Taylor Swift has had the kind of year that most artists could only dream of. And now, according to a new analysis from Bloomberg, the 33-year-old singer has entered rarified air as a pop billionaire. A Bloomberg News analysis chronicling Swift’s rise to the rare status of a reported 10-figure pop singer is thanks to what the magazine said was “her prolific songwriting, negotiations around streaming and shrewd decision to re-record her first six albums” at a time when many other musicians have “lost clout in the industry.”
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Swift’s bottom line has and will be boosted by the reported $4.3 billion the blockbuster Eras Tour has added to the U.S.’s gross domestic product so far this year; Forbes predicted in April that the first run of 52 U.S. dates could gross $620 million, of which Taylor could keep $500 million, with further U.S and international dates possibly pushing her take even higher. Plus, there is the No. 1 box office smash movie version of Eras that has packed theaters with singing, dancing, weeping Swifties around the world, not to mention Friday’s (Oct. 27) release of her latest re-record, 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
“Taken together, Swift Inc. is essentially a multinational conglomerate with the world’s most devoted customer base, its most charismatic CEO and significant economic power,” Bloomberg said of the power of Swifties and Taylor’s close relationship, and devotion, to fan service. University of Chicago labor economist Carolyn Sloane told Bloomberg that in addition to being a generational talent, “Swift is a great economist… Taylor has great ideas, is able to scale her ideas and seems to be pretty risk-seeking.”
Bloomberg said its “conservative” analysis of Swift’s net worth is based only on assets and earnings that could be confirmed or tied to publicly disclosed figures, taking into account the estimated value of her music catalog and five homes, earnings from streaming deals, music sales, concert tickets and merchandise. The tally also reportedly took into account the impacts of income tax, tour production and travel costs and commissions to agents and managers.
In a break-down, Bloomberg said the majority of Swift’s reported value ($400m) is from her music catalog, followed by ticket sales and merch ($370m), streaming ($120m), real estate ($110m) and royalties from music sales ($80m). On top of that, in the wake of a number of major veteran acts such as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan selling their catalogs for mid-nine-figure sums, Bloomberg estimated that a potential Swift catalog sale of all of her music could range from a low of $400 million to $1 billion, pushing her well above recent catalog sales by the likes of contemporaries Justin Bieber ($200m), Katy Perry ($225m) and Justin Timberlake ($100m).
At press time a spokesperson for Swift had not returned Billboard’s request for comment on the Bloomberg report.
“Every endorsement, partnership and business move she makes is part of a broader, meticulously-constructed plan,” Stacy Jones, founder of the Hollywood Branded marketing agency told Bloomberg. “It’s not just impressive, it’s masterful.”
