Taylor Swift's Album Drop Is Already Having An Economic Impact

A Taylor Swift event is always bound to make some kind of economic impact, and her newest album, The Life of a Showgirl, is already weighing in. 

Thousands of fans decided the midnight (New York time) release Friday was reason enough to miss work. 

For the pop star’s most passionate followers, there were various ways to spend the day reveling in the 12-track album —  at officially sanctioned “release parties” at AMC movie theaters, branded pop-up stores with photo-ops or homegrown parties where fans could gather to listen and celebrate among other Swifties. 

News channel 9 News Australia reported from a Swift listening party where fans, decked out in sequins and boas, obscured their faces because they were “meant to be at work.” One woman told the camera she took a half-day to come out and celebrate. 

Swift’s star power affects multiple economic levers. While absenteeism may hurt employers, consumer spending may be up. Select Target Corp. stores around the country stayed open past midnight, selling a special edition vinyl record in pink and pale yellow and other exclusive items the retailer suggested would make “truly special” holiday gifts. And with the particularly glamorous theme of Showgirl, fans are already drooling over the fashion moments of the latest album art.

Swift’s Eras tour of 2023-2024 generated total consumer spending in the US of $5 billion over six months, of which $2 billion was retail sales, according to analysts at Nomura Securities. 

“I do think there’s money being spent in the economy this weekend specifically related to this album release and the official release party movie,” said Misty Heggeness, associate professor in the school of public affairs and administration at the University of Kansas and author of the forthcoming book Swiftynomics: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy. “We can assume there are small businesses, restaurants, bars and other places that will see an increase in revenue because people are out to celebrate in a group the release.”

In Los Angeles, Layla Smith and her mother, Amanda Ferreira, claimed a spot in line at Westfield Century City Mall on Friday morning, hours before the gate was set to open for a Swift pop-up. The pair had driven three hours to be among the first to step into re-creations from Swift’s new music video The Fate of Ophelia, with scenes designed for influencers to post on TikTok.

Smith, 23, a movie theater manager who took a four-day weekend for the trip, passed the hours sitting on the floor with a Lego kit she picked up at the mall. She wore green and orange — a nod to the album’s color palette — while Ferreira, 45, leaned into the theme with a sparkly tasseled showgirl outfit.

“I used my vacation time to be here,” Smith said. “I can’t think of a better way to spend it — especially with this album. It’s got such a positive feel to it.”

Spotify Technology SA hosted an experiential three-day pop-up event in New York ahead of the album’s release with costumes and props inspired by the album. Some news reports said a line of hundreds of people stretched around the block. The event ran from noon until 9 p.m. from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 and attracted more than 6,000, according to a Spotify spokesperson.

Heggeness noted that Swift is “really creative with her art and also a creative marketer.” Swift “continues to push the envelope on what singers and what musicians can do and how they can engage with their audiences,” she said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. 

The album drop also provides new fuel for a standing goal among the superstar’s most hard-core fans: becoming one of Swift’s top fans on Spotify. The Swedish streaming giant tells fans whether they’re in the top percentage of an artist’s listeners, based on the amount of time they listen. Swifties game out the number of hours they need to spend with their favorite artist to receive the designation at the end of the year.

On Reddit, one fan speculated they’d need more than 150,000 minutes to be in the top .001% of Swift listeners. Though some commenters wished they’d dedicated more time to listening, so they could reach the top echelon, another reminded the group: “Streaming less than someone else does NOT make you less of a Swiftie! You can be a Swiftie and not have your whole life revolve around Taylor.”