Taylor Swift is now the richest female music star in the world, boasting a staggering net worth of $1.6 billion (£1.2bn). She is also the first musician to reach billionaire status solely from her songs and performances.

Her landmark The Eras Tour has taken the world by storm since its launch in March 2023. It recently achieved the record-breaking feat of becoming the first-ever concert tour to surpass the $1 billion (£770m) gross threshold.

But it’s not just the resounding success of The Eras Tour that's paved the way for Swift to become one of the richest people on the planet. Read on to discover all of the savvy and surprising business moves Swift made to become a billionaire. 

All dollar amounts in US dollars.

A significant portion of Swift's fortune comes from her touring triumphs. About 15 years before the Eras Tour became a global phenomenon, a 19-year-old Swift embarked on her debut world tour, the Fearless Tour (pictured). Between April 2009 and July 2010, she performed 119 shows worldwide.

The tour grossed $66.5 million, equivalent to $96 million (£74m) in 2024 money. While impressive for a debut tour, it was only the beginning of even greater successes to come...

Following the success of her debut tour, Taylor "swiftly" kicked off her second global trek, the Speak Now World Tour (pictured). Between February 2011 and March 2012, she performed 110 shows across North America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.

With an estimated attendance of 1.6 million, the tour grossed $123.7 million. In today's money, that's approximately $170 million (£130m). 

Between March 2013 and June 2014, Swift embarked on her third world tour, The Red Tour (pictured), in support of her country-pop album Red.

During this period she played 86 shows globally, attracting a grand total of 1.7 million fans. 

The tour earned $150.2 million, achieving the feat of becoming the highest-grossing concert tour at the time. When adjusted for inflation, the tour banked a stellar $200 million (£153m).

Swift's 1989 album and tour marked her game-changing transition into pop music. During this era, she released some of the biggest hits of her career, including Shake It Off and Style.

As part of 2015's The 1989 World Tour (pictured), Swift visited Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania, performing 85 shows with a total attendance of over 2.2 million people.

Her fourth tour grossed $250.7 million, equivalent to $333.5 million (£256m) today.

In late 2016, Swift decided to take a break from the spotlight following a highly publicised fallout with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, during which she faced intense media scrutiny.

However, Swift made an epic return in November 2017 with the release of her sixth studio album, Reputation. The dark and moody record ushered in Swift's "villain" era. She did not shy away from addressing the controversies surrounding her in songs such as Look What You Made Me Do and I Did Something Bad.

The public embraced Swift's gritty new persona, and as a result, 2018's Reputation Stadium Tour (pictured) was a resounding success, attracting over 2.8 million concertgoers across 53 shows. The tour grossed $345.7 million, equivalent to $434 million (£333 million) in 2024 money.

Swift's record-shattering The Eras Tour kicked off in March 2023. The tour will see her Shake It Off on over 140 stages across five continents by the time it wraps up this December.

As we mentioned, the monumental tour became the highest-grossing of all time after surpassing the $1 billion (£770m) gross mark – and by its conclusion, it's projected to gross an unprecedented $2.165 billion (£1.7bn) from ticket sales alone. When factoring in other revenue streams such as merchandise, The Eras Tour is expected to gross a staggering $4.1 billion (£3.1bn).

Swift reportedly earns an average of $13.6 million (£10.4 million) for every The Eras Tour concert she performs. However, touring is not the only income stream that's helped her join the exclusive ranks of the 10-figure club...

Swift has made many clever business moves throughout the course of her career. A recent example includes capitalising on the success of The Eras Tour by releasing the concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour in October 2023.

Fans flocked to theatres to see the movie, which grossed sensational $261.6 million (£201m), making it the highest-grossing concert film ever.

It's unknown how much money Swift banked from the movie. However, it's likely to be a significant sum given that the business-savvy star bypassed the traditional Hollywood distribution system and made a deal directly with the AMC movie theatre chain. The smart move allowed Swift to take home a bigger share of the box office profits. 

In another money-spinning move, Swift is set to release The Eras Tour Book in November, further capitalising on the success of her record-breaking tour. The self-published book will retail exclusively at Target for $39.99 (£31).

By opting to self-publish instead of working with a traditional publisher, Swift is maximising her personal profits. However, critics argue that this decision could disrupt the publishing industry, as publishers often rely on celebrity books and memoirs to support their business models.

And this isn’t the first time Swift’s bold business decisions have sparked backlash...

Swift often releases multiple versions of the same album in various formats. For instance, she has issued 36 different variants of her latest record, The Tortured Poets Department, across CD, digital, vinyl, and cassette.

The practice has drawn criticism, with some calling it a "cash grab" and labelling Swift "money greedy" and a "capitalist queen."

Whether it’s a clever business tactic or an exploitation of her fans remains up for debate. However, The Tortured Poets Department spent 12 consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 charts, showcasing that, despite the criticism, Swift is clearly profiting from the strategy. And she's arguably developed this sharp business acumen after making a disastrous move much earlier in her career...

Back in 2005, a teenage Swift agreed to give up the rights to the masters of her first six albums to secure a recording deal with Big Machine Records.

Swift came to regret this decision when Big Machine was acquired in 2019 by music mogul Scooter Braun, with whom she has had a long-standing feud. Swift has publicly accused Braun of bullying and manipulating her career.

In November 2020, Braun sold Swift’s master recordings to investment fund Shamrock Capital for $300 million (£230m) without her consent. 

Swift couldn’t stop the sale of her masters, but she still retains the publishing rights to her songs as their writer or co-writer, which allows her to block certain uses of the music.

Shamrock Capital expressed interest in working with Swift, but she declined. Swift explained that as long as Braun continued to profit from the original masters, she couldn’t "bring [herself] to be involved in benefiting Scooter Braun’s interests."

Instead, Swift made the ground-breaking decision to regain control of her work by re-recording her old albums, now known as Taylor’s Version. This move allows her to own the new masters while reducing the value of the originals. So far, she has successfully re-released almost identical versions of four out of the six albums.

Swift learnt from the mistake of signing away the rights to her masters early in her career, and she made sure not to repeat it. When she signed a new record deal with Universal Music Group in 2018, she negotiated to retain full ownership of her future masters.

But that wasn’t the only ground-breaking aspect of the deal. Her contract also includes a key provision that benefits thousands of other musicians. Universal Music Group must share a portion of any future profits from its Spotify shares with all its artists, not just Swift.

This agreement ensures that UMG’s artists will receive payments from a sale of Spotify shares on a non-recoupable basis, meaning they’ll get money even if they haven’t fully paid off their advances.

Swift reportedly earned over $100 million (£77m) from Spotify alone last year. She secured the title of Spotify’s Top Global Artist of 2023 after achieving a staggering 26 billion streams on the platform.

When factoring in revenue from other music streaming platforms such as Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music, it's estimated Swift earned $200 million (£154m) from music streams in 2023.

Back in 2014, Swift made headlines when she pulled her music from Spotify in protest of the platform's free tier and its impact on artists' earnings. However, she made her music available on Spotify again in 2017.

In total, Forbes estimates that Swift has amassed $600 million (£462m) from royalties and touring. Her music catalogue is also valued at a plump $600 million.

In addition to her music income, Swift has grown her fortune through savvy real estate investments. Forbes estimates her property portfolio to be worth $125 million (£96m). 

Her enviable portfolio includes a luxurious penthouse and a Greek-inspired mansion in Nashville, as well as mansions in Los Angeles and Rhode Island and another penthouse in New York City.

With a staggering 283 million followers, Swift is also one of the most-followed stars on Instagram. For some degree of comparison, this mammoth figure is larger than the populations of Pakistan (240 million), Brazil (216 million), and Russia (144 million).

Over the years, Taylor Swift has leveraged her huge fanbase to secure numerous lucrative endorsement deals with big-name brands such as Diet Coke, CoverGirl, Keds, and Elizabeth Arden.

According to Entrepreneur, she has earned $33 million (£25m) from endorsement deals.

There's no denying it: it's Taylor Swift's world, and we're all just "Swiftizens" living in it.

The recently crowned billionaire is actively using her wealth to make a positive impact on the world. Recently, she donated $1 million (£770k) to the Tennessee tornado relief fund and $5 million (£4m) to US hurricane relief efforts related to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

In remarkable acts of kindness, she has also provided financial support to fans in need. For instance, she gifted over $6,000 (£4.8k) to cover one fan's college tuition and in 2019, she contributed $10,000 (£8k) to a fan to assist with medical bills. The following year, she donated $13,000 (£10.4k) to two mothers’ GoFundMe accounts to help them with rent. 

Swift has donated to countless noble causes over the years, including cancer research, food banks, and support for survivors of assault.