For the second consecutive year, she reigns as the most-played artist of 2024. After an extensive journey spanning 152 dates across five continents over nearly two years, Taylor Swift is set to conclude her monumental Eras Tour this weekend. The global sensation that is the Eras Tour is difficult to encapsulate. Euronews Culture made an effort to capture its essence during her French leg. These three and a half-hour concerts feature 44 songs, representing 10 distinct phases of her career—a remarkable feat few artists possess the talent or stamina to achieve. Swift commenced the tour in March 2023, and it will conclude under the Canadian winter on Sunday in Vancouver.

The tour has shattered sales and attendance records, sparked an economic surge, generated a box office-topping cinematic experience, and became the first tour to surpass $1 billion in gross revenue by the end of 2023. According to Pollstar, the tour is expected to exceed $2 billion by its conclusion, making it the highest-grossing tour ever. Additionally, during the tour, Swift was honored as Euronews Culture’s Global Person of the Year for Music, adding another layer of significance to these impressive figures.

While the tour has seen more highs than lows, the lows were profound. Controversies included tensions with Trump, criticism over Palestine, pornographic deepfakes, and more tragically, the Southport stabbings that claimed the lives of three children. In August, all three of Swift's Vienna concerts were canceled following arrests related to an alleged attack plot. Despite these challenges, the tour emerged as a beacon of joy, uniting Swifties and celebrating not only Swift's expansive music career but also the journey her fans have shared with her.

In recognition of her fans, Swift released a coffee table book, which achieved the biggest publishing launch of 2024 through just one US retail chain. According to Circana, Swift's “Eras Tour Book” sold 814,000 copies over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Although the book was exclusive to Target and faced criticism for typos and other errors, it stands as the second-biggest nonfiction book launch in the US, second only to Barack Obama's “A Promised Land.”

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concludes on December 8th.

Source link:   https://www.euronews.com