There is no two ways about it - the world has gone gaga over Taylor Swift. This has been very much her year and it saw her rocketing to a status of mega stardom rarely seen in pop music.
Right now, Time's Person of the Year is preparing to land her Mothership in Dublin for three nights at the Aviva Stadium as part of what is the most successful concert tour of all time. Her accompanying Eras Tour film has taken over $260 million at the global box office.
Earlier this year she made Grammy history when she became the first artist to win the coveted prize for Best Album for the fourth time, a record that beats no less than Frank Sinatra and Paul Simon, who had three each.
Swift has an almost supernatural hold on her fans and it’s a brave man or woman who has the audacity to say anything remotely critical about their idol. Such is the global fascination with T-Swizz that last year an American news outlet hired a Taylor Swift correspondent.
As she told Time magazine last year, "It feels like the breakthrough moment of my career, happening at 33. And for the first time in my life, I was mentally tough enough to take what comes with that.
"This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been."
Not 'alf! She makes a regal return to Ireland when she plays three shows at the Aviva Stadium this weekend so we've crunched the numbers on the reigning queen of pop in a bid to get an insight into Taylor’s world.
$1.1 billion: According to numerous sources including Bloomberg and Forbes, Taylor Swift is a self-made billionaire, with all that moolah tumbling in from concert ticket sales, her ever-expanding music catalogue (an estimated $400 million, according to Bloomberg) and the vexed issue of streaming deals (an estimated $175 million). She also knows the value of bricks and mortar ($110 million from a condo and estate in Nashville, an estate in Los Angeles, an apartment in New York City's TriBeCa neighbourhood and a seaside summer home in Watch Hill, Rhode Island). Ker-ching!
Watch our 2014 interview with Taylor in London
152 dates on her Eras Tour: What is now the most successful concert tour of all time kicked off in March 2023 in Glendale, Arizona and is set to conclude in December 8 in Vancouver, Canada. That’s a hell of a lot of friendship bracelets. Last year the Taylor effect even had a major impact on the US economy, which saw a $5.7 billion boost due to fan spending.
106 award nominations: Taylor is well used to scooping gongs for her work. Even in an industry with a "one for everyone in the audience approach" to honouring musicians, Tay Tay’s mantelpiece and downstairs loo must be chock-full of gongs and statuettes. She’s now won 14 Grammys, eight Academy of Country Music Awards, 42 Billboard Music Awards, and has been nominated for the Golden Globes four times. And let’s not forget that here in Ireland she won five Meteor Music Awards.
3 romances: Of course, at her level of megawatt fame, speculation about Tay Tay’s love life has always been rampant and last year was no exception. At the beginning of 2023, she was still stepping out with British actor Joe Alwyn but they broke up after six years together last April. She then had a whirlwind fling with The 1975’s Matty Healy of The 1975. That lasted a month and now it’s all about her romance with NFL star Travis Kelce. The Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end attended one of Swift’s Eras Tour concerts last July and then fessed up that he had tried - and failed - to give Swift his phone number. However, a mutual friend worked their magic and Swift decided to give Kelce another chance. The rest is hysteria.
11 albums: Across nearly twenty years, she has evolved from all-American country sweetheart to strutting pop goddess to meaningful and moody folky. So (big breath) those albums are: Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017), Lover (2019), Folklore (2020), Evermore (2020), and Midnights (2022).
The Tortured Poets Department (2023) features sixteen songs, including collaborations with American rapper Post Malone and English band Florence and the Machine. And let’s not forget that Taylor is re-recording many of those older albums following a bitter row over the ownership of the masters of her first six studio albums with former manager Scooter Braun.
Taylor’s versions of Fearless, Red, Speak Now and 1989 have already hit the decks.
1 brother: Taylor’s only sibling is her brother Austin. Born to parents Andrea and Scott Swift in 1992, he grew up alongside Tay Tay on the family’s Christmas tree farm in rural West Reading, Pennsylvania. When he was nine, the family moved to Nashville so Taylor could pursue her music career. He studied film at the University of Notre Dame and now works as an actor and producer. His big screen debut was in 2016’s crime thriller I.T., alongside Pierce Brosnan and he went on to appear with Ben Affleck and Zoe Saldana in Live by Night. He even executive produced his older sister’s Disney+ documentary Folklore: The Long Pond Sessions, and her I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) music video.
13 - feeling lucky: While some people many consider it an unlucky number, Swift has made no secret of her favourite digits.
Not only was she born on 13 December, but she started the tradition of writing the number 13 on her hand during shows.
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When asked why she adores that particular number so much, Swift said it's because it's strongly linked to many of her career milestones.
Speaking to MTV, she said: "The significance of the number 13 on my hand... I paint this on my hand before every show because 13 is my lucky number - for a lot of reasons," she said. "It's really weird."
Swift continued: "I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 on Friday the 13th. My first album went gold in 13 weeks. My first No. 1 song had a 13-second intro. Every time I’ve won an award I’ve been seated in either the 13th seat, the 13th row, the 13th section or row M, which is the 13th letter."
It's reported that the star earns $13 million for each Eras gig and made $130 million in royalties from Spotify last year.
16 outfit changes: Style queen Swift has had up to 16 costume changes during her high-energy Eras Tour gigs. Each bespoke and bedazzling outift depicts a different era of her music career, corresponding to the various albums she has released over her successful career.
From opening the show with the Lover era wearing a sparkly pink-and-blue bodysuit, to a jaw-dropping ending featuring a ruffled rainbow jacket to the beat of fan favourite Karma, concert-goers are sure to be in for several fashion treats.
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360 - every minute counts: Clocking in at an average of three hours in duration, The Eras gigs are far from swift - but the songstress is just giving the people what they want! Across her string of concerts to date, performances have varied from and average of 3 hours and 15 minutes. However, Taylor often has surprises at her shows and in some cases the concerts have lasted as long as 3 hours and 45 minutes.
No. 1 - A string of chart successes: Swift isn't just number one in fans' eyes, she has also landed in first place on several occasions on the Irish charts. We love you Taylor!
The multi-talented singer has had a whopping eleven No.1 albums and three No.1 singles (All Too Well (Taylor's Version), Anti-Hero, Look What You Made Me Do) making it to the coveted top spot. Is there anything she can't do?
Alan Corr @CorrAlan2
Taylor Swift plays The Aviva Stadium on Friday 28 June, Saturday 29 June and Sunday 30 June.
Additional Reporting: Laura Delaney
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