Taylor Swift has made her name well known from her impact within the entertainment field. But Swift may soon be known for something else, bringing the United States economy out of an impending recession.
For this topic, it is crucial to gain some background on the COVID era in 2020, when the Biden Administration sent out stimulus checks. These stimulus checks came in the form of a 1.9 trillion dollar relief package signed by Biden in 2021. This round of financial relief included multiple boxes meant to assist working Americans during economic instability.
Yet when the economy is flooded with extra money going to consumers, it gets a healthy boost. However, this also leads to inflation; as Fortune reports, while stimulus money did prevent a more significant crisis, financial aid in the form of stimulus checks also “boosted inflation by 2.6%.”
While all this was happening, Taylor Swift was busy at work, releasing her eighth album “Folklore” on July 24th of 2020, selling 1,101,000 copies in the United States according to Best Selling Albums. Swift also released her ninth studio album, “Evermore,” on December 11th of 2020, which became Rolling Stone’s Biggest Album of 2020, selling 2.3 million units worldwide.
Album sales seem like a trivial way to compare economic boosts. Still, when the average American worker can spend money on nonessential goods, it demonstrates an upward trend as the average consumer can have more money in their pocket.
The United States is also seeing tremendous inflation in Gas Prices. CNN reported that in July 2023, the United States had just seen its “biggest one-day increase in a year.”
CNN also reported that the current situation is better than last year and that “gas prices had experienced a nearly unprecedented year-over-year decline.” Yet, the status quo of gas prices remains an issue.
Now Swift is on her Eras Tour, causing controversy along the way with the Ticketmaster fiasco. Nonetheless, Swift has been touring the country; some fans even see more than one show.
CBS represents the relevance of all this to the economy, stating, “(Swift’s) tour could help add $5 billion to the worldwide economy.”
More specifically, CBS reports that the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said slight economic growth due to her performances this past May. While a “slight growth” may not sound like much, that is the impact of just one person on a large economy like Philadelphia.
Swift’s tour also spiked the tourism and hotel industry, coinciding with the Los Angeles Hotel Workers’ strike. Chicago’s Tourism and conventions bureau announced in June that Chicago had set its record for the number of hotel rooms booked in the city due to the Eras Tour. Hotels in Cincinnati also managed to gross 2.6 million dollars in the short time Swift was in town for the Cincinnati leg of the Eras Tour.
But are people satisfied? CBS also reported a study done by QuestionPro. The survey was conducted of 596 people that went to the Eras Tour and spent an average of 1,300 dollars, including all expenses, which consists of an average of people being 720 dollars above their intended budget. Even through the budget issues, 71% of people in the study said the money was worth it, and 91% said they would be willing to attend again.
It is an unarguable fact that Swift has brought an economic boost everywhere she has toured. This is also only the beginning of Swift’s world tour. Swift still has multiple international locations left for the Eras Tour. With the current economic boosts of the Eras Tour, it’s looking like Swift said it best in her debut album that she will help the global economy “Stay Beautiful.
