Look, we’re just reporting the facts and numbers here, people.
Taylor Swift's fan army the Swifties and Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter’s fan army the Beyhive are two of the most of the most dedicated fan bases to be found in all of popular music. They might be the two most dominant, period, but we don’t want to risk offending the Rihanna or BTS squads.
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And we certainly aren’t out here trying to pit Queens against each other, so don’t get mad at your friends at The Street. We are simply reporting the news that Beyoncé’s recently launched “Renaissance” tour is projected to earn $2.1 billion, which is about $500 million more than the $1.6 billion Taylor Swift is expected to earn from her “Eras” outing, according to Forbes.
Forbes made these estimates based on high average ticket prices of about $700 and merchandise sales, expecting that tour expenses will consist of about 20% of revenues, so the artists will take home 80%.
(To be honest, as a seasoned music writer, I find those numbers a bit off. Beyoncé’s tour has a ton of backing dancers and Swift’s show is heavy on special effects. I don’t know what the real number for expenses would be, but 20% is probably low balling it.)
Of course, this is all just an estimate, as Forbes notes that “Renaissance” could gross between “$275 million and $2.4 billion from tickets alone,” whereas Swift is expected to hit a ceiling of $1.9 billion.
Why Beyoncé May Out-Earn Swift
Both Swift and Beyoncé are hugely famous stars going out on their first post-pandemic outing. Their tickets sold out immediately, and also caused such a debacle that Congress is now actively investigating Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation for antitrust violations. They both sold premium tickets, ranging around $700, for seats close to the stage, and they both have plenty of corporate endorsement deals.
So what gives Beyoncé the edge? It could just be that she has the most dedicated fans, period.
But Forbes speculates that it could also be that while both artists have extensive lifestyle brands in terms of merchandise, Beyoncé’s website has much less merch than Swift’s, which might possibly incentivize fans to spend more money on concert merch, which is always more expensive than what you can buy online.
Still, Swift’s net worth is estimated to be $570 million, so she’ll probably be fine. After all, there’s no shame in losing to the Queen.
