018, due to the pandemic—was always going to be a major event. But “The Eras Tour” transcended the traditional pop spectacle, quickly becoming a massive cultural phenomenon. It wasn’t just about the concerts; it was a force that dominated the physical world, attracting record-breaking crowds to a different U.S. city each weekend between March and August. The tour generated endless buzz, with headlines ranging from the Ticketmaster controversy to her personal life and the extraordinary lengths fans were willing to go for tickets. (One father in Massachusetts, for instance, spent $21k on last-minute tickets.) Beyond the physical realm, “The Eras Tour” took over a vast, ever-expanding digital landscape, with clips, reactions, live-streams, dissections, and analysis flooding social media. Discovery pages on Instagram and TikTok were overflowing with “Eras Tour” content—the algorithm itself seemed to be a Swiftie.
The global takeover of “The Eras Tour” was largely due to the show itself, which was a dazzling celebration of pop’s most prolific songwriter’s expansive catalog. Music critics were left in awe—calling it a concert that rivaled the length of
Titanic, spanning 17 years of potent nostalgia, turbocharged by the roar of 70,000 fans. It was fan service at its most epic and virtuosic: a flex and a celebration, weaving together years of growth, anticipation, and unmatched hype.
But beyond the spectacle, “The Eras Tour” was the culmination of years of world-building and Swiftian mythology. From her debut in 2006, Taylor had cultivated a uniquely close relationship with her fans—posting on MySpace, commenting on Instagram and Tumblr posts, embedding secret messages in CD liner notes, and holding
Secret Sessions for her most dedicated followers. With each album cycle, she expanded the universe of Easter eggs and clues—playing with color coding, numerology, and, of course, her lyrics. The result? A massive, loyal fanbase that meticulously read between the lines of every move Taylor made, both on-stage and off, turning every interaction into a hunt for hidden messages with personal connections to the star. As Taylor told
Entertainment Weekly in 2019: “I’ve trained them to be that way.”
On April 8, 2023, just as “The Eras Tour” was taking off, news broke that Taylor and her long-time partner Joe Alwyn had ended their relationship in February, after more than six years of dating. The announcement, confirmed by a source close to the couple—presumed to be Taylor’s publicist Tree Paine—was shared with People magazine:
Taylor’s status as a proud New Yorker didn’t stop other cities across the US from rolling out the red carpet when she brought “The Eras Tour” to their neighborhoods. The trend began with Glendale, Arizona, where the city temporarily changed its name to “Swift City” in honor of Taylor’s arrival. Soon, other municipalities followed suit, eager to shower her with their own unique tributes.
Tampa’s mayor, speaking on April 10, summed up the frenzy: “We know Glendale changed its name, Arlington made a street sign, and Vegas lit up their Gateway Arches. But here in Tampa, we’ve got a reputation to uphold. We want to go bigger.” Across the country, Taylor was made honorary mayor for the day, with each city eager to bestow her with ceremonial honors. However, despite the numerous accolades, Taylor chose to acknowledge only one honorary title: Swiftie Clara:
Weeks into the tour, in May 2023, rumors began circulating that Taylor was casually dating Matty Healy, the lead singer of The 1975. The two had already briefly dated in late 2014, but Taylor had never publicly acknowledged the relationship. Sure enough, that same weekend, Matty attended “The Eras Tour” in Nashville. Videos surfaced showing him in the VIP section, fueling the gossip mill with footage of him chatting with Taylor’s friends and
family, and singing along to her songs. He continued to appear at subsequent concerts, and the pair were photographed together several times.
For a small yet vocal segment of Taylor’s fanbase, news of her rumored relationship with Matty was nothing short of a nightmare because of his controversial past. As one Twitter user put it, the gossip surrounding Taylor and Matty was like “the inner workings of the Catholic Church… worth keeping tabs on since it affects the wellbeing of millions and has tremendous financial influence.” Fans took to Twitter to share long-winded reflections on the situation, and even launched a campaign (
#SpeakUpNow) implicitly urging Taylor to end the relationship for the sake of justice. The letter seemed to cross a boundary, reading as an overstep of control from fans who, despite their supposed love for Taylor, began policing her personal life in a way that felt paternalistic and possessive. This behavior echoed a wider trend where young fans, whose para-social relationships with artists had been nurtured during the pandemic era through platforms like TikTok, felt a sense of ownership over their idols’ lives.
Taylor did not publicly respond to the letter immediately. However, she has always been attuned to her fanbase’s reactions. In early June, just weeks after the rumors started, it was announced that her brief association with Matty Healy had ended. Taylor, as she so often does, turned to her art to process this intense period of her life. On
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, her eleventh studio album released on April 19, 2024, she described her relationship with Matty as part of a “manic episode,” reflecting the emotional turbulence of her first months on “The Eras Tour.” In the stand-out track “
But Daddy I Love Him” she also directly addresses the public pressure from her fans during this time:
Another unforgettable “rain moment” occurred at Gillette Stadium, a venue famously known within the fanbase for Taylor’s first “Rain Show” back in 2011. During the acoustic section of the concert, just as Taylor was about to play the opening notes on the piano, the keys started playing on their own. “I didn’t play that. So that means—” she began, but was cut off by the booming low notes. Taylor’s jaw dropped as over 65,000 fans erupted in laughter and excitement at the unexpected turn of events. “This has clearly broken my keyboard,” she joked. “It was literally underwater. I didn’t know how any of the instruments were working last night. So this is broken, I’m just gonna grab the guitar. It’s gonna be fine.”
The US tour’s final highlight came on July 22 and 23 at Lumen Field in Seattle, where two nights of earth-shaking dancing from enthusiastic Swifties triggered seismic activity equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake. Dubbed the “Swiftquake” by media outlets, the phenomenon added another unforgettable chapter to “The Eras Tour.”
While Taylor had one of the most successful years for any musician this century, she was quick to acknowledge that such success wasn’t a solo effort. In recognition of her team’s hard work, she reportedly gave out bonuses totaling more than $55 million. These bonuses were shared among the dancers, riggers, sound technicians, catering staff—and truck drivers. According to multiple sources, Taylor gave $100,000 bonuses to each of the 50 truck drivers on her tour before her shows in Santa Clara at the end of July. These bonuses alone amounted to over $5 million. Mike Scherkenbach, founder and CEO of Shomotion, a trucking company that had worked on several of Taylor’s tours, called the gesture “unbelievable,” “generous,” and “life-changing.”
Scherkenbach mentioned that some of his drivers initially thought the bonus was a joke, as most artists touring stadiums typically give drivers an extra $5,000 to $10,000. However, in addition to the substantial checks, Taylor went the extra mile by including a handwritten note of gratitude for each driver, making the gesture even more personal and meaningful.
In August, Taylor wrapped up the first US leg of “The Eras Tour” in Los Angeles. For better or worse, Taylormania continued to thrive, this time spilling into the streets of New York City and even outside private events, such as Jack Antonoff and Margaret Qualley’s wedding on the Jersey shore. Hundreds of eager wedding crashers showed up in hopes of catching a glimpse of Taylor. Footage from the event showed a massive crowd of Swifties gathered at the New Jersey venue as she made her way to the wedding rehearsal dinner. Photos revealed fans waiting outside both the ceremony and reception, while videos shared on social media captured the chaotic scene. The crowd could be heard chanting Taylor’s name as paparazzi flashes lit up her surprised face. Police cruisers were seen among the throng of spectators, blocking off parts of the street near the dinner. The footage of this disruption sparked online debates about toxic fan culture, with some calling the uninvited guests “stalkers.”
Despite these intense moments, Taylor refused to let them derail her life. As she had done all summer, she spent time with friends, went to the studio, and continued to live her life—even with some (strange) people following her car all the way to the garage of her apartment building. She made her presence known once again at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 13, where she took home nine awards, including “Video of the Year” for “Anti-Hero”—her second win in this category in a row:
Newly in love, by October “The Eras Tour” officially catapulted Taylor to billionaire status, according to Bloomberg, making her one of the few recording artists to amass a 10-figure fortune almost entirely from her music. The “most definitive account yet” of her wealth estimated her net worth at approximately $1.1 billion. This major financial milestone was driven by the success of her blockbuster tour. Bloomberg’s analysis revealed that the 53 concerts of the US leg alone contributed $4.3 billion to the country’s gross domestic product. The outlet described its assessment as “conservative,” based only on “assets and earnings that could be confirmed or traced from publicly disclosed figures.”
The calculation included the estimated value of her five homes ($110 million), her music catalog ($400 million for music released since 2019, some of which she reclaimed through re-recording), earnings from streaming deals ($120 million from YouTube and Spotify), music sales ($80 million), concert tickets and merchandise ($370 million), and the financial impact of taxes, tour production, travel costs, and commissions paid to her managers and agents.
Bloomberg also predicted significant future earnings potential for Taylor, particularly based on the immense value of her songwriting catalog. While the conservative estimate of her music’s worth stood at $400 million, the outlet noted that a more optimistic valuation of future royalties could push it to around $1 billion—far surpassing her industry peers.
As one era fades, another inevitably begins—a truth that Taylor had consistently embodied throughout her career. This was never more apparent than on February 4, 2024. That night, she attended the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, bringing an unprecedented chapter to a close. Having just been named TIME’s “Person of the Year” and officially achieving billionaire status, Taylor had long solidified her place in history. Midnights had defined the cultural moment of Taylormania like no other, and it was widely expected to sweep the Grammy ceremony. And it did. Taylor left with three wins, including the coveted “Album of the Year,” making her the first artist ever to receive the honor four times. It was a fitting culmination for an era marked by boundary-pushing reinvention and unparalleled success. Overwhelmed, Taylor said:
Always looking ahead, Taylor wasn’t done yet. That night, she took the opportunity to share her next move with the world: “I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret I’ve been keeping for the last two years,” she revealed. “My brand-new album comes out April 19. It’s called THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. I’m going to go and post the cover right now backstage. Thank you, I love you!”
In that moment, the Midnights era officially came to a close, its legacy firmly etched into the fabric of music history. Yet, as is always the case with Taylor…everything you lose is a step you take. The clock had struck midnight, and a new story was already unfolding.
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