Taylor Swift Tour Projected To Pass The $1 Billion Mark
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is expected to pass $1 billion in sales by March 2024. If that happens, the singer-songwriter will make history. Per Time, Swift’s tour is set to become the biggest tour of all time. And, amazingly, it is only a third of the way through! The publication projects a gross of $2.2 billion in North American ticket sales alone. She’s also had an 80% spike in streaming due to the hype around her set list and surprise songs.
After 53 shows, the first US leg of the Eras Tour came to a close earlier this month. As we previously reported, the “Cruel Summer” singer originally announced 27 shows and has since extended the tour into 2024. The musician added new dates in cities including New Orleans, Indianapolis, and Toronto. Swift’s next stop is in Mexico City, with four shows. After that, she will be moving through five continents through November of next year.
The Success of the Eras Tour
She has crossed genres, from country to pop to indie, and with three-and-a-half hour-long shows she covers all aspects of her career. And she plays two “surprise songs” each night, and fans are always eager to find out what songs she’ll choose for that segment. On top of that, Time says her timing is impeccable. The publication says it’s perfect for fans “itching for a post-pandemic live music immersive experience.” Another factor is how much Swifties appreciate Taylor’s dedication to her craft: writing all of her songs and reclaiming ownership of all of music by re-recording her discography. Fans have also been buying and streaming the new versions of her old songs and the bonus tracks on her re-recorded versions of her albums.
Analysts estimate that Swift will achieve the milestone of the biggest tour in music history. Elton John’s multi-year farewell tour wrapped up earlier this summer and holds the current record of $939 million. On top of net profits, the Eras Tour is projected to generate close to $5 billion in consumer spending in the US alone. Time reports that on her opening night in Glendale, Arizona, the concert brought in more revenue for local businesses than this year’s Super Bowl, which took place in the same stadium.
All of Taylor Swift’s Surprise Songs on the Eras Tour
March 17 - Tim McGraw
This was also performed during her opening night in Glendale. Swift threw it way back with this song dating back to her 2006 self-titled debut. Tim McGraw was a huge country star at this time. This was written by Swift when she was in her freshman year of high school; the lyrics narrate a summer romance that’s come to a sudden end.
March 24 & August 4 - Our Song
Taylor threw it back once again to her self-titled debut album when she performed this one on March 24 in Las Vegas. She played it again on August 4 in Los Angeles. She wrote “Our Song” for a high school talent show during ninth grade. She included the song because it was popular among her classmates!
March 25 - Cowboy Like Me
From 2020’s evermore, Swift’s “indie” album, this song is reminiscent of her country beginnings. The male backing vocals you hear in the track is Marcus Mumford, frontman of the band Mumford & Sons. He joined her on stage during the Vegas performance on March 25.
April 1 & August 5 - Death By A Thousand Cuts
April 1 & May 28 - Clean
The second song for her April 1 performance was “Clean,” from her 2014 album, 1989. She performed it again in New Jersey in May. Widely thought to be written about ex- Harry Styles, told Elle in 2015, “‘Clean’ I wrote as I was walking out of Liberty in London. Someone I used to date — it hit me that I’d been in the same city as him for two weeks and I hadn’t thought about it. When it did hit me, it was like, ‘Oh, I hope he’s doing well.’ And nothing else.”
April 2 - Jump Then Fall
Swift’s final day in Arlington included this acoustic performance of her re-recorded song from her 2008 Fearless album. Swift previously told MTV News the song is “really bouncy and happy and lovey. It’s got this really cool banjo part that’s, like, bouncy and… I don’t know, it just has a really good feel-good vibe to me.” The re-recording holds on to that feeling.
April 2 - The Lucky One
Fans in Arlington were the lucky ones hearing this song. It’s rumored to be about Joni Mitchell and Kim Wilde. There are references of how the English pop singer left her career to become a landscape gardener. Also, the main melody samples Wilde’s “Four Letter Word.”
April 14 - The Great War
April 14 & August 5- You’re on Your Own, Kid
April 15 - Mad Woman
From 2020’s folklore, Swift enlisted Aaron Dessner again to join her on stage. The song was written by Swift and Dessner, who produced the track. “Mad Woman” is a ballad that confronts gaslighting in Swift’s personal life, particularly her battles with Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta over owning her music.
April 22 - A Place in This World
With another song off from her debut album, Swift performed this song the next day in Texas. She was just 13 years old when she wrote this deep-cut. In her
🏟️| “So this is a song that I wrote when I was like 13 years old and I was on my first album. And I'm sure I related to it when I wrote it, but I think I relate to it more now 20 years later. And I very rarely ever play it live, so I decided to play ….A Place In This World.” pic.twitter.com/SXGI08IvuJ
— Taylor Swift Updates 🩶 (@swifferupdates) April 23, 2023" rel="noopener" target="_blank">intro for the song, she revealed that even though she wrote “A Place in This World” when she was in middle school, the song actually resonates with her even more now, as a 33-year-old woman.April 23 - Cold as You
Two country songs closed out her Texas shows. Swift finished her surprise song pairing with this song from her debut album. She told Rolling Stone in 2012 that this is her favorite song on the album.
April 28 - Coney Island ft. The National
April 30 - I Bet You Think About Me
April 30 - How You Get the Girl
Switching up the pace, Swift performed this 1989 bubblegum pop track as the final song of her final day in the city. The song is rumored to be about the on and off relationship between her friend Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber. The 2014 song was originally teased in her Diet Coke ad with her cat Olivia.
May 5 - Sparks Fly
On May 5 in Nashville, Tennessee, Swift performed this 2010 Speak Now country track. Though it’s part of her Speak Now album, Swift had written the song before she released her self-titled debut album in 2006. She only included it on her third album after she received fan requests to release the song after playing with her crush Jake Owen in a bar in Portland, Oregon.
May 5 - Teardrops on My Guitar
It should come as no surprise that Swift would perform this song that landed her on the mainstream charts in 2007. Swift was inspired to write “Teardrops on My Guitar” about her unrequited love for a boy named Drew Hardwick, a classmate of hers at at Hendersonville High School in Tennessee. At least he has some bragging rights!
May 6 - Out of the Woods
This synth-pop 1989 track kicked off day two’s surprise set. The song was written and produced with frequent collaborator, Jack Antonoff from fun. and Bleachers. She has said that this is her favorite song from the album saying, “It was interesting to write about a relationship where you’re just honestly like, ‘This is probably not gonna last, but how long is it gonna last?'”
May 12 - Gold Rush
On May 12, Swift began her Philadelphia, Pennsylvania surprise set with her live debut of this 2020 evermore track. During her set, Swift clarified a specific lyric: “With my Eagles T-shirt hanging from the door.” She told the Philly crowd that though she loves the band, she was talking about the football team. “I’m from Philly. Of course it’s the team.”
May 12 - Come Back…Be Here
Next up was a Red throwback, which, though Swift has not confirmed it, is speculated to be about ex- Harry Styles. At a release party for the 2012 album, Swift said, “It’s a song I wrote about this guy that I met. You know, you meet someone and then they just kinda happen to go away and it’s, like, long distance all of a sudden. And you’re, like, ‘B-b-but, but, come back, be here!’ So it’s a song that I wrote about having distance separate you, which is something I face constantly.”
May 13 - This Love
May 14 - Hey Stephen
The final day in Philly featured another Fearless track. Written about Stephen Barker Liles from the country music duo Love And Theft, who were an opening act on her Fearless Tour in 2008. He returned the favor in a song he wrote for her called “Try To Make It Anyway!”
May 28 - Welcome to New York
On her final day in New Jersey, Swift performed this song, fittingly for the venue which is in close proximity to the Big Apple. How close? Well, she performed at MetLife Stadium, the home of the New York Jets and the New York Giants. The 1989 track is inspired by Swift’s newfound freedom when she moved to NYC.
June 2 - I Wish You Would
Swift continued on her 1989 secret songs with this track on June 2 in Chicago, Illinois. The song was written a few months after she and Harry Styles broke up and is about they decided to become friends again. She said this was the first time she had become friends with an ex- to the point where they were comfortable enough to talk about why the relationship didn’t work out.
June 3 - You All Over Me
Maren Morris joined Swift on day two for the first duet live performance of this Fearless track. As Morris joined her on stage with another acoustic guitar, Swift called her “one of my favorite artists.” Like Swift, Morris is a country singer who also worked in pop music.
June 23 - Paper Rings
July 1 - Ivy
Cincinnati native and co-writer Aaron Dessner joined Swift on stage for this evermore track the following day. The song is about a married woman falling in love with a person who isn’t her husband.
July 1 - I Miss You, I’m Sorry
Swift covered opener Gracie Abrams’ song with the artist as her second surprise song. Swift was on guitar while Abrams played the piano. Swift has always elevated lesser known artists.
July 7 - Never Grow Up
July 8 - Last Kiss
July 22 - This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
July 28 - Castles Crumbling ft. Hayley Williams
This “from the vault” song was up next from her Speak Now album. When Swift announced the song, she said Hayley Williams’ band, Paramore, was a huge influence to her around the time that she wrote the album. She also revealed Paramore would be joining her as an opening act for her Eras Tour dates in 2024.
July 29 - All of the Girls You Loved Before
Swift then switched it up to this The More Lover Chapter track, which is one of three other songs that did not make it to the final tracklist when Lover was initially released in 2019. When kicking off the Eras Tour, Swift revealed the song would officially be released with three other tracks: “Eyes Open (Taylor’s Version),” “Safe and Sound (Taylor’s Version),” featuring Joy Williams and John Paul White, and “If This Was a Movie (Taylor’s Version).”
August 5 - You Are in Love
After three back-to-back repeats, Swift then shifted gears to this 1989 track. It was written with Jack Antonoff about his relationship with his then-girlfriend, actress Lena Dunham. “You guys are like the benchmark of actual, real true love,” Swift said about the couple. Sadly, they broke up in 2018.
August 7 - Exile
After taking a one-day break from her 5-day Los Angeles concert shows, Swift performed this folklore track next. The only other time Swift has performed the song live is during a Bon Iver concert in London last year. Fans expected Bon Iver (aka singer/songwriter and sometime Kayne collaborator Justin Vernon) to perform with her at her show, but it didn’t happen.
August 8 - I Know Places
Next up was this 1989 track, which seems to be about not being able to avoid the tabloid coverage when she and Harry Styles started dating. It uses the metaphor of a fox hunt, where the only chance of escaping lies in their cunning and ability to hide. And of course, Taylor and Harry still are always being hunted by paparazzi today.
August 9 - New Year’s Day
Swift’s final Eras Tour song was this closing song off the reputation album that fittingly uses a New Year’s party as a metaphor to discuss holding on to people and memories from both good and bad times. The song has also long been rumored to be about Swift’s now-ex, Joe Alwyn. Swift doesn’t come back to the Us until October 2024 with added dates.