The Eras tour grossed $554 million

[SevenWonder 4,102]

4 minutes ago, Xardas said:

As much as I want Gaga to be the boss, I have to agree. After Gaga's charting rule there was many female artists who took the throne in terms of commercial success (Katy, Rihanna, Adele, Ariana etc) that somehow felt undeserving for me and this annoyed me that it isn't Gagz. For Taylor, which, I am certainly not a fan of, it feels somehow deserved. She's a bit boring and always the same for me style-wise but with every album she releases a song that I really enjoy listening. Not a risk-taker musically, very predictable yet very consequent and visibly hard-working girl. She is undoubtedly a talented songwriter too. I want Gaga to have such numbers but we know it's not happening anytime soon due to Gaga's artistic side which is much more diverse, developed and in consequence risky and not for everyone. Taylor plays it safe but plays it good. Adele also plays it safe but the hype for her is over and it's good because as a fan I would feel very angry having to wait 5 years everything for ant new music. She has her way and her freedom but let it be some consequences for that. Katy on the other hand, after Gaga's arrival, always felt like her "safer, more gp/children friendly" version so I never liked the fact she was the top, bestselling artist for some time. Taylor has her ways, works hard and if it works for her, good. She will never be a threat for Gaga, because she will never be an artist on her level. May she have these sales, Gaga is a league of her own and at this point I cannot see a scenario where Gagz would destroy it after she started reconstituting her legend status at the Oscars 2015 and keeps making very good artistic (!) decisions ever since. Maybe there will be a day when she will go for the sales again. Until it's not happening, let's enjoy what we have.

I agree with just about your entire thought.

For me? I quit caring about comparing Gaga to others in terms of sales. I mean, I wish she pulled out all the stops like Taylor does. But that's just not Gaga anymore. Plus, Gaga's imperial phase was a big as anyone who's ever done it (minus Madonna). So we always have that!

Gaga just doesn't chase sales anymore. Is what it is. 

As far as Taylor? I think she totally deserves her success. She write safe GP friendly songs, never stops dropping songs, promotes the heck out of her endless albums in her own, clever ways. She's a force. I just wish I liked her music more. 

[StressedOut 629]

Props to her omg that's incredible 

[Chromatography 10,144]

35 minutes ago, Sugar Baby said:

I truly don’t understand why she is so big tbh 

she was huge for my time (millennial) and gained cross generational appeal with gen z with folklore and evermore.

 

people say she’s overrated, okay sure. that’s a matter of personal opinion. but i mean, she sings and writes all of her own music and directs her own videos and can play multiple instruments. i’m not sure what people want more from an artist. unironically i saw some “beyoncé” name drops in here and obviously she’s an excellent vocalist and dancer but she doesn’t write her own music or play an instrument. so what’s more important, to be considered a music great?

[JuanitoKasicki 34]

1 hour ago, Chromatography said:

she was huge for my time (millennial) and gained cross generational appeal with gen z with folklore and evermore.

im pretty sure folklore & evermore didnt pull much gen-z listeners, but instead repaired her image with the millennials & older listeners after the whole 'Me!/Lover era' debacle. she got big with gen Z through tiktok and Red TV.

regardless, her base consists of a coalition of listeners across multiple spectrums; which is the reason only she could compete with Drake & bad bunny on streaming platforms where male rappers dominate. 

[LateToCult 40,346]

I remember my sister coming home from school one day and telling me I had to listen to Teardrops On My Guitar. She’s been huge since day one in the US. I wonder if we’ll ever have another Taylor given how fast musicians get cycled out nowadays.

[Vicks 381]

5 hours ago, Leoj305 said:

Bigger than Madonna and Michael Jackson, and it’s just pre sales basically.

not really.. peak mj and madonna would be easily doing these numbers if they were touring today with full potential like her 

[Future Lovers 6,599]

32 minutes ago, Vicks said:

not really.. peak mj and madonna would be easily doing these numbers if they were touring today with full potential like her 

Madonna’s touring record as the highest grossing female concert tour was achieved in 2009 and has not been beaten since. She may not have been at her commercial peak at the time but she was at her touring peak (the second highest grossing Madonna tour is still made over $100 million less than S&S). Surpassing a legendary like Madonna at her absolute touring peak (Taylor’s surpassed S&S’s original gross and it’s adjusted for inflation gross both) is an incredibly impressive achievement.

As for Michael…well he really wasn’t THE touring force at his peak even if he was arguably THE artist as his peak so it’d hard to say. 

Adjusting for inflation for both Madonna and Michael’s career peaks (putting their earnings on an equal playing field to Taylor with the dollar having the same value), Taylor still would outgross. 

She is not on the level of those two as artists and legends—not yet anyhow—but her box numbers indeed put her ahead in gross. 

[Esmerald 92]

I can understand that for US, Canada, UK or Australia, even if at different intensity and level,  Taylor Swift  is a kind of magic. It is not so everywhere even if everyone Is constantly  trying  with statistics or charts of any kind  to prove the contrary, that she is so popular everywhere.  Just come to Europe and you will feel that she is just one popular singer as many others. In USA she Is THE SINGER. No one is overthere at the same level as she is.  I can understand that her numbers are really big in those countries, in particolar USA. It is a fact. Anyway I do not understand why everyone here is of the opinion that her cultural impact or commercial success is as big as those of Madonna or Michael Jackson. These people are perhaps younger than 30 and could not test the fever for Madge or Michael in the old days worldwide.  She is too " white" in a cultural sense, too boring in any sense. Even her beauty or looks are boring. A typical blond all american girl with typical US american behavior, attitudes, dreams, ideas. I understand her charisma in USA. There is no one that incorporates more US culture in pop music than Taylor Swift. I just read the boring lyrics of Midnights and I only perceive the boring attitude of someone white and rich  who is suffering or complaining because she is famous or rich or popular. In interviews she is 100 percent hypocrisy, giving always the idea that she is suffering her commercial success. Girl stop complaining and moaning and depressing. Go out and enjoy real life. Stop making music  for the charts. Music is a therapy. Just do It for yourself and disappear. Of course these are just my opinions but believe me I am not the only one saying she is definitively overestimated. Even her cinematographic skills are overestimated. In her award nominated  10 minute film I just see the replication of the standard film sequence where two lovers fight or go separate ways. It Is considered as something better than Scorsese or Woody Allen or Cameron or .... There is nothing more standard than that TS short film but of course it is the all american girl TS and it is a master piece. 

[Taylucifer 5,082]

midnights truely is just coming for every record ever

[GAGAXABO 386]

Overrated #period

[Bat 6,162]

The amount of hate in every thread about Taylor is so funny, stay pressed ya'll, she's here to stay and slay 

[YouCanSitWithUs 394]

8 hours ago, SevenWonder said:

As much as I think she's just meh, concert sales are the great equalizer. No amount of playlisting, radio payola, fake "rave" reviews from Pitchfork or whoever, suspect Grammy nods, etc., make people spend their hard earned money to go see a concert. 

It's like what CD or record sales used to mean. 

Girl is the boss right now. And it ain't close. She might be overrated for reviews and endless Grammies. But she's the most popular musician in the biz. 

I'd love to agree, but actually, this is far from accurate. Money, especially in the United States, is far from an equalizer, and if anything, it tells just how problematic the "popularity" of Taylor Swift is. 

 

The reality is, if you actually search radio requesting and ad data sites like Ad Explorer, even data from Nielsen SoundScan, you can find where Taylor Swift's numbers come from. And it is, quite frankly, vastly unfair how much her numbers are primarily driven from mostly suburban areas of major wealthier American cities. Why does this suggest her concert sales are not an indicator of her actual popularity in number of people? 

Well, it's complex, but it is very likely that if you look at comparably big artists now like Bad Bunny, Drake...even someone who has moderate popularity still in the music world like Gaga with occasional jumps and dips, that Taylor probably has waaaaay more of the rich-kid market share. Alot of her strongest radio requests and actual streaming points (this comes from where a device is located when the music app is on and the song is streamed) show that a majority of Taylor Swift's supporters come from areas where the median income is triple and quadruple say someone like Latto or Cardi B or Kim Petras or Rina Sawayama's supporters are coming from. This is largely because the streams that support the latter artists are gay or trans, latino, or black kids who simply don't have access to the money to buy the technology that actually physically counts what is popular.

The wealthier kids that support Taylor Swift (who also shares alot of the conservative market) have access to the type of incomes where parents will buy them multiple devices which means multiple streams. They have access to being able to buy tickets to see their artist live, even if it is expensive, and many of the times...Taylor's team would probably not be too happy to share how many tickets go on a single credit card because parents will buy their kids tickets to multiple shows. Why? Because....again....what group is most likely to buy into the hype of Taylor Swift? The ones with devices in front of their faces more, where the hype seems more appealing than say, a young black girl from Chicago or a trans kid from Ohio who work daily jobs because they are first generation college students or maybe their parents kicked them out. They are working. They physically do not have time to stream for hours on end. Oh yeah...that's a big factor, too: TIME. The privileged kids usually have the MOST amount of free-time to enjoy/play music in their cars, on their phones, on their tablets, in the backseat of their ubers, etc. Most privileged kids do not even work a job until after they are done with school. 

And kids that don't have access to even a monthly subscription to Spotify or Apple Music, certainly aren't able to pay hundreds of dollars for a ticket to see their favorite artist. Money, does not represent popularity. It is not the great equalizer at all. And concert tickets are not comparable to buying a record because a record is accessible....the time, traveling, planning, and hundreds of dollars (sometimes thousands) are all factors that most poor kids, and a hefty amount of lower-middle class kids don't have the time for. 

You can actually see this data yourself if you want to. It is actual statistically fair to say that Taylor Swift has the largest white following of any artist in the world, and the wealthiest following in the world. 

I'll finish by saying that I personally witnessed this the day after the whole Eras Tour sale crash. I was working an event for doctors at the local Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (yes, the same Wexner that was friends with Epstein....weird), and they were babbling about how they were interning. I overheard them during a break time in between speakers at the event talking about how they had all snagged multiple Taylor Swift tickets the day before. One girl even said she bought Taylor Swift tickets for her aunts and uncles "just in case" they changed their mind and wanted to go. 

 

Many of the people (not all, but more than any other fanbase) that buy Taylor Swift tickets are the type of people who have enough money to buy a ticket and waste the money on it. They just do not care. And that, to me, does not actually represent what is popular. I even like some of Taylor's music. Never been a hater of her. But the reality is that her team has known this about her following for a very very long time and that is why they have carefully selected what she does or does not say. She comes from a privileged, republican family. She worked for Abercrombie & Fitch (and we know how problematic that was) and used that to get another foot in the door. Just because she seems like a nice girl now does not mean that she has not spent her entire way manipulating her way to the top in ways that are problematic and not admirable. Why else do you think her entire discography essentially centers around her victimizing herself or not being the victim or her relationships with people? Think deeper into it, folks. There is a reason you probably naturally vibe with an artist like Gaga and not Taylor. It's not just "pitting women against eachother". Sometimes there are just shady artists. 

 

I know a lot of people want to believe that Taylor is a "strong female" that just played the game right...but like....what does that say about actual music? Think about what that really says about the current state of music? And art? Question whether or not that resonates with someone who is a fan of Gaga and what she fought for on ARTPOP? Is this really admirable? How can we support a "strong female" when her strength comes off the back of the same ideas of success (charts success, shitting on other artists behind close doors, victim shaming, gaslighting, hogging the spotlight) created by white privileged men she claims to be a victim of? It's just funny to me how many times Taylor Swift has gotten in a little mess like this and somehow, we believe her every single time that she was the moral one in all of this. 

An artist like Gaga literally spent her own money to throw a fabulous tour at one point.

Taylor Swift literally creates a ridiculously hyped tour, charges higher for it, and then says "oopsies" after when the whole thing crashes and people don't have access to it. 

It's actually an old trick. Kohl's does it all the time. Jack a price up, then tell it's customers that it is 30% off. Taylor Swift is the Kohl's of Pop. 

[Esmerald 92]

56 minutes ago, Bat said:

The amount of hate in every thread about Taylor is so funny, stay pressed ya'll, she's here to stay and slay 

Ok..i think that even funnier Is the fact that some people think She  has such a big cultural impact outside some areas which are honestly big but not the entire world. It Is not hate. No one contests that in some areas she is record breaking and the biggest. This does not involve that One should appreciate what She does only because she Is able to put 10 singles in One week in the top ten.  Good girl..you are big...you are rich...you are culturally the essence of "whiteness"...enjoy your success ... Is She here to stay? Time Will tell US...in my opinions She Will...perhaps at a lesser level...She Is big but not God...no one can remain relevant and the biggest Forever...see Madonna...Rolling Stones...Beatles...Michael etc etc..She Will stay..if She Will slay Forever until 4022 Is another matter...everyone Is replacable

[YouCanSitWithUs 394]

7 hours ago, Chromatography said:

she was huge for my time (millennial) and gained cross generational appeal with gen z with folklore and evermore.

 

people say she’s overrated, okay sure. that’s a matter of personal opinion. but i mean, she sings and writes all of her own music and directs her own videos and can play multiple instruments. i’m not sure what people want more from an artist. unironically i saw some “beyoncé” name drops in here and obviously she’s an excellent vocalist and dancer but she doesn’t write her own music or play an instrument. so what’s more important, to be considered a music great?

Because Beyonce's music actually make young black girls and gay kids feel good about themselves in a way their real lives couldn't. That is a magic that Taylor Swift can only create for a very small, privileged group of people. Taylor will never have the actual IMPACT that artists like Gaga, Beyonce, Madonna, Whitney, Rihanna, Janet have because Taylor's music ultimately only talks about her own tiny bubble of self. The others mentioned talked about themselves that was speaking to everyone, to humanity, to the soul. 

When Lady Gaga or Beyonce make an album they are thinking about the world and what they are putting into it. It's a selfless act. 

All of Taylor's albums still feel very....inward. That can be good sometimes. But not all the time. 

I never have thought about putting a Taylor Swift song on to make an entire room feel good about themselves. Her music just doesn't do that for everyone. I think it mostly gets popular because she has the best team that has ever existed and she is relentless like Madonna was. But even Madonna is better because she came from nothing and had the cahoonas to put her career on the line for communities that were not privileged. 

Even when Taylor finally kinda did a "queer anthem" (took her 7 albums), it felt very.....almost kind of like she didn't take gay people serious and thought we were all just for "fun". The video eeeeeeks of a bachelorette party walking into a gay bar type of straight girl. 

[FREEPALESTINE 305]

what is even The Eras looool