In a post-pandemic society on the brink of recession, the world’s top musicians aren’t only topping the charts, they’re also saving the economy. With the world opening back up, and allowing musicians to tour safely again, the financial state of the nation is on an upward trend.
By popular demand
Beyoncé is currently wrapping up her RENAISSANCE world tour in the States. She just overtook Madonna for the record of the highest-grossing tour by a female artist of all time with more than $461 million grossed. Mrs. Carter also occupies six out of the top seven highest-grossing individual tour dates in history by a female artist. She will allegedly bring home over $2 billion in total revenue with 56 shows.
The Era’s Tour just hit international soil and Taylor Swift isn’t slowing down. She currently averages an audience of over 72,000 people per show. Ticketmaster broke down due to the influx of fans queued on its site. The fans wanted to be in attendance so desperately that they caused a nationwide crash.
Swift’s original projected earnings were around $590 million with 52 shows. However, with worldwide dates recently announced, the projection now eclipses $1.4 million.
Cruel economy
With the effects of COVID-19 on businesses, the U.S. government took action. The pandemic shut down the world, and during this time, local businesses were hit the hardest. Hoping it would prevent a recession, stimulus checks were given out to citizens who met the requirements. Nonetheless, the economy still struggled to recover from the quarantine. Experts predict that by the end of 2023, there will be a $14 trillion economic toll as a direct result of the pandemic.
Power of a woman
Tours don’t only create revenue from ticket and merch sales. For example, the cities housing the concert reap immense economic benefits from consequential industries. Local restaurants, stores, hotels and airports see exponential growth in traffic to their respective businesses.
For Beyoncé, black-owned, women-owned and LGBTQ+-owned businesses saw an over 190% increase in searches for their respective services.
The spike in each city coincided with the weeks that the RENAISSANCE tour was present. Yelp tracked this data based on the internet traffic created during the respective dates. For example, Philadelphia and New York City saw the biggest spike in traffic. The “RENAISSANCE” album is an ode to the black queer community. Thus, the monetary impact seen on these systemically oppressed communities is immeasurable.
$5 billion dollars for the economy is expected to be raised from Swift’s Era’s Tour. That number rivals the gross domestic product of 50 nations combined. The Federal Reserve has credited the singer with boosting the country’s economy. Some outlets refer to the boom as the “Swift Lift” or “Taylornomics.”
The best revenge is your paper
In a male-dominated industry where women are rarely in positions of power, Beyoncé and Swift know a thing or two about smashing a glass ceiling. Both in the midst of their wildly successful world tours and with no signs of slowing down, these ladies are in fact getting in formation. For women make the world go round… and these juggernauts are living proof of just that.
