The business of being Taylor Swift
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The business of being Taylor Swift
“The old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now…’cause she’s dead,” sang Taylor Swift in her 2017 hit “Look What You Made Me Do.”
Fans, though, had no reason to fear. The new Taylor has just released a much-promoted, much-awaited single. “ME!” premiered on YouTube late last night.
Swift has been lauded as one of the most successful pop stars in history, and was named one of Time’s Most Influential People of 2019. Whether you’re a “Swiftie” or not, let’s take a closer look at the big business behind the artist sometimes referred to as “T-Swizzle.”
In 2018, Forbes named her the 21st-highest paid celebrity. At 29, she is one of the youngest to make the list. As of 2018, Swift reportedly has a net worth of at least $320 million.
Her upcoming album will be her seventh, following her record-breaking, three-time certified platinum album “Reputation.” Her first album, “Fearless,” has been certified platinum 10-times while “1989” has gone platinum nine times.
Her “Reputation” tour, the highest-grossing U.S. stadium tour since 1990, sold more than 2 million tickets and took in roughly $266.1 million in revenue, according to Billboard Boxscore.
By Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours after its release, the “ME!” music video had been viewed more than 29 million times on YouTube.
She owns $84 million worth of real estate around the U.S., including a $29 million home in Beverly Hills, a $20 million penthouse in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City and a $17 million seaside mansion in Rhode Island.
Since 2009, Swift has won 10 Grammy awards and has been nominated a total of 32 times. In 2018, she broke the record for most American Music Award wins — 23 — beating Whitney Houston’s record.
And we can’t forget the cats. Swift owns two Scottish Fold cats, named Olivia Benson and Meredith Grey (named after characters from “Law and Order: SVU” and “Grey’s Anatomy”, respectively). Scottish Folds is one of the most expensive feline breeds, estimated to cost between $800 and $1500 each from a breeder.
According to Swift, her lucky number is 13, which is emblazoned on the side of her $40 million jet. She reportedly owns a second jet, which could cost up to $58 million.
With 83.2 million Twitter followers, Swift was named the “most influential” person on Twitter in 2018 by social media analysts Brandwatch. How many times did she tweet last year? Just 13.
In an Instagram post to her then-112 million followers, Swift urged her followers to vote in the 2018 midterm elections.Through what CNET referred to as the “Taylor Swift effect,” Vote.org told Buzzfeed it saw a surge of 65,000 new registrations in the 24 hours following her post.
In response, President Donald Trump said he liked her music “25% less.”
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