This is definitely Taylor Swift’s year. Having reaped the huge success of her Eras Tour, ‘1989’ album re-release and her movie reaching top of the Box Office charts, Swift has now officially joined the Billionaire Club.
According to a report by Forbes last month, the 33-year-old pop princess has finally hit the ten-figure net worth – with a fortune of $1.1bn. The only other female recording artist to reach billionaire status is Rihanna, who is worth $1.4bn. Swift has well and truly surpassed other female pop icons including Madonna and Beyonce, who have amassed $580m and $540m fortunes respectively.
“Every endorsement, partnership and business move she makes is part of a broader, meticulously-constructed plan. It’s not just impressive, it’s masterful.” Stacy Jones, the founder of the marketing agency Hollywood Branded, said to Forbes.
To calculate Swift’s billionaire status, Bloomberg analysed the value of her music catalogue, her five homes, as well as profits from music sales, streaming, concert tickets and merchandise. Well done Taylor, maybe a 6thhome is next on the list!
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Taylor Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania. She grew up with her parents Scott, Andrea and brother Austin, on the family’s Christmas tree farm in nearby Wyomissing, which she recalls in interviews as being a “magical” and “idyllic” childhood.
Swift followed in the musical footsteps of her grandmother Marjorie Finlay, who was a professional Opera singer. By age 10, Swift was singing at a variety of local events, fairs and contests – concentrating mainly on singing country music. Her first ever single (that she wrote in her freshman year Math class!) was entitled ‘Tim McGraw’ named after one of the genre’s biggest star. A sold-out performance at The Bluebird Café in Nashville helped her get a contract with Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Records, aged only 14.
Swift began to receive rave critics reviews after her signing. She won the Horizon Award from the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music Award for Top New Female Vocalist in 2007.
The next year, she was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys – becoming the youngest artist to win the Grammy for Album of the Year for ‘Fearless’ in 2010.
And the singing sensation’s career literally exploded after winning this great musical accolade.
RISING STOCK
The country music star eventually began experimenting with different genres and in 2014 released her fifth album ‘1989’ reintroducing herself as a pop music star.
Swift’s new look and sound enthralled fans, and ‘1989’ was one of her most successful albums to date, spending 11 weeks at the top of the Billboard charts and selling more than 1.2m copies in its first week.
In March this year, Swift started performing her sixth international Eras Tour. When presale tickets for the Eras Tour went live in November 2022, so many fans attempted to get their seats that Ticketmaster cancelled the general sale, leading to a congressional hearing about the debacle! Swift literally crashed the internet.
LOVE LIFE
Swift has been linked to a bevvy of beautiful male stars in the past including actor Jake Gyllenhaal, Jonas Brother Joe Jonas, ‘Twilight’ star Taylor Lautner and two British music stars – Harry Styles and DJ Calvin Harris.
Her hotlist of celebrity boyfriends is now set to include NFL Star Travis Kelce, whom Swift has been pictured stepping out with since her first game day appearance at the Kansas City Chiefs Stadium on September 24th.
Sources close to the star, claim she is smitten and was actually the one to ask Kelcve out, following his appearance at her Eras concert in July, where he signalled he was upset not to have met Swift on that night.
