Taylor Swift released her blockbuster movie "The Eras Tour" to streaming platforms Wednesday in celebration of her 34th birthday. The singer has a lot to toast after a whirlwind of skyrocketing success in 2023. Here are 13 highlights, including the record-breaking movie and concert, for Miss Americana:
From March through November, Taylor Swift shattered records with her 3.5-hour Eras Tour. The massive 45+ song set list spanned her 10 albums. Swift told Time magazine she started preparing for the tour six months ahead of time by running on a treadmill while singing her songs. She's had 66 shows in 2023 in 20 North American cities and three South American cities. Pollstar estimated the tour grossed more than $1 billion and the Guinness Book of World Records honored her recording breaking achievement. She thanked her truck drivers in August with bonus checks of $100,000.
At a time when Hollywood production was halted, Swift did what studios and streaming services were unable to: make a deal with SAG-AFTRA. She worked with the unions, allowing her to market and show her "Eras Tour" movie how she saw fit. The film was released Oct. 13 and made more than $250 million globally. Fans flocked to theaters to buy out the custom cups and popcorn containers, dance in the aisles and sing at the top of their lungs. Swift even scared the "The Exorcist: Believer" into bumping up its opening weekend to Oct. 6.
The pop star has been on a quest to reclaim her music. In the summer of 2023, she rereleased her third album, "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)," with six vault tracks (including songs with Fall Out Boy and Hayley Williams). With the enchanting rerelease, Swift earned more No. 1 albums than any woman in history. She released a music video of vault track "I Can See You" featuring Taylor Lautner (an ex turned friend who showed up to do a backflip at her Kansas City, Missouri, show), Joey King and Presley Cash (both King and Cash were in the 2011 music video for song "Mean").
A Seattle seismologist found the crowd's dancing mixed with the booming speakers at Lumen Field caused seismic activity on par with a 2.3 magnitude earthquake. Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a seismologist and geology professor at Western Washington University, discovered the "Swift Quake." In 2011, running back Marshawn Lynch's scored a touchdown causing the "Beast Shake," which compared to a 2.0 magnitude earthquake.
Welcome (back) to New York! Taylor Swift rereleased "1989 (Taylor's Version)" on Oct. 27, exactly nine years after its original release. When the album was announced in Los Angeles at her Aug. 9 show, Swift's team partnered with Google to unveil its vault tracks. If users typed "Taylor Swift" in the search engine, a blue vault with 89 puzzles appeared. If users around the globe could solve 33 million puzzles (33 was her age at the time), she would release the five vault tracks. Breaking records never goes out of style for Swift, "1989 (Taylor's Version)" was the most-streamed album of 2023 on Spotify. She sold 1.29 million copies in the first week for the original "1989" and broke that record with the rerelease selling 1.65 million copies.
That's Dr. Taylor Alison Swift. Last year, New York University unveiled a collegiate class about Taylor Swift, gave her an honorary doctorate degree and invited her to speak to the classes of 2020, 2021 and 2022 at Yankee Stadium (the ceremony honored students who couldn't walk due to the pandemic). This set the stage for many universities across the nation to follow suit and announce new classes about the singer: Arizona State University, Austin Peay State University in Tennessee, Harvard University, University of California – Berkeley, Northeastern University in Boston, the University of South Carolina and more.
She’s popular! NBC News found the billionaire had the highest net favorability rating of any public figure. More than three quarters of registered voters polled in November had a positive view of Swift: 40% said they have a “positive view” of Swift, 17% said they had a “very positive” view, and 22% said they had a “somewhat positive” view.
You can see how she ranked among politicians and other stars here.
Swift added some hefty accolades to her mantelpiece this year: Time Person of the Year, People magazine's most intriguing person of the year, Spotify's most-streamed artist globally and Apple Music's artist of the year. She was nominated for six Grammys including album of the year. She's the only woman to win that category three times for "Fearless," "1989" and "Folklore." She won 10 Billboard Music Awards, tying Drake for the most Billboard wins ever. They both have 39. “It feels like the breakthrough moment of my career, happening at 33,” Swift said to Time magazine. “And for the first time in my life, I was mentally tough enough to take what comes with that.”
In addition to winning awards, Swift received an abundance of creative honors on many of her tour stops. Mayor Jerry Weiers renamed her first stop of Glendale, Arizona, to "Swift City." Las Vegas lit up its arches in all 10 era colors. Arlington, Texas, dubbed one of its streets "Taylor Swift Way." Tampa gave Swift a key to the city and invited her to be an honorary mayor for the day. Houston renamed a venue "NRG Stadium (Taylor’s Version)." Nashville dedicated a bench in Centennial Park to Swift. The park is referenced in her song "Invisible String."
A Philadelphia radio station, 96.5 FM (WTDY), renamed itself Ninety-Swift-Five W-T-A-Y. Gov. Philip D. Murphy dubbed the "Taylor Swift ham, egg and cheese sandwich" the "state sandwich of New Jersey." The top of Willis Tower in Chicago lit up in her album colors. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey renamed his city "Swiftie-apolis," and Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor switched the city's name to "Swiftie Clara."
Internationally, fans in Brazil caught the attention of Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes and Father Omar, the rector of the Christ the Redeemer Sanctuary, and arranged to project a "Junior Jewels" inspired T-shirt onto the Christ the Redeemer statue.
Swift started to dip her toes into the movie industry in 2021 with her short film "All Too Well" that was screened at the 2022 Tribeca and Toronto film festivals. This year, she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a prestigious organization for artists and executives. Searchlight Pictures announced it signed her to direct a feature film she wrote. No details on when that will be released. Her "Eras Tour" movie was also nominated for a Golden Globe in a brand-new category.
From acronyms of her songs like LWYMMD and WANEGBT to iconic lines Swifties love like "my mind is alive" or "Taylor Smith everyone," friendship bracelets came back stronger than a '90s trend. The CEO of Michaels, John Gehre, said bracelet sales were up 40% chainwide since mid-April. He also said in an e-mail that in cities where Swift toured, the stores saw a 300% sales boost in the days leading up to the concerts. The Little Words Project, a chain that customizes in making friendship bracelets on the spot, opened new locations at the Mall of America in Minneapolis and in Austin, Texas. The company was started to encourage kindness, affirmations and creating community. Astronaut Kellie Gerardi even took more than 50 friendship bracelets on her wrists and in her pockets to space, farther than any other Swiftie, to hand out to her friends and family upon return.
At the end of the "Eras Tour" movie is a friendship bracelet message from Swift to her fans: "Thank you to the most generous, thoughtful, loving fans on the planet. This is all because of you and for you." Fans have powered her stardom to the next level, sharing her music and news about her. Influencers have made it a full-time hobby to post information related to her tour, football game appearances and special accolades. In Argentina, fans held up signs that said "we will stay" during Swift's song "The Archer." In Brazil, fans coordinated to light up their phones and project the country's flag colors of blue, yellow and green back to the singer while she sang "Champagne Problems." Fans who couldn't see the tour in the Midwest drove to a Naperville, Illinois, home to check out Swift-themed Christmas lights that went viral on social media. A 2024 cruise that is Taylor Swift-themed sold out in weeks. Etsy and small business owners sold merchandise inspired by the singer. Her impact was so massive, Gannett hired a reporter to cover her full-time (it's me, hi).
"Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me," Swift sang at a show in Argentina while her boyfriend, star tight end Travis Kelce, danced next to her dad, Scott Swift. Kelce wanted to give Swift a friendship bracelet with his number on it, but when he couldn't, he talked about the experience with his brother, Jason, on his podcast, New Heights. Swift and Kelce dated in secret and then she showed up to cheer him on at the Kansas City Chiefs game against the Chicago Bears. The love story has played out on live television, boosting ratings for the NFL (her first appearance was the most watched football game of the week on any network with 24.3 million viewers) and helping fashion stores with the pieces she wears (the red Stella McCartney peacoat saw a 400% increase in sales).
It may have been a long time coming, but in some ways it's just beginning. In 2024 she may release her two remaining rerecords, "Reputation" and her eponymous debut album. She will head on tour to 86 stops internationally and in the United States, and there will be surprises along the way. If there's anything we know about Swift, she's got a big reputation and knows all too well how to make headlines on a weekly basis.
Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network's Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.