Taylor Swift and Beyoncé

This is about much more than music.

Icons at the levels of singing stars Taylor Swift and Beyoncé transcend the Billboard Hot 100 as their concert tours create massive boons for supporting industries, and sometimes entire economies. Swift’s Eras Tour and Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour the past year even pushed up inflation and caught the attention of the Federal Reserve (which you may have noticed played a significant role in Power 100 this year).

There are clear reasons why observers theorized NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell might otherwise encourage Swift’s public relationship with a tight end on the Kansas City Chiefs: The Eras Tour reportedly led to $10 billion in consumer spending, which is said to be the equivalent of 55 Super Bowls. When the comparable unit of measure you’re dealing with is a Super Bowl, it’s one thing. When it’s 55 off one initiative, it puts you in a league of your own.

Meanwhile, The New York Times estimated last fall that Beyoncé’s tour generated $4.5 billion for a U.S. economy that, frankly, needed it. That’s about what the entire 2008 Summer Olympics generated for Beijing, the newspaper noted. 

Also, the traveling events pushed above-normal retail spending and provided several other pop-up opportunities. The average Swiftie, for instance, spent $1,300 per show in travel, tickets, hotels, meals, merch and whatnot. The Eras and Renaissance tours also helped set occupancy records at hotels across the country. Hotels in cities on the Eras Tour saw average revenue per room rise more than 4 percent compared to the national average, according to data published by wealth manager Bernstein.

Swift and Beyoncé’s concerts were so in-demand they were also subjects of hit new films, which provided a fresh boost to movie theaters and malls across the country, and again provided more special event opportunities for nearby and sponsoring retailers.