Entertainment Music Pop Music Taylor Swift Gave a Whopping $197 Million in Bonuses to Eras Tour Performers, Crew on Top of Their Salaries (Exclusive) Over the past two years, Swift gave out $197 million in bonuses to everyone working on her Eras Tour, including truck drivers, caterers, dancers and musicians By Melody Chiu Melody Chiu Melody Chiu is an Executive Editorial Director at PEOPLE overseeing Entertainment, Books and Events. With the brand since 2009, she has written cover stories on Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, John Legend, Sandra Oh, House of Horrors survivor Jordan Turpin and more. Chiu oversees all of PEOPLE's entertainment verticals, as well as events strategy and live red carpet coverage for awards season. She graduated from the University of Southern California and has appeared on Today, The Talk, Good Morning America and more. People Editorial Guidelines and Jeff Nelson Jeff Nelson Jeff Nelson is the Senior Music Editor at PEOPLE. He has been with the brand since 2014, editing, writing and reporting across entertainment verticals. People Editorial Guidelines Updated on December 9, 2024 01:22PM EST 299 Comments Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour team put in the work — and she rewarded them generously. Over the past two years, Swift gave out $197 million in bonuses to everyone working on her tour — including truck drivers, caterers, instrument techs, merch team, lighting, sound, production staff and assistants, carpenters, dancers, band, security, choreographers, pyrotechnics, riggers, hair, make-up, wardrobe, physical therapists and video team — PEOPLE confirms. In August 2023, as Swift wrapped the first North American leg of the tour, PEOPLE confirmed she’d given out more than $55 million in bonuses. On Sunday, Dec. 8, Swift, 34, took the stage at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver for her final show of the Eras Tour, which kicked off in Glendale, Ariz., in March 2023. Taylor Swift performing the Eras Tour in Vancouver on Dec. 6, 2024. Kevin Winter/TAS24/Getty During her opening Lover set, Swift shared her appreciation for fans and concertgoers. "We have toured the entire world,” she said. “We have had so many adventures. It has been the most exciting, powerful, electrifying, intense, most challenging thing I've ever done in my entire life.” Then later, before performing “Karma” (the last track of her setlist) and taking her final bow, Swift told the crowd: “I want to thank every single one of you for being a part of the most thrilling chapter of my entire life to date — my beloved Eras Tour.” Taylor Swift takes a bow during the Eras Tour in Vancouver on Dec. 6, 2024. Kevin Winter/TAS24/Getty After her 149th and final show, Swift’s production company, Taylor Swift Touring, confirmed to the New York Times that 10,168,008 people attended the Eras Tour — and that it sold $2,077,618,725 in total tickets, making it the bestselling tour of all time and “double the gross ticket sales of any other concert tour in history.” Taylor Swift performing the Eras Tour in Vancouver on Dec. 6, 2024. AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson Swift is ending 2024 on an unprecedented high note. In addition to her record-shattering tour, she scored big with its accompanying Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Book, which sold a reported 814,000 copies in its first two days, making it the most successful publishing launch of the year. Additionally, Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music each announced that Swift was the top-streamed artist of 2024, and her 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department, was the top-streamed album of the year. While she’s reached the end of her Eras Tour era, Swift has plenty to look forward to in 2025. The 14-time Grammy winner is up for six more golden gramophones at the award show, including album of the year for TTPD. Leave a Comment