Where did Taylor Swift’s Eras tour start? Looking back at the beginning of the highest-grossing concert streak of all time

Opening Night of Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour
Opening Night of Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour heads to the Paris La Defense Arena on May 9, 2024 (image via Getty)

March 17, 2024, officially marked one year since the first show of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. In one year, Taylor has broken a plethora of records, been named the TIME 2023 Person of the Year, uplifted economies with the 'Taylor Swift Effect,' and finished working on her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department.

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour started on March 17, 2023, with the first show in Glendale, Arizona. Taylor's first show broke the record of the female concert with the highest attendance in US history. Since then, the Tour hasn't looked back.

With less than half the number of shows done, The Eras Tour grossed over $1 billion by the end of 2023, already making it the highest-grossing concert in history. According to an estimate by the U.S. Travel Association, the total economic impact of The Eras Tour will touch the $10 billion mark before its completion in 2024.


Where did Taylor Swift's Eras Tour officially start?

Taylor Swift officially started The Eras Tour on March 17 in Glendale, Arizona. The three-hour concert was a journey across time, touching every 'era' of the 14-time Grammy winner's career.

Opening Night of Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
Opening Night of Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)

Fashioning sparkling attire and matching boots, Taylor started the concert with Lover Era and sang Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince. The 34-year-old also performed Cruel Summer live for the first time.

Champagne Problems and Willow from Evermore reminded the audience of the pandemic era. Thereafter, a ginormous snake slithered around the stage, and Taylor sang Delicate and Don't Blame Me from her iconic Reputation album. The Red Era saw her performing songs like I Knew You Were Trouble and We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. Taylor also sang the full 10-minute version of All Too Well.

Folklore followed Red, and Taylor performed songs like Invisible String, Cardigan, and an acoustic version of Mirrorball. She also informed the audience that the acoustic version of a different song would be played at every show throughout her tour.

Taylor coalesced popular hits from her 1989 era into one big dance show. It included iconic hits like Shake It Off, Blank Space, and Wildest Dreams. As the concert came to its final moments, Taylor took the audience on a nostalgic ride with Fearless songs like Love Story, You Belong With Me. The pop star also performed Tim McGraw on the piano.

Taylor ended the concert with her latest album from 2022, Midnights. Within three hours, the 34-year-old covered a total of forty songs.

A total of 69,000 fans attended the first concert of The Eras Tour, and Taylor Swift became the record holder for the most-attended female concert in US history. In doing so, she beat Madonna who had held the record for almost 36 years!


Taylor Swift's Eras Tour in Numbers

Since the inception of The Eras Tour, Taylor has seemingly toppled records with every new concert. Even before reaching the halfway point of its 152-show run, the tour had already earned $1 billion in revenue by the end of 2023. That made Taylor Swift's Eras Tour the highest-grossing concert tour in history.

As of March 17, Taylor has performed in 83 shows across 30 cities and is expected to end The Eras Tour with 152 shows by the end of 2024. According to Pollstar, an average of 72,500 Eras Tour tickets were sold between November 17, 2022, and November 15, 2023, with each ticket costing an average of $238.95. Extrapolating that data, Pollstar predicts that Taylor has likely sold 6.02 million tickets by now.

Pollstar also estimated that Swift's total gross revenue from tickets is $1.44 billion as of March 17. This figure can be extrapolated to estimate a total revenue of $2.165 billion by the end of 2024. This is already the highest revenue achieved by a concert tour in history.

For comparison, the next highest-grossing concert tour of all time is Elton John's multi-year Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, which earned $938 million from 328 shows.

If we include the revenue from selling merchandise, Pollstar estimates that an additional $240.8 million gets added to the total revenue. However, this estimate only considers the merchandise sold during the concert days.

Taylor Swift Fans Gather Outside Concert Venue In Sydney (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)
Taylor Swift Fans Gather Outside Concert Venue In Sydney (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Next, Taylor Swift's Eras Tour heads to the Paris La Defense Arena on May 9, 2024. Will she break even more records in her upcoming concerts? The anticipation is palpable among the millions of Swifties worldwide.

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Edited by Ahana Mukhopadhyay
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