The Eras Tour is the upcoming 2023 concert tour by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, in support of her tenth studio album Midnights. The tour is set to visit stadiums across the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and several locations in Europe. With Swift’s immense popularity and highly loyal fanbase, The Eras Tour is expected to draw massive crowds at each stop. So how many people are actually attending these concerts? Let’s take a deeper look at The Eras Tour’s attendance numbers.
Tour Overview
The Eras Tour was announced by Swift on November 1, 2022. At that time, only the US leg of the tour was revealed, featuring 20 concerts in stadiums across the country from March to August 2023. However, Swift soon added 8 more US shows due to overwhelming demand during the initial ticket sales. She has since announced the international dates for The Eras Tour as well.
In total, The Eras Tour currently comprises 52 concerts over the course of 6 months. Swift will be performing in the US, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Poland, France, Portugal, and Australia. The tour kicks off on March 17, 2023 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona and concludes on August 9, 2023 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
Ticket Sales and Stadium Capacities
When tickets first went on sale in November 2022, Swift broke records with Ticketmaster reporting over 2 million tickets sold on the first day. Fans experienced major technical issues and long wait times trying to purchase tickets due to the exceptionally high demand. Most shows completely sold out within minutes.
Swift is performing at many of the largest stadiums in each city, most of which can hold 50,000-100,000 people. Let’s take a look at the specific venues and their capacities for The Eras Tour:
Venue | City | Capacity |
---|---|---|
State Farm Stadium | Glendale, AZ | 63,400 |
Allegiant Stadium | Las Vegas, NV | 65,000 |
Levi’s Stadium | Santa Clara, CA | 68,500 |
SoFi Stadium | Inglewood, CA | 70,240 |
Lumen Field | Seattle, WA | 69,000 |
Empower Field at Mile High | Denver, CO | 76,125 |
AT&T Stadium | Arlington, TX | 80,000 |
Nissan Stadium | Nashville, TN | 69,143 |
Mercedes-Benz Stadium | Atlanta, GA | 71,000 |
Raymond James Stadium | Tampa, FL | 65,890 |
Hard Rock Stadium | Miami, FL | 65,326 |
Lincoln Financial Field | Philadelphia, PA | 69,696 |
MetLife Stadium | East Rutherford, NJ | 82,500 |
Soldier Field | Chicago, IL | 61,500 |
Ford Field | Detroit, MI | 65,000 |
Acrisure Stadium | Pittsburgh, PA | 69,890 |
Gillette Stadium | Foxborough, MA | 65,878 |
Arrowhead Stadium | Kansas City, MO | 76,416 |
Paycor Stadium | Cincinnati, OH | 26,000 |
Lucas Oil Stadium | Indianapolis, IN | 70,000 |
U.S. Bank Stadium | Minneapolis, MN | 66,860 |
CenturyLink Field | Seattle, WA | 72,000 |
Deutsche Bank Park | Frankfurt, Germany | 48,500 |
Hyde Park | London, UK | 65,000 |
Etihad Stadium | Manchester, UK | 55,097 |
Wembley Stadium | London, UK | 90,000 |
Murrayfield Stadium | Edinburgh, UK | 67,800 |
Puskás Aréna | Budapest, Hungary | 67,145 |
Parc Olympique Lyonnais | Lyon, France | 59,186 |
As we can see, most stadiums have capacities ranging from 60,000 to 90,000 for concerts. The notable exception is Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati, which is a smaller venue but likely chosen for its significance to Swift’s career as the city where she began.
Estimated Total Attendance
With mostly sold out shows in such large stadiums, the total number of people attending The Eras Tour will be massive. If we make the reasonable assumption that each show will sell an average of 90% of tickets, the rough estimated attendance totals are:
- US Dates: 3,432,000 people
- International Dates: 2,468,000 people
- Total for All Dates: 5,900,000 people
So across the 52 dates of The Eras Tour in 2023, approximately 5.9 million fans are expected to see Taylor Swift live.
This would make The Eras Tour one of the highest-grossing and most attended concert tours of all time. For comparison, Swift’s last tour in 2018, the Reputation Stadium Tour, played to roughly 2.5 million fans across 38 shows. Her audience has clearly grown substantially since then.
5.9 million people fills every stadium on the tour over 7 times. It’s equivalent to the entire population of Singapore, or nearly 2% of the US population. The enormous scale of Swift’s popularity is truly astonishing.
Demand and Added Dates
In addition to the insane ticket sales, further evidence of the overwhelming demand to see Swift is the fact that she added 8 extra US dates after the tour was announced. Cities like Tampa, Nashville, Philadelphia, and East Rutherford got additional concerts tacked on due to the intense interest.
Some markets like Los Angeles and New York could likely have supported even more dates. Swift is essentially forced to turn away millions of disappointed fans every time she tours.
While 5.9 million attendees is already an enormous figure, she could have likely sold even more tickets with extra shows added in certain cities. The demand far exceeds her capacity to perform.
Stadium Location Factors
In choosing where to host The Eras Tour, Swift and her team clearly strategized to maximize capacity and attendance. Most of the stadiums she is playing are located in highly populous metropolitan areas with large existing fan bases.
For example, SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles and MetLife Stadium in the New York City area are the two largest venues on the tour at 70,240 and 82,500 capacity respectively. Local fan demand in big cities like this is easiest to fill huge stadiums repeatedly.
Midwestern cities like Cleveland, Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Cincinnati were likely passed over in favor of the coastal cities where her fans are more concentrated. Additionally, by mostly limiting this tour to the US and Europe, Swift can play to her largest bases of loyal supporters built up over 15 years of her career.
If she were to bring The Eras Tour to new markets in Asia, Africa or South America for instance, it’s unlikely the demand exists yet to sustain such large stadiums and attendance figures. Strategic market selection maximizes her revenue and reach on this tour.
Record-Breaking Feats
Beyond the headlining numbers, The Eras Tour attendance is record-setting in multiple other ways:
- Largest stadium tour ever by a female artist
- Highest grossing tour in Ticketmaster’s history based on pre-sales
- Biggest tour in US history by ticket sales
- Most tickets sold on the first day in Ticketmaster history
Swift now claims each of these historic records solely for herself, underscoring her status as the defining pop superstar of this generation. No other artist can mobilize audiences at this scale anymore. She has an unprecedented ability to fill the largest venues with adoring devoted fans year after year.
Global Superstar Status
Very few musicians in history have reached the level of global stardom attained by Taylor Swift. Her massive fan base now spans generations as she continues breaking her own records a decade and a half into her career.
The Eras Tour attendance figures are just the latest testament to her soaring popularity. She is filling the biggest stadiums across North America and Europe faster than anyone thought possible.
In an increasingly fragmented media landscape, Swift stands alone as a universally beloved pop culture icon. Her music and life story connect deeply with millions worldwide, making her tours unmissable experiences for fans. She represents the pinnacle of success in the modern music industry.
Demand for Future Tours
Looking ahead, the demand for Taylor Swift’s tours shows no signs of slowing down. If anything, it appears to be steadily growing stronger and more fervent with each passing year.
Her next tours seem destined to smash even The Eras Tour records. Swift still has so many more milestones left to achieve, it’s scary to imagine what the attendance figures could balloons to next time. She hints at retiring from touring when she turns 40, so fans are clamoring to see her live while they still can.
For now, The Eras Tour gives a full display of her dominance. But for the loyal Swifties, each show undoubtedly leaves them longing excitedly for the next tour.
Conclusion
In conclusion, The Eras Tour is poised to host approximately 5.9 million ecstatic Taylor Swift fans at its 52 stadium dates in 2023. This makes it one of the highest-grossing and most-attended concert tours ever.
The enormous audiences speak to Swift’s rare stature as a beloved global superstar. Her songwriting genius and personal authenticity have cultivated a massive loyal fanbase that continues exponentially growing.
Given the insane demand, she likely could have sold even more tickets and added extra dates. Swift and her team strategically picked stadium locations and markets to optimize attendance on this record-breaking tour.
Simply put, no other music artist in the world is even close to commanding this level of devotion today. Taylor Swift has ascended into the rarified territory of elite pop culture icons through the unparalleled success of tours like The Eras.