As The Life of a Showgirl begins breaking records worldwide, Taylor Swift is telling fans not to expect a tour with it. Following the global phenomenon of the two-year Eras Tour, the most successful concert tour in history, Swift admitted, “I’m so tired.”
Swift appeared on BBC Radio 1 on Friday to coincide with the release of her twelfth studio album, which, before it came out, became Spotify’s most pre-saved album of all time. Less than 12 hours after it dropped this morning, The Life of a Showgirl became the most-streamed album in a single day on Spotify.
With her historic success of the past few years in mind, BBC host Greg James asked, “Have you got the itch for another something soon,” in reference to another tour. Taylor’s response was a decisive (swift?): “No.”
“No, I’m just gonna be really honest with you, I am so tired, like when I think about doing it again,” Swift admitted. “Because I want to do it really well… again. You know?”
Given the historic impact of The Eras Tour, Swift has every right to be tired. The 149-date tour (all sold out) visited 51 cities on five continents in a year and a half, grossing over $2.07 billion, The New York Times reported, twice the gross ticket sales of any other tour in history and roughly equivalent to the GDP of the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia. Across the shows, Swift’s touring company recorded 10,168,008 attendees who paid an average of $204 per seat at each show—far higher than Pollstar‘s $131 average for the top 100 tours in the world. Her eight-show stay at London’s Wembley Stadium, the longest of the tour, drew 753,112 fans—about the population of Seattle. Swift’s staggering stage show required a massive crew, and, according to a People exclusive, the singer-songwriter doled out a total of $197 million in bonuses to her team.
Beyond the financial figures, The Eras Tour touched nearly every facet of popular culture with a butterfly-like effect. The disastrous on-sale crashed Ticketmaster and led to a public outcry that finally resulted in an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment by the U.S. Department of Justice (though the DOJ said its investigation began before the Eras Tour debacle). In sports, Swift began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, with NFL broadcasters showing her at games as much as possible in an effort to attract new viewers. Kelce and Swift have since gotten engaged, and cities around the globe are vying for the chance to host this decade’s royal wedding.
Swift’s influence also reached into world affairs when authorities foiled a terrorist bomb plot targeting her three shows in Vienna. On a local scale, Minnesota and Cincinnati, OH, both declared “Taylor Swift Days” in observance of the musician’s visit to their respective locations. Tampa even declared her “honorary mayor.” Following a year of inescapable cultural saturation, Swift was crowned Time‘s “Person of the Year” for 2023.
So, take a rest, Taylor. Because whatever comes next, everyone’s going to expect it to be even bigger.
Taylor Swift The Life Of A Showgirl Interview | BBC Radio 1