Taylor Swift joins billionaire club thanks to Eras tour
Source: TND
Global superstar Taylor Swift has become a billionaire, according to Forbes magazine.
The 34-year-old US pop musician has accumulated $US1.1 billion ($1.7 billion), based on earnings from her Eras tour and the worth of her music catalogue.
“Swift is the first musician to hit 10-figure status solely based on her songs and performances,” Forbes said.
Barbadian singer Rihanna made the list due to her beauty brand while Beyonce’s husband, rapper Jay-Z, became hip-hop’s first billionaire in 2019 based on his fine art collection, music and shares in companies and drinks brands.
The business magazine believes Swift’s wealth is made up of roughly $US500 million from royalties and touring and a similar amount from the worth of her musical works. An additional $US125 million comes from her property portfolio.
She joins French luxury brand LVMH owner Bernard Arnault, who claims the No.1 spot as the wealthiest person globally with about $US233 billion.
Technology mogul Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, came second on the Forbes‘ list with an estimated $US195 billion.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos placed third on the list while Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg took the No.4 spot and Oracle software cofounder Larry Ellison rounded out the top five.
Following Swift’s recent music gigs, kicking off in March 2023, she became the first artist to surpass $US1 billion in revenue, breaking the Guinness World Record for the highest-grossing music tour.
Her Sydney and Melbourne concerts alone – six nights out for more than 600,000 fans – were worth an estimated $300 million to the Australian economy, according to National Australia Bank.
NAB found that Swift boosted spending in central Sydney by about 20 per cent over the four days of her performances. The lift was worth an estimated $135 million, including $33 million spent on accommodation, tourism and hospitality.
The concert film, based on Swift’s tour, also generated Vue International’s highest ticket sales at the British and Ireland box office on its opening day.
Swift also became the biggest-selling global recording artist of 2023, including breaking another record by topping the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s global artist chart for a fourth time.
Her albums, 2022’s Midnights and 2023 re-releases Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) have all topped the charts.
Swift has been trying to regain control of her master recordings by re-recording her back catalogue since 2021 with Fearless (Taylor’s Version).
-with AAP