The Eras Tour Draws to a Close this Week

Taylor Swift may go back to December all the time, but this particular December could be even more poignant than a break-up for her.

This weekend will mark the final shows of the pop star’s globetrotting Eras tour, which has lasted a marathon 21 months. It’s a sad week for Swifties, but a good time to reflect back on the sheer economic heft of the tour, which wielded the power to single-handedly drive up nations’ inflation rates.

Everything Has Changed

The scale of the Eras tour is unprecedented. It smashed records a full 12 months ago when it became the first music tour ever to gross more than $1 billion, according to Pollstar. On top of that, the accompanying Eras tour movie that came out in October 2023 became the highest-grossing concert film of all time, breaking a record set by Michael Jackson in 2009. 

Beyond filling the pockets of Tay Tay and her collaborators on the tour, Eras exerted an economic center of gravity wherever it went. In September 2024, six British members of parliament put forward a motion to recognise the impact of the Eras tour on the UK economy. “This House acknowledges the substantial economic impact of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour on the UK economy, with an estimated boost of nearly £1 billion ($1.3 billion),” the motion reads, adding that it: “notes the concept of Swiftonomics as a demonstration of how cultural events can drive significant economic activity across multiple sectors, including hospitality, retail, and transportation.” 

But Swiftonomics did come with a downside for some countries. Wherever Swift went, inflation followed in her wake:

• Swift’s arrival in Sweden in May of this year caused the country’s core inflation rate to tick up for the first time in a year. The inflation wasn’t contained to strictly concert-adjacent sectors like hotel rates or air fares; it hit the price of clothing and food as well.
• Tourflation isn’t a purely Swiftian phenomenon, as tours by Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen have also shown signs of bloating price growth.

Bullseye: At least one retailer is praying there’s still some juice left in the Eras tour. Target is exclusively selling the official Eras Tour book, at $39.99 a pop. The combination of the two economic forces that are Taylor Swift and Black Friday is potent — and perfect timing for Target, which suffered a dizzying 21% drop in its share price in mid-November following some severely underwhelming third-quarter earnings.