What is Taylor Swift's Net Worth?
Taylor Swift is an American singer, songwriter and producer who has a net worth of $1 billion. Despite what you may have read, Taylor Swift was NOT a billionaire when several publications made that claim in late 2023. Per our original projections, Taylor became a billionaire in late May 2024, roughly halfway through the European leg of her "Eras" tour.
Taylor Swift is arguably the most famous person on the planet and easily the most powerful celebrity in the world. As of this writing, Swift has sold over 200 million albums worldwide. She has also embarked on a number of extremely successful world tours. Her "Eras" tour is on pace to generate $2 billion globally, which would make it the most successful musical tour of all time. In October 2023, Taylor released a film version of the tour to AMC theaters. The film grossed $260 million. Thanks to her negotiated 50% cut of first dollar gross, Taylor earned $130 million from the ticket sales. She then earned $75 million a few months later, selling the streaming rights exclusively to Disney for a total payday of $205 million. Between concert ticket sales, merchandise, and movie theater ticket sales, Taylor will personally net between $500 and $600 million from the Eras tour. If that happens, Taylor's net worth will indeed hit billionaire status. Before she embarked on the tour, Taylor's net worth was $600 million. With the Disney deal and revenue generated from the first leg of the North American tour in February 2024, we updated her net worth to $900 million.
Taylor Swift was discovered at age 15 by future music mogul Scott Borchetta while performing at a Nashville cafe. Borchetta signed Taylor as the first artist under his newly-formed Big Machine Records. Fast forward to the present, and Taylor is one of the most popular and most successful entertainers on the planet. As we detail later in this article, Taylor Swift owns over $150 million worth of real estate in the United States alone. She also makes tens of millions of dollars every year from endorsements with companies like Capital One, Diet Coke, AT&T and CoverGirl.
Here is a quick list of some of Taylor Swift's biggest career accolades to date:
- Grammy Awards: 14 wins, including Album of the Year four times: Fearless (2009), 1989 (2015), (2020), and "Midnights."
- American Music Awards: 40 wins, the most by any artist.
- Billboard Music Awards: 40 wins, the most by any artist.
- MTV Video Music Awards: 14 wins, including Video of the Year for "Bad Blood," "You Need To Calm Down," "All Too Well: The Short Film," and "Anti-Hero."
- Country Music Association Awards: 12 wins, including Entertainer of the Year in 2011 and 2020.
- Academy of Country Music Awards: 8 wins.
- Brit Awards: 2 wins.
- Primetime Emmy Award: 1 win for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for "Beautiful Ghosts" from the film Cats.
- Guinness World Records: 98 records, including most albums sold by a female artist in the 21st century and most certified albums by a female artist in the US.
- Time 100: Named one of the most influential people in the world in 2010, 2015, and 2019.
Early Life
Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania. She's named after musician James Taylor. She spent her early years with her parents, Scott and Andrea, and her brother, Austin, living on a Christmas tree farm. She attended a Montessori school for preschool and kindergarten and moved to The Wyndcroft School for first grade. When Taylor was nine, she got interested in musical theatre. She also enrolled in vocal and acting lessons in New York City. She first got into country music because she was a fan of Shania Twain. She performed at local events and festivals as a tween and teen. Eventually, she became convinced she needed to go to Nashville, and she and her mom went and submitted Taylor's early demo of Dolly Parton and The Chicks covers. Record labels didn't think she was original enough, and Taylor left Nashville without a record deal.
When she was 12, she learned how to play the guitar. She soon wrote "Lucky You." When Swift was 14, her family moved to Nashville to give her a better chance of breaking into music. Swift started working with music manager Dan Dymtrow in 2003. He was instrumental in getting Swift a modeling gig for the "Rising Stars" campaign by Abercrombie & Fitch and got one of her original songs included on a compilation CD from Maybelline. After performing her original songs at a showcase for RCA Records, Swift was signed to an artist development deal.
Career
A year after signing with Big Machine Records, Swift released her first single, "Tim McGraw," which preceded her first self-titled studio album release. Taylor Swift reached the number five position on the U.S. Billboard 200 but obtained the number one spot on the U.S. Country Music chart. The album produced two number-one hit singles, "Our Song" and "Should've Said No". To date, her first album has been certified platinum more than four times by the RIAA. Swift's second album, Fearless, peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard, U.S. Country, New Zealand, and Canadian music charts. It has been certified platinum in four countries, six times in the USA alone, and also produced two number-one singles, "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me." She has performed with music artists such as John Mayer, Justin Bieber and Faith Hill. Among Swift's many accolades are dozens upon dozens of American Music Awards, Grammy Awards, and 23 Billboard Music Awards.
Swift has made several television and film appearances, both as herself on "Saturday Night Live" and "Dateline NBC" and in fictionalized roles on shows and in movies like "Valentine's Day," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," and "Hannah Montana: The Movie." Additionally, Swift has appeared in many popular publications, including Seventeen, Teen Vogue, and Rolling Stone.
In late 2020, Swift dropped two surprise albums, "Folklore" in August, which debuted at the top of the charts, and "Evermore" in December, which also garnered widespread acclaim. "Folklore" was the best-selling album of 2020 in the U.S. with 1.2 million copies and won Album of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, making Swift the first woman to win the award three times. Her 10th studio album, "Midnights," was released in October 2022, and many publications called it a classic and her best work yet. The lead single, "Anti-Hero," became Spotify's most-streamed song in one day. Taylor became the first artist in history to monopolize the Hot 100's entire top 10. In March 2023, she embarked on "The Eras Tour," which broke the record for most concert tickets ever sold in a single day. The "Eras" tour eventually grossed more than $2 billion, which made it the highest-grossing concert of all time.
Personal Life
In 2008, Swift dated Joe Jonas for three months. In 2010, she dated Taylor Lautner for a period. That same year, she also briefly dated Jake Gyllenhaal. Taylor dated DJ Calvin Harris in 2015. That same year, she dated actor Tom Hiddleston. In November 2012, she started dating Harry Styles. Over the 2012-2013 winter holidays, Taylor and Harry went to the British Virgin Islands together and were done soon after they returned, allegedly because they were both busy and never in one place for long. She also dated John Mayer briefly but long enough to write the song "Dear John" about him. Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn dated from 2017 to 2023.
In September 2023, Taylor was rumored to be dating NFL player Travis Kelce. The relationship was confirmed on September 24, 2023, when Taylor attended one of Travis' games in a box, sitting next to his mom and cheering loudly.
Endorsements and Earnings
Between June 2016 and June 2017, Taylor earned around $50 million. There have been several years where Swift has made more than $150 million off album sales, touring, merchandise, and endorsements. For example, thanks largely to the massively successful 1989 world tour, Taylor earned $170 million between June 2015 and June 2016. Between June 2018 and June 2019, Taylor earned $185 million from her empire thanks largely to her "Reputation" stadium tour, which grossed $266 million. Between June 2019 and June 2020, she earned $64 million.
During her career, Taylor has partnered with hundreds of companies for endorsements and partnerships. Some of her partnership companies include AT&T, CoverGirl, Verizon Wireless, Diet Coke, Keds, AirAsia, Qantas, Sony Electronics, Target, and Capital One.
Eras Movie Earnings
In October 2023, Taylor released a film version of her North American "Eras" tour. Before releasing the film version, she struck a deal with AMC where it would be the exclusive distributor of the film, and with Taylor earning an unprecedented 50% of first-dollar-gross from the ticket sales. The Eras concert film earned $96 million in its first weekend alone. It ultimately generated around $260 million. Taylor's cut of that was 50%, $130 million.
In February 2024, Taylor sold the exclusive streaming rights to the concert tour movie to Disney for $75 million. When combined with her movie ticket sales, Taylor's concert movie payday surpassed $205 million.
Republic Records Deal and Departure from Big Machine
Taylor produced six albums for Big Machine Records between 2006 and 2017. When her deal with Big Machine was up for renewal in 2018, we learned that her relationship with the company and its founder Scott Borchetta had become quite strained. Taylor's primary goal in the negotiation was to gain control of her first six albums. Borchetta reportedly offered her a deal in which she would gain control of her old albums one at a time upon releasing new albums for many years to come. Taylor, who knew that Borchetta was looking to sell his company, would later explain that she did not want to be sold off to a new company. She ultimately chose to walk away from Big Machine and her back catalog and signed a new long-term deal with Republic Records, an imprint of Universal Music. The new deal came with two notable stipulations: 1) She owns all of her master recordings from here on out. 2) She gets a larger cut of profits from her music sales. Furthermore, if Universal ever sells its $1 billion stake in Spotify, Taylor will receive a large cut.
Real Estate
Taylor Swift's real estate portfolio is quite impressive. She owns roughly $150 million worth of real estate around the United States.
Nashville: In 2009, when she was just 19 years old, Taylor paid $2 million for a condo in downtown Nashville. Later that same year, she paid around $400k for the 1-br unit downstairs. Today, these two units are worth a combined $4 million.
In 2011, she spent $2.5 million on an 8,000-square-foot mansion on six acres in the suburbs of Nashville. Today, this estate is worth at least $6 million.
Rhode Island: Taylor Swift's house in Rhode Island is an 11,000-square-foot mansion called High Watch. Situated on 5.2 acres overlooking the water, Swift bought the mansion in 2013 for $17.75 million. Today, the home is worth around $30 million. Before she paid $17.75 million in 2013, it had previously been listed for $24 million. The eight-bedroom, ten-and-a-half-bath house rests 65 feet above Little Narragansett Bay and was built in 1930. Inside, there is a 45-foot sun room, a massive kitchen with an attached family room with its own fireplace, and an equally impressive dining room. The bedrooms are all large, and the majority of them have their own bathroom or bathrooms. There is also a roof terrace, a wet bar, and a recreation space on the lower level that opens to the beach. The list of amenities goes on and on and includes multiple balconies, a pool, a fitness room, and a five-car garage. Here are two photos of Taylor Swift's Rhode Island mansion:
New York City: Taylor owns $50 million worth of apartments in New York City. Her Manhattan footprint started in 2014 when she bought a penthouse in Tribeca that she eventually transformed into a 10-bedroom duplex that today is likely worth north of $20 million on its own. In 2017, she bought the 100-year-old four-story penthouse next to the duplex for $12.5 million. In February 2018, she spent $10 million on another condo in her original building.
Los Angeles: In 2011 Taylor paid $3.55 million for a 1.5-acre property in Beverly Hills. She sold this property in 2018 for $4 million. In 2012, she paid $1.77 million for another Beverly Hills mansion. She sold this property in 2018 for $2.65 million.
In September 2015 Taylor paid $25 million for a Beverly Hills mansion that decades earlier was the home of producer Samuel Goldwyn. Taylor performed a massive renovation and restoration. Today, based on comparable recent sales, this estate is worth at least $70 million.
Massachusetts: Taylor Swift's house in Hyannisport, Massachusetts, is considered part of the Kennedy compound. A massive seven-bedroom home with stunning views of the nearby ocean, the house originally went on sale for $13.5 million in 2010. In addition to the view and the number of bedrooms, the home also features high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows in almost every room, hardwood floors, private beach access, a vast expanse of lawn, and fenced-in verandah access directly from the lower rooms of the house.
The asking price was cut in half in 2011. Taylor snapped it up for $4.9 million in the summer of 2012. At the time of her purchase, she was dating Conor Kennedy, a grandchild of Robert F. Kennedy. She sold the home just a few months after purchasing it for $5.675 million.