Taylor Swift is making a windfall from ticket sales to The Eras Tour concert film — so much that she out-earned almost every NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL player’s annual salary in one weekend.
Taylor Swift – she of the sales and streaming records – shrewdly re-recorded albums, sold-out three-hour shows, and bizarrely savvy crossover into the NFL milieu, has been well-paid for her handiwork. Thanks to her professional tirelessness, the prolific musician is on track for billionaire status before she turns 40.
But there’s no income like passive income.
Thanks to her equity in The Eras Tour — 57% of ticket revenues, to be exact — the concert film based on the eponymous global sensation that premiered on Oct. 11 in Los Angeles, Travis Kelce’s favorite singer earned an estimated $55 million from the film’s opening weekend gross, reportedly $95 to 97 million.
That’s a hell of a bag for someone who’s admittedly no stranger to them. That got us thinking, however: How does that $55 million weekend haul compare to the annual salaries of the best-paid athletes in the big four US sports leagues?
Perhaps you won’t be surprised to hear that there isn’t a single player, for instance, in the NHL or Major League Baseball this season who can rival that number — but that’s far from the whole story.
Let’s dive into the eye-popping Eras Tour movie comparisons in more detail below.
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Movie Earnings vs. NFL Salaries
1. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson: $80,000,000 salary in 2023
2. Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes: $59,350,000
3. Taylor’s Eras weekend: $55,000,000
4. 49ers DE Nick Bosa: $51,010,000
t5. Browns QB Deshaun Watson: $46,000,000
t5. Giants QB Daniel Jones: $46,000,000
Also worth noting? $55 million is 4.49 times the $12.25 million salary Travis Kelce will earn this season, and nearly equal to the $57.25 million total value of his contract with the Kansas City Chiefs that runs through the 2025 NFL season.
Click here for Boardroom’s full ranking of highest-paid NFL players of 2023.
Taylor Swift vs. NBA Salaries
1. Taylor’s Eras weekend: $55,000,000
2. Warriors PG Stephen Curry: $51,915,615 salary in 2023-24
t3. Lakers SF LeBron James: $47,607,350
t3. Nuggets C Nikola Jokić: $47,607,350
t3. 76ers C Joel Embiid: $47,607,350
Click here for Boardroom’s full ranking of highest-paid NBA players of 2023-24.
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Movie Earnings vs. MLB Salaries
1. Taylor’s Eras weekend: $55,000,000
t2. Rangers SP Max Scherzer: $43,333,333 salary in 2023
t2. Astros SP Justin Verlander: $43,333,333
t4. Yankees OF Aaron Judge: $40,000,000
t4. Rangers SP Jacob deGrom: $40,000,000
Click here for Boardroom’s full ranking of highest-paid MLB players of 2023.
Taylor Swift vs. NHL Salaries
1. Taylor’s Eras weekend: $55,000,000
2. Avalanche C Nathan MacKinnon: $16,500,000 salary in 2023
3. Bruins RW David Pastrnak: $13,000,000
4. Rangers D Dougie Hamilton: $12,600,000
t5. Capitals LW Alexander Ovechkin: $12,500,000
t5. Minnesota LW Kirill Kaprizov: $12,500,000
t5. Blackhawks D Seth Jones: $12,500,000
The capper? According to Spotrac, only 92 NHL players have earned more than $55 million in their entire careers.