Good morning! Trump picks Gail Slater to lead antitrust efforts and Kelly Loeffler to head the Small Business Administration, Montana's restrictive transgender bathroom measure is blocked, and Taylor Swift is taking her final Eras Tour bow this weekend.
- Final bow. It’s the end of an Eras.
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour wraps up this weekend in Vancouver, almost two years after the superstar launched the global phenomenon that propped up local economies, helped spur a federal antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation, and propelled Swift’s ascension to billionaire status.
Exactly how much the tour—each show is a three-and-a-half hour journey through 10 of her studio albums, or musical eras—made in ticket sales is currently unknown, as Swift has not officially reported the figures. But music industry publication Pollstar reported it surpassed $1 billion in revenue by the end of 2023, making it then the highest-grossing tour of all time. Swift has played dozens more shows since then, ensuring the final tally is even more impressive—likely closer to $2 billion.
Outside of ticket sales, the so-called TSwift Lift continued apace in the cities the popstar passed through; from roadside merchants selling handmade merch to local small businesses to stadiums hosting the shows, anyone in Swift's proximity seemed to benefit.
“The Swiftonomics are real,” says Belinda Oakley, CEO of Sodexo Live! North America, which has overseen food and beverage operations at 12 of the shows during the tour’s last leg and will also service Vancouver this weekend. Even compared to other top-selling tours, concession sales were up as much as 41% at some venues, with sales volume “akin to hosting 12 Super Bowls over the span of about eight weeks.” Swifties have been more than happy to shell out for tickets, hotels, merch—and chicken tenders. (As a two-time attendee, I can personally verify that.)
In the midst of it all, Swift also managed to produce a concert movie that bypassed traditional distribution agreements, a book that bypassed traditional publishers, and the year’s biggest studio album, by virtually every metric. She’s the top-selling artist in the world, and the most-streamed. It seems unlikely that many of us will witness another artist operating on every cylinder to the degree Swift has over the past two years.
With this monumental moment now drawing to a close, fans—and likely more than one economist—are wondering: What does a post-Eras era look like? Knowing Swift, it's beyond our wildest dreams.
Alicia Adamczyk
alicia.adamczyk@fortune.com
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