--- title: Taylor Swift Isn’t the Economic Force. It’s Her Fans description: Women today want content that speaks to their lived experiences. And they’re willing to pay for it, too. canonical: https://time.com/6968040/taylor-swift-swifties-economic-force/ author: Misty Heggeness article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-04-18T11:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T17:28:33.519Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Taylor Swift Isn’t the Economic Force. It’s Her Fans og:description: Women today want content that speaks to their lived experiences. And they’re willing to pay for it, too. og:url: https://time.com/6968040/taylor-swift-swifties-economic-force/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62707279e814f1f4/698a55b5b3fce3900e0cd0c9/taylor-swift-fan-movie-premier-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: taylor-swift-fan-movie-premier-2023 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Taylor Swift Isn’t the Economic Force. It’s Her Fans twitter:description: Women today want content that speaks to their lived experiences. And they’re willing to pay for it, too. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62707279e814f1f4/698a55b5b3fce3900e0cd0c9/taylor-swift-fan-movie-premier-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # Taylor Swift Isn’t the Economic Force. It’s Her Fans > Sponsored content. 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Apr 18, 2024 11:00 AM UTC The exact moment [Taylor Swift](https://time.com/6342806/person-of-the-year-2023-taylor-swift/) came gliding into my life was when she released “[The Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqAJLh9wuZ0)” music video. I remember it all too well. I was leading projects in a predominantly male organization. Colleagues had been quick to criticize my violations of unwritten rules regarding how women should lead—rules dictating niceties, get-in-line supportiveness, and instruction with subtlety. “The Man,” written from an ambitious women’s perspective, tells the story of living in a world built for someone else. It is fun, lighthearted, and empowering. Swift has another song, “[Mad Woman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DP4q%5F1EgQQ),” written from the perspective of how the patriarchy perceives these ambitious women. This song is dark, intense, and isolating. The fact that these two songs tell the story of each “patriarchal opponent” with such precision is what makes Swift a lyrical mastermind. Her lyrics made me feel seen. In fact, many of us can see ourselves in her music. It drives her fandom. She taps into our feelings by [writing deeply about _her own_](https://time.com/6965213/taylor-swift-grief-the-tortured-poets-department/). But the universality of her lyrics is not the only factor driving Taylor Swift’s mega stardom. The weight of her fans’ purchasing power is the other. The media repeatedly posit that Swift is a [powerhouse](https://time.com/6307420/taylor-swift-eras-tour-money-economy/) [uplifting](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taylor-swift-eras-tour-boosted-economy-tourism-federal-reserve-how-much-money-made/) [economies](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/08/singapore-taylor-swift-eras/) across the globe. Yet she would be among the [first to acknowledge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAHY1rlwkaI) her fans as the true driving force. She understands their power because, in what can be best captured as a full circle moment, she also _is_ them. Swift represents how far millennials have come in claiming ownership and independence over their financial lives. I call this phenomenon _Swiftynomics_. Let me explain. [Reports](https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-swifties-white-millennial-suburban-democrat-50k-eras-tour-2023-11) argue that millennial suburban women are Swift’s biggest fans but attend an Eras Tour concert and you will see men and women, young and old, parents and children, and people from cities and rural and suburban areas. Her success, while influenced by the accelerated economic independence of women, is not contained by it. Her lyrics transcend demographics giving her a wide-ranging audience—more specifically, a fan base spanning [over half (53%)](https://pro.morningconsult.com/instant-intel/taylor-swift-fandom-demographic) the [U.S. adult population](https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/united-states-adult-population-grew-faster-than-nations-total-population-from-2010-to-2020.html#:~:text=Population%20Under%20Age%2018%20Declined%20Last%20Decade&text=In%202020%2C%20the%20U.S.%20Census,from%20234.6%20million%20in%202010.) (more than 137 million fans).  Courtesy of Misty L. Heggeness. Swift’s stardom has also accelerated because young adults, particularly women, have gained more economic agency in recent years. This is not only largely due to millennials living alone or away from their familial unit, but also, in some cases, living with parents while working. In the latter scenario, they accumulate earnings with more flexibility to spend on luxury goods by saving on the essential costs covered by their parents like rent and food. Additionally, household consumer expenditures have [historically been decided](https://www.inc.com/amy-nelson/women-drive-majority-of-consumer-purchasing-its-time-to-meet-their-needs.html) by women but usually with the approval of another adult like a spouse. These expenditures generally focused on purchasing goods and services for the family, rather than oneself. These days, more women [than ever before](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/percentage-of-females-living-alone-in-the-united-states-by-age) are living alone, which builds economic independence and eliminates positions of unequal bargaining power within the household. Women today are [almost twice](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/01/03/globally-women-are-younger-than-their-male-partners-more-likely-to-age-alone/) as likely to live alone in their early 20s relative to their 1950s counterparts and fewer live with a spouse or child, as shown in the figure below.  Courtesy of Misty L. Heggeness. Even among women today, those aged 20 to 26 in 2023 were less likely to live with a spouse and child than their 2010 counterparts. Shifts in living arrangements are due to broad gains in education, reduced overt sexism in the workplace, access (now more limited) to reproductive health, [increases in life expectancy](https://time.com/6334873/u-s-life-expectancy-gender-gap/), shifts in living arrangements driven by the pandemic, and an overall [decent labor market](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/05/gen-z-will-overtake-boomers-in-us-workforce-glassdoor-report.html) leading to [better paying jobs](https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-job-growth-surges-january-wages-rise-2024-02-02/#:~:text=Average%20hourly%20earnings%20increased%200.6,after%20advancing%204.3%25%20in%20December.). And if they were to marry (which is also quickly becoming [less of a social obligation](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2021/10/05/rising-share-of-u-s-adults-are-living-without-a-spouse-or-partner/)) women are bringing independently earned resources with them. As seen in the results below, married women aged 25 to 54 are three times more likely to be in the paid labor force today than in 1950\. They earn more than their spouse in almost one-third of married couple households, and more than 50% have a college degree.  Courtesy of Misty L. Heggeness. The increased economic freedom experienced by women helps explain why they are purchasing goods and services driven by their _own_ preferences in addition to household needs. They are willingly spending on items that [give them joy](https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/the-summer-women-flexed-their-spending-power-dc2ce92c)—like [variants of vinyl records](https://www.billboard.com/pro/taylor-swift-sold-one-of-15-vinyl-albums-this-year/) or Eras Tour tickets. Their shifting economic power directly contributes to the Taylor Swift craze and the local economic whirlwinds that follow her concerts [across the globe](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/08/singapore-taylor-swift-eras/). Swift’s take from the Eras Tour alone has been [estimated to reach $4.1billion](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/10/13/taylor-swift-eras-tour-money-jobs/). She is without a doubt financially powerful; a Millennial herself [making more](https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/travis-kelce-taylor-swift-net-worth-salary-career-earnings/d5ddbc0dbeba1327d7d625b7#:~:text=Taylor%20Swift%20salary%2C%20career%20earnings&text=However%2C%20Forbes%20estimates%20that%20Swift's,the%20NFL's%20newest%20power%20couple.) than her partner and with lots of economic agency. She takes ownership over her own music and business, which fuels her success. She controlled [85% of the revenue](https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2023/10/14/taylor-swift-is-making-an-insane-amount-of-money-every-night-on-the-eras-tour/?sh=62220b1d300b) from Eras Tour tickets, previously unthinkable in the music industry. She uses that to build out a concert experience for her fans and [reinvests in communities](https://www.cnn.com/us/taylor-swift-birthday-charities-donate-iyw/index.html#:~:text=Hunger%20relief&text=Swift%20has%20made%20headlines%20recently,food%20demand%20and%20costs%20skyrocketed.) along the concert tour path. **_Read More:_** [_The Staggering Economic Impact of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour_](https://time.com/6307420/taylor-swift-eras-tour-money-economy/) What’s more, parents now listen with their children and purchase tickets to concerts as a [family affair](https://www.tiktok.com/@cbsmornings/video/7280220725405830431?lang=en). Daughters watch [football games](https://www.washingtonpost.com/parenting/2024/01/23/dads-daughters-bonding-over-football-taylor-swift/) with their dads instead of tik-toking with friends as they look for Taylor Swift in the audience and [viewership soars](https://operations.nfl.com/updates/the-game/2023-nfl-playoffs-set-all-time-viewership-records/#:~:text=More%20than%20half%20of%20all,unduplicated%20audience%20since%202016%2D17.). The world intergenerationally revolves around her because she speaks to many of us—and this gets to my point. The Taylor Swift effect is a mix of universality in her storytelling and the downstream product of growth in women’s economic power and agency—of which she is a primary example. However, she is but one example. We see it play out in other aspects of society like [women’s sports](https://www.fastcompany.com/91065591/this-is-why-a-sports-stadium-built-for-women-actually-matters), [female-focused wealth management](https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Industries/Financial%20Services/Our%20Insights/Women%20as%20the%20next%20wave%20of%20growth%20in%20US%20wealth%20management/Women-as-the-next-wave-of-growth-in-US-wealth-management.pdf), [shifting support for care policies](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/04/18/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-most-sweeping-set-of-executive-actions-to-improve-care-in-history/), and in all aspects of [entertainment](https://www.fastcompany.com/90923069/despite-dire-predictions-one-economics-researcher-says-taylor-swift-should-give-us-reason-to-hope). That, in essence, is _Swiftynomics_ at its best. It’s clear that women today want content that speaks to their lived experiences in this [one-size-fits-men](https://www.bustle.com/p/in-invisible-women-caroline-criado-perez-argues-that-one-size-fits-all-usually-means-one-size-fits-men-16822238) world we live in. And we’re willing to pay for it, too. ## Transcript Taylor Swift song about Taylor Swift's most recent we decided to start a channel call me when you're about 5 months after the lover album came out and then the pandemic hitch and you just decided that you know, not only will wait needing something to say to fill out time with it. Also that people just we felt that people would not so understanding what we should have felt Taylor Swift was doing at the time and so we decided not moment that we wanted to be starting a YouTube channel so that we could just talk about the album's and should have shared why we think she's so incredible then a couple of months later. It just so happened that she surprised. Bike lure adding that was Alpha a big reaction to a brand new album is that was the video that really took off and I think so to put us on the the YouTube map stream. wildest dreams amazing When we put it all people really loved it, and I guess people want there. So just keep doing it. We had no idea that it would turn into what it has now. Like, we really just thought it would be a fun little side project prior to doing this full-time. I was actually working in banking. It wasn't something at the time that I was feeling super passionate about Taylor Swift is always be my number one. The definitely was no part of me. That's what that I could be making a job out of it patreon. He's the only way that we make money currently I doing this he took us less than a year to get to the point where a lot about subscribers on YouTube should have came over to the patreon platform with and wanted to support us in that way. I was able to quit my previous job and Bonnie was able to do to stop doing the the solar YouTube stuff that she was doing for fun up until that point. There's nothing better than being able to talk about Taylor Swift as a full-time jobs like I'm getting tired, even for a phoenix always rising from the ashes mending all her gashes. You might just have dealt the final blow. Sorry perfectly metaphorical for everything that she doesn't have a life Taylor Swift fans all such die-hard fans. And so I think it really makes them feel seen and understood when they're able to say to people who love Taylor Swift to the same level, but they do I can't express that excitement and joy of listening to her music. baby to sit up I think it's easy for people to feel like they can connect with us. And we feel the same by like reading the comments and all of them messages. Yeah over the years. A lot of people have told us that it feels like that just went on Facebook request friend and you know, a lot of them stay as well that they don't have a lot of people in their own lives. Love Taylor Swift's the way that they do so I think that can really mean a lot of people to feel like they've got like 2 online best friends who just get it at it's the same level that they do the community that we've managed to build from this YouTube channel has been just overwhelming like meeting people in real life and reading comments as well. Everyone is just so supportive and Give so much love and honestly, we always look at each other. We like I don't know what we did. Just get a negative comment. It just it's honestly a lot to say we try to just practice gratitude everyday cuz we like we can't believe how lucky we are to have such an awesome community. And I think it's just because they get so much joy from watching aljoy is this this is Joy Inception, I think in this day and age even though we're more connected than ever with the internet. I think a lot of people are also experiencing a lot of loneliness and isolation, especially after the pain. And so I think that being a pot of this community being a swiftie knowing that there's so many millions of people who were also a part of that community and who relate to her music in the way that we do it does really make you feel like you're not alone. She just is really great at making you feel connected and understanding are no martians and you are an experience in life in the same way. That some of our subscribers feel about us we feel about Taylor that she's able to so perfectly articulate the way that we feel that we feel like she's another one of our best friends when she's when we listen to Hillsong and she's asleep like the world's biggest Super-Sod the same time extremely fortunate to be able to go to five of the seven shows that he had tickets to the first two nights in Melbourne and the very last night. We were sitting around all day on the couch. It was quarter past 6 p.m. And we got a GM from Taylor nation, which is Taylor staying in and actually you were the one that are open today. This is why I like to invite you guys back for tonight show we can make it. Please let it snow. we rushed to the stadium through on an outfit and when we got there we were greeted by Taylor's dad's Scott and he delivered us a handwritten letters b a love True Lies Holiday Valley No. just coffee hand written letter Emily hot Sending my love Kayla to know that she loves out reaction videos and does feel supported by them. It just means the world to me. It makes us feel like we're doing something right. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6968040/taylor-swift-swifties-economic-force/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6968040/taylor-swift-swifties-economic-force/"},"headline":"Taylor Swift Isn’t the Economic Force. It’s Her Fans","datePublished":"2024-04-18T11:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T17:28:33.519Z","description":"Women today want content that speaks to their lived experiences. 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