Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated Eras Tour went on sale November 15, 2022 on Ticketmaster and demand was incredibly high. So high in fact that Ticketmaster’s website crashed and was unable to handle the influx of fans trying to purchase tickets all at once. This led many to wonder, just how many people were trying to buy Taylor Swift tickets? While we may never know the exact number, we can look at some key data points to estimate the demand.
Taylor’s Popularity and Fanbase Size
First, it’s important to understand just how popular Taylor Swift is. She has over 200 million followers across social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. She’s one of the top selling artists of all time with over 100 million albums sold globally. Her last tour, the Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018, broke the record for the highest grossing tour by a woman. So it’s safe to say she has a massive fanbase who were eager to buy tickets to her first tour in 5 years.
Number of Tour Dates and Venue Capacities
The Eras Tour has 52 scheduled dates across stadiums in the US from March to August 2023. Looking at just a sample of the venue capacities gives an idea of how many tickets were up for grabs:
Venue | Location | Capacity |
Lumen Field | Seattle, WA | 72,000 |
Levi’s Stadium | Santa Clara, CA | 75,000 |
SoFi Stadium | Los Angeles, CA | 70,000 |
Empower Field at Mile High | Denver, CO | 76,125 |
NRG Stadium | Houston, TX | 72,220 |
AT&T Stadium | Arlington, TX | 80,000 |
Just looking at this small sample, there were over 445,000 tickets available across 6 venues. Considering there are 52 concerts scheduled, with most taking place in huge stadiums, there were likely well over 1 million tickets available in total.
Pre-sale Registration Numbers
Before tickets went on sale to the general public, there were multiple pre-sales for subscribers of Swift’s fan club, verified fans via Ticketmaster, and select credit card holders. Fans had to pre-register for these pre-sales in advance. According to Ticketmaster, over 3.5 million people pre-registered for the Verified Fan pre-sale alone. While getting a pre-sale code didn’t guarantee you could buy tickets, it still shows the immense demand.
Sales on the First Day
Ticketmaster reported that over 2 million tickets were sold on the first day of public sales for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Considering the 52 concert dates spanning several months, this represents a huge portion of the overall tickets available. Selling 2 million tickets in one day is an immense number by any measure.
Comparison to Other Major Tours
How does the first day sales for Taylor’s tour compare to other major tours in recent years? Here are some numbers:
Artist | Tour | First Day Tickets Sold |
Taylor Swift | Eras Tour 2023 | 2 million+ |
BTS | Permission to Dance Tour 2022 | 1.5 million |
Harry Styles | Love on Tour 2022 | 1 million |
Red Hot Chili Peppers | Global Stadium Tour 2022 | 750,000 |
Bad Bunny | El Último Tour del Mundo 2022 | 500,000 |
This shows that opening day sales for Taylor’s tour far exceeded other recent stadium tours from hugely popular artists. She outsold even BTS, who previously held the record for the highest first day sales.
Sales After Opening Week
After the initial on-sale chaos, Ticketmaster reported steadier sales in the days and weeks after. Some additional facts:
- Over 400,000 tickets were sold in the first week after the on-sale date
- Hundreds of thousands more tickets were sold in weeks 2 and 3
- Additional dates continued being added and selling out quickly due to demand
While we don’t have exact numbers beyond the opening week, we can safely assume hundreds of thousands more tickets were sold based on these reports.
Total Estimated Tickets Sold
Putting together all of the above data points, we can estimate a range for the likely total number of Taylor Swift tickets sold so far:
- At least 2 million opening day tickets
- Around 400,000 more in the first week
- Hundreds of thousands more in the following weeks
- Over 1 million total available tickets initially
That would put the total number of Taylor Swift tickets sold on Ticketmaster somewhere in the range of 3-4 million. This is an estimate, but based on the reported data, it’s likely to be in the ballpark.
The massive number of fans trying to buy tickets overwhelmed Ticketmaster’s systems and revealed that, even in 2022, no ticketing platform was fully prepared for the juggernaut that is Taylor Swift’s fanbase. It highlights just how passionate and dedicated Swifties are to seeing their favorite artist live in concert.
Ways Fans Tried to Get Tickets
With such intense demand, fans tried every avenue possible to get the coveted Taylor Swift tickets:
- Pre-sales – As mentioned, millions registered for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan pre-sale in hopes of early access to tickets.
- Waiting in online queues – Fans reported wait times of 8+ hours online just to access Ticketmaster’s site due to the traffic overload.
- Coordinating group efforts – Fans formed online groups to share strategies, tips and intel for getting through queues successfully.
- Creating multiple accounts – Some fans created multiple Ticketmaster accounts with different devices and internet connections to attempt accessing tickets from multiple waiting rooms at once.
- Getting boosted in queues – Ticketmaster’s system offered boosts in queues for those willing to buy more expensive “Platinum” tickets, which fans jumped at.
- Buying re-sale at marked up prices – When official tickets ran out, fans bought them for hundreds or thousands of dollars above face value on re-seller sites like StubHub.
This concert tour represented a cultural event that fans were clearly willing to go to great lengths for. The Ticketmaster meltdown highlights just how popular Taylor Swift remains in the music industry today.
Ticket Price Ranges
With Platinum dynamic pricing, there was a huge range of ticket prices for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. Here are some example starting prices directly from Ticketmaster:
Seattle, WA | $49 – $449 |
Inglewood, CA | $49 – $599 |
Houston, TX | $49 – $249 |
Phoenix, AZ | $49 – $399 |
Denver, CO | $49 – $499 |
Kansas City, MO | $49 – $149 |
Lower bowl tickets could run as high as $599, while the cheap seats started around $49. Platinum tickets ran into the thousands. While not cheap, these price ranges are similar to other major pop acts’ stadium tours. Some fans were frustrated by the costs, but demand was clearly still astronomical.
Ticket Resale Market Prices
On the secondary resale market, Taylor Swift ticket prices soared even higher. Here are some example resale prices on StubHub shortly after tickets went on sale:
Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, MA | $388 – $19,500 |
Lincoln Financial Field – Philadelphia, PA | $350 – $6,280 |
Lumen Field – Seattle, WA | $256 – $2,726 |
Empower Field at Mile High – Denver, CO | $182 – $5,263 |
Soldier Field – Chicago, IL | $281 – $7,368 |
The highest resale prices reached nearly $20,000 per ticket in some venues! This reflects both the scarcity of tickets available as well as the intense demand from fans who missed out during the Ticketmaster sale.
Why Did Ticketmaster Crash?
When ticket sales first opened on November 15, Ticketmaster’s website and apps crashed under the enormous load. Fans reported constant error messages when trying to buy tickets. So what led to the massive technical issues?
- Sheer website traffic – With millions of fans flooding the site all at once, Ticketmaster’s servers couldn’t handle the instant load.
- Bots and scalpers – Bots and automated scalper programs also bombarded the site to gobble up tickets, adding strain.
- insulin reliant diabetes mellitus medical issues – Experts pointed to shortcomings in Ticketmaster’s technical infrastructure to scale and withstand massive traffic spikes.
- No virtual waiting room – Unlike some other ticket sellers, Ticketmaster did not utilize a virtual waiting room to stagger and control traffic flow onto the site.
While the root causes were technical, the takeaway was clear – the insane level of interest in Taylor Swift tickets was vastly more than Ticketmaster ever anticipated. This led to outrage among fans who spent hours in queues and still missed out.
Fallout After the Sale
The aftermath of Ticketmaster’s platform meltdown included:
- Swift response – Taylor Swift herself said it was “excruciating” for her to watch fans struggle to get tickets and that she had been assured multiple times the site could handle demand.
- Investigations – The fiasco sparked government probes into Ticketmaster for antitrust violations.
- Lawsuits – Multiple lawsuits were filed against Ticketmaster over the technical issues.
- Fan outrage – Fans vented their frustration heavily across social media and called to #BoycottTicketmaster.
- Reputation damage – The resulting public relations nightmare severely tarnished Ticketmaster’s reputation.
While Ticketmaster did end up selling millions of tickets, the backlash highlighted that today’s fans expect stable, scalable systems even under extreme traffic loads. The debacle will likely lead to stronger government scrutiny of Ticketmaster’s dominant market position going forward.
Ticketing Market Dominance
Why didn’t fans just use other major ticketing platforms? Ticketmaster enjoys an estimated 80% market share of primary ticket sales for major concerts and shows. Some key sources of their dominance include:
- Exclusive deals with major venues and promoters locked up by long-term contracts.
- Merging with LiveNation in 2010 to become a vertically integrated ticketing giant.
- High fees generating huge profits used to outcompete rivals.
- No viable competitor in the US with equally large scale and reach.
This effective monopoly meant Taylor Swift fans had little choice but to use Ticketmaster, even with its flawed systems.
Calls for Greater Competition
In the wake of the fiasco, many are calling for increased competition in the ticketing industry. Some suggestions include:
- Preventing anti-competitive exclusivity deals between venues, artists and ticketing platforms.
- Capping the maximum fees platforms are allowed to charge.
- Requiring more transparent disclosure of all ticket fees upfront.
- Making ticket sale data public to analyze for possible violations.
More competition could spur innovation and force Ticketmaster to improve their systems for better fan experiences.
Conclusion
The disastrous sale of Taylor Swift Eras Tour tickets provided insights into the singer’s astronomical popularity in 2022, Ticketmaster’s ticketing struggles under extreme loads, and how fervent modern fandoms have become. While estimates vary, Ticketmaster likely sold between 3-4 million Taylor Swift tickets despite the troubles. It also exposed glaring weaknesses and technical flaws in their platform that dashed many fans’ hopes. Ultimately, Taylor Swift and Ticketmaster provided a fascinating case study into the passions driving live music, the state of ticketing technology today, and the power dynamics between artists, venues, and ticket sellers in the digital era.