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The versatility of the show's music, visuals, and performance art was often a point of praise in its reviews. Journalists Rebecca Lewis and Carson Mlnarik of Hello! and MTV, respectively, commended Swift's stage presence and commitment to her artistry; Lewis described Swift's alter egos during the tour as shifting from "country ingénue to pop princess and folklore witch", whereas Mlnarik affirmed that the on-screen visuals stayed true to every album's aesthetic. The Week and Dallas Observer critics agreed, highlighting the "jaw-dropping" visuals and "bedazzled" fashion. Billboard editor Jason Lipshutz underscored Swift's "powerhouse" vocals, engaging artistic personas, and skill set. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times highlighted the tour's scale, ambition, and portrayal of all the musical pivots of Swift's career, whereas The Atlantic's Spencer Kornhaber complimented the show's art direction, suspense, and the sequencing of the acts. Mikael Wood of Los Angeles Times described the show as a "masterclass in pop ambition", showcasing Swift's range. According to The New Yorker senior editor Tyler Foggatt, the Eras Tour is a product of Swift's understanding of herself, building a tour "solely devoted to the idea of a trajectory—that of a career, of a musical identity, of a life—that can be traced cleanly from one era to the next."
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Critics also appreciated the tour's production value and artistic direction. Philip Cosores of Uproxx dubbed it the "most impressive stadium show ever conceived". Spin critic Jonathan Cohen admired the rich stage design, usage of "state-of-the-art" technology, and immersive experience into Swift's "increasingly accomplished musical world-building". Variety journalist Chris Willman felt that the "epic" show demonstrated that "the person who has come up with the single greatest body of pop songwriting in the 21st century is also its most popular performer". Pollstar's Christina Fuoco and Andy Gensler praised the production as "stunning and tastefully rendered" and "live music at its highest spectacle". Rolling Stone's Waiss David Aramesh opined that it is "a production spectacle of the highest echelon". Melinda Sheckels of Consequence praised the tour's "nuanced and interpretive" approach in depicting Swift's albums and the "sheer magnitude, artistry, and technical prowess" of the production.
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The revamped tour, following the release of The Tortured Poets Department, continued to receive rave reviews. Annabel Nugent of The Independent and Fiona Sheperd of The Scotsman praised the tour's choreography, state-of-the-art production, song selection, and Swift's consistent energy. McCormick declared, "there's no doubt that Taylor Swift is the best in the world right now." Critics Mark Sutherland and Anna Leszkiewicz opined that the tour's scale and performances continued to impress despite crossing 100 shows and being available as a film on streaming; Leszkiewicz, in New Statesman, described Swift as "a talented actress" with a "high camp" stage presence—"whether flashing faux-coy smiles, luxuriating in overdramatic eyerolls, or throwing herself into theatrical Wicked Witch of the West arm movements." Petridis described the tour in The Guardian as "an astonishing, risk-taking, strangely intimate extravaganza", adding it is pointless to review the tour anymore as "every conceivable detail has already been dissected and discussed in depth." Reviews published in the Berliner Zeitung and Süddeutsche Zeitung praised Swift for what they considered as a commanding stage presence and charisma that is rare in her peers.
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Commercial performance
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Box score
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The Eras Tour has broken a string of ticket sales records worldwide. In the first day of the US presale alone, the tour sold over 2.4 million tickets, the most sold by an artist in a single day, surpassing Robbie Williams, who had sold 1.6 million tickets for his Close Encounters Tour in 2005. Billboard reported on December 15 that the Eras Tour had already grossed an estimated US$554 million, and projected the US leg to finish with $591 million, surpassing the former all-time female record set by Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour ($407 million) in 2008–2009. Following the tour's launch, Swift rose to number one on Pollstar's Artist Power Index chart. MetLife Stadium named her their "No. 1 best-selling artist" of all time after the tour's third East Rutherford show, which was the 100th concert in the stadium's history.
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In June 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Eras Tour "on track to become the biggest in concert history, with the potential to gross over $1 billion"; Pollstar estimates projected a $1.4 billion gross. Bloomberg News reported that the average gross per show on the US leg was $13 million. According to Forbes, the Eras Tour has grossed $780 million from 56 shows as of August 2023, making it the highest-grossing tour by a woman in history based on its first North American leg alone, surpassing Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour. In November 2023, Billboard estimated a gross of over $900 million from the tour thus far and that the total could nearly double after the 2024 shows. Swift's team stated they do not intend to announce the box score, but Pollstar reported in December 2023 an estimated gross of $1,039,263,762 from 60 shows that year, making the Eras Tour the highest-grossing concert tour ever and the first to reach the $1 billion mark. In June 2024, the BBC News estimated 11 million tickets sold across the entire tour. In October 2024, Forbes reported that the tour had grossed an additional $1.15 billion from 65 shows in 2024, bringing the tour's estimated gross up to $1.93 billion.
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After the tour concluded in December 2024, The New York Times published the first gross reported by Taylor Swift Touring, Swift's production company. The publication revealed that the tour grossed $2.07 billion with an attendance of 10.1 million. Pollstar's final estimate was $2.2 billion from 10.055 million tickets, making Swift the first solo act in history to sell over 10 million tickets on a single tour. With an average of 67,487 tickets, she broke U2 360° Tour's record for highest attendance per show. Inc. opined that Swift could have made an additional $1.5 billion if she had adopted traditional ticketing strategies like other artists.
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Venue records
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Spin-off media
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Swift unveiled various musical works during the tour. On the day of the opening show, she released four songs to celebrate the tour's launch: the re-recordings of "Eyes Open" and "Safe & Sound", both originally from the 2012 soundtrack The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond; a re-recording of "If This Was a Movie", one of the deluxe tracks from Speak Now (2010); and "All of the Girls You Loved Before", a previously unreleased outtake of Lover.
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A special CD edition of Midnights, subtitled The Late Night Edition, was released during the Eras Tour. It was only purchasable in-person at merchandise stands at certain shows, beginning in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on May 26, 2023. It exclusively contained the bonus track "You're Losing Me", which became a "ravenously anticipated" song; Variety reported that "fans were so eager to get their hands" on the CD, causing queues at the stadium the day before the merchandise store opened.
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On May 5, 2023, at the first Nashville show of the tour, Swift announced her third re-recorded album, Speak Now (Taylor's Version), and its release date as July 7. A digital deluxe version of Speak Now (Taylor's Version) contained two live recordings from the tour as bonus tracks. She also premiered two music videos, both of which she wrote and directed, during the tour. She premiered the videos for "Karma" featuring American rapper Ice Spice and "I Can See You" before the acoustic set at the first East Rutherford show and first Kansas City show, respectively. On August 9, at the final Los Angeles show, Swift announced 1989 (Taylor's Version) as her fourth re-recorded album, which was released on October 27, exactly nine years after the release of the original 1989 album. On November 3, Hits reported that a live album of the tour was discussed.
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On October 13, 2023, Swift released the self-produced concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, directed by Sam Wrench, to theaters worldwide. It was produced from the footage recorded at the tour's Los Angeles shows. The film, in an unprecedented move, had Swift partnering directly with the theaters to both distribute and exhibit the film instead of a major film studio. It received critical acclaim for capturing the spectacle and energy of the show and became the highest-grossing concert film of all time.
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On February 16, 2024, at the first Melbourne show, Swift announced a second variant of The Tortured Poets Department, with a bonus track titled "The Bolter". She announced another variant of the album, with the bonus track "The Albatross" on February 23, at the first Sydney show. The fourth variant of the album, containing the bonus track "The Black Dog", was announced on March 3, at the second Singapore show of the tour. On August 20, Swift premiered the music video for "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart", a song inspired by the tour after leaving the stage at the end of the eighth show in London. The video features footage of tour performances, rehearsals, audiences, and backstage moments. Throughout the tour Swift released limited-time digital deluxe versions of The Tortured Poets Department, each with a different live recording of songs from the album.
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On October 15, 2024, Swift announced her first-ever book, The Eras Tour Book. Dubbed "the official retrospective" of the tour, it is a 256-page photo book with over 500 on-stage and behind-the-scenes images, as well as Swift's personal reflections and notes. Concurrently, Swift launched her in-house publishing imprint, Taylor Swift Publications. The book was released exclusively in Target stores on a Black Friday—November 29, 2024. Selling over a million copies in its first week in the US alone, the book became the best-selling book of 2024. On January 16, 2025, Swift released three limited-time digital versions of Lover (Live from Paris), each with a live recording of a song from Lover performed on the tour.
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A documentary series, The End of an Era, premiered through Disney+ on December 12, 2025, released over the course of a three-week period, concluding on December 23. Directed by Don Argott and produced by Object & Animal, the six-episode series features an "intimate look" at Swift's life while on tour. Additionally, a second concert film documenting the tour was released on December 12. Directed by Glenn Weiss and filmed at the tour's final show in Vancouver in December 2024, The Eras Tour: The Final Show includes The Tortured Poets Department act, which was absent from the first concert film.
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Accolades
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Impact
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Taylor Swift keeps building the legend of her Eras Tour, week after week, city by city, making every night so much longer, wilder, louder, more jubilant than it has to be. There's nothing in history to compare. This is her best tour ever, by an absurd margin. It's a journey through her past, starring all the different Taylors she's ever been, which means all the Taylors that you've ever been.
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Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone
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The Eras Tour had an impact on the music industry, entertainment and beyond. It was described as one of the most prominent cultural phenomena of the 21st century, generating a level of attention similar to the 1960s' Beatlemania. The tour elevated the economy of its stops by revitalizing local businesses and tourism, attracted large crowds of spectators outside stadiums, dominated news cycles and social media, inspired tributes from governments and organizations. Critics often described the Eras Tour as a monocultural event demonstrating Swift's impact on popular culture. The tour fueled an increase in public consumption of her discography as well. Swift's net worth, which was $740 million before the tour began, was updated to $1.1 billion after the first 57 shows of the tour; Swift became the first billionaire in history with music as the main source of income. Sportico reported that the NFL stadiums Swift performed at garnered substantial revenue from concessions and merchandise sales, and parking permits.
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Controversies
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US ticket sales crash
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On November 15, the day of the first US presale, Ticketmaster's website crashed following what Variety called "historically unprecedented demand". Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, said they prepared for 1.5 million verified fans, but 14 million turned up; published a statement saying they had been "unprepared" to accommodate them; and cancelled any further sales, citing inability to meet demand. The fiasco was the subject of public criticism and political scrutiny. Customers and fans criticized Ticketmaster for its allegedly flawed systems and inefficient technical resolutions. US lawmakers, including attorneys general and members of Congress, took notice of the issue, which became the focus of multiple state, federal and congressional inquiries, and an antitrust lawsuit.
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Venue management in Brazil
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Unrest was reported on June 11, 2023, outside the Brazilian venues' box offices, as scalpers attempted to cut in line, including some armed scalpers who threatened violence, until the police intervened. The agency responsible for the tour in Brazil, T4F – Time For Fun (T4F), was reported over 100 times to authorities for their inaction. On June 20, federal lawmakers in Brazil filed the "Taylor Swift Law", which would penalize scalpers with up to four years in prison and a fine of up to 100 times the value of the ticket.
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On November 17, 2023, before the start of the first Rio de Janeiro show, T4F reportedly prohibited concertgoers from bringing their own water bottles inside the venue. It was one of the hottest days in the city, with a heat index of 59.3 °C (138.74 °F), as part of a heat wave in the country. Videos posted to social media by fans showed thousands of queued concertgoers waiting for hours in the sun before entry into the stadium; Swift and her team arranged and distributed water bottles to the crowd. A concert attendee, Ana Clara Benevides, died while being taken to a hospital after she fainted during the first few minutes of the show. T4F attracted widespread criticism from fans and politicians. Several claimed that stadium organizers "refused" to provide concertgoers water; a criminal investigation was opened. Benevides' cause of death was forensically determined to be cardiac arrest caused by heat exhaustion. Swift grieved Benevides' death on social media. She postponed the show that had been scheduled for November 18 to 20, citing "extreme temperatures".
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Diplomacy in Asia
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Srettha Thavisin, then Prime Minister of Thailand, claimed that the government of Singapore offered subsidies of $2 million–$3 million per show of the Eras Tour in exchange for making Singapore the exclusive venue in Southeast Asia. He criticized Singapore for excluding other member countries of the ASEAN from witnessing Swift. The Singapore Tourism Board responded that they did provide a "grant" to bring the Eras Tour to Singapore, and that the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth worked with the tour's promoter, Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), but did not reveal the size of the grant or attached conditions due to "business confidentiality". Minister Edwin Tong commented, the alleged sum of the grant was "nowhere as high as what is being speculated". Joey Salceda, member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, criticized Singapore and demanded that the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs seek an explanation from the Embassy of Singapore, Manila. Sandiaga Uno, Indonesian minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, also expressed his disappointment, stating "Indonesia was eager to replicate the success of Swiftonomics". Subsequently, Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore since 2004, assured that the exclusivity grant did not have an hostile intention.
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Swift included neither the People's Republic of China nor the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the Eras Tour. The tour skipping Taiwan was a topic of political debate during the campaigns preceding the 2024 Taiwanese presidential and legislative body elections. Jaw Shaw-kong, vice-presidential candidate of the opposition (Kuomintang party), claimed he invited Swift to perform at the Taipei Dome and that she initially agreed to perform but later declined due to "geopolitical risks" of the sensitive Cross-Strait relations. The Taiwanese Ministry of Culture commented on the issue but neither denied nor confirmed Jaw's claims. Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chi-mai described Jaw's claims about Swift as an attempt at manipulating the voters.
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Security in Europe
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On July 18, 2024, a suspected stalker of Swift, who was accused of threatening her and her boyfriend, American football player Travis Kelce, on social media was detained and arrested as he attempted to enter the second of Swift's shows in Gelsenkirchen. The same month, three children were killed at a mass stabbing attack at a Swiftie workshop in Southport, Merseyside, UK. The incident caused public unrest in Southport, and over the next few days, escalated into nationwide protests and riots. A week later, authorities thwarted an Islamic State (ISIS) plot to attack Swift's three shows in Vienna. Police arrested three teenagers who were "radicalized on the Internet" and plotted to kill "tens of thousands" at the concerts. Initially, Austrian public security director Franz Ruf stated that the shows would take place as scheduled, with additional security measures in place. However, event organizer Barracuda Music announced that all three shows would be cancelled with tickets refunded, after confirmation from the Government of Austria of an elaborate terrorist plan. With Swift's permission, the Austrian public broadcaster ORF aired the tour's accompanying concert film on August 10 on ORF 1 television for free. The tour's next stop, London, increased its security for the shows.
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In October 2024, controversy ensued in the UK when it was reported that politicians of the ruling Labour Party were gifted with over £20,000 in free tickets to the Eras Tour after Swift's demands for the highest level of security were denied, with the politicians allegedly pressuring the Metropolitan Police to give in to the demands. In advance of the London dates, Swift's team had reportedly demanded additional "VVIP" security from the Metropolitan Police's Special Escort Group and threatened to cancel the London shows if not provided. The police initially turned down the request, claiming their intelligence did not detect any threat to Swift's London shows and hence she did not require the top-level "taxpayer-funded" security reserved for heads of state. However, the police subsequently reversed its decision and provided Swift with the requested protection. Various politicians of the opposition Conservative Party, such as Susan Hall, Robert Jenrick, Gavin Williamson and Andrew Murrison, criticized the Labour government, accusing it of abuse of power. Both the police and the government denied the allegations of bribery; Starmer's spokesperson described it as a conflict of interest.
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Philanthropy
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Swift donated to food bank units at every stop of the Eras Tour, as reported by the respective organizations, and exclusively employed various local businesses to fulfill her crew's daily requirements. At the conclusion of the first US leg, Swift gave "unprecedented" bonus payments totaling over $55 million to her entire touring crew, including $100,000 to each of the 50 truck drivers involved in transporting the stage setup and production equipment. By the end of the tour, Swift distributed $197 million in bonus payments to her crew. A spokesperson for Swift said she purchased more than double the carbon credits needed to offset emissions generated by her travel throughout the tour. In October 2023, Swift donated Eras Tour tickets to the Rare Impact Fund, a charity and mental health awareness initiative by American singer Selena Gomez's cosmetic company, Rare Beauty. The auctioned tickets sold for $15,000 and were the "biggest ticket item of the event". On April 27, 2024, four Eras Tour tickets raised $80,000 at auction in a gala benefiting the 15 and The Mahomies Foundation, a charity by the American football player Patrick Mahomes.
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Standard set list
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