Taylor Swift

Industry: Culture, media, entertainment and sports
Hometown: West Reading, Pennsylvania
Notable in 2023: Generated large, measurable economic impact everywhere she went, and did it on her terms.

It's hard to think of anyone who has catalyzed economic activity in a more unique way over the past year than Taylor Swift.

Swift's Eras Tour became the highest-grossing tour of all time, surpassing a record-setting $1 billion in sales with tickets selling for tens of thousands of dollars. The Swift economic effect caught the attention of the most powerful players in the world of finance. 

The Federal Reserve noted the impact of her tour on local economies in its "Beige Book." 

Wall Street firms have attempted to calculate the precise impact on U.S. retail sales. And across the globe, the tour has been given credit for GDP boosts, as well as being a rare cause for concern among factors contributing to inflation.

Stops on The Eras Tour saw a bump of 2.1 percentage points to lodging inflation during the month of Swift's visit, according to STR data. Data from hotel booking platform Trivago showed a similar rise.

The recently released concert film of the Eras Tour quickly became the highest-grossing domestic concert film ever, raking in just short of $100 million during its opening weekend, giving Swift the second-best October box office opening ever.

By some calculations, the Swift economy of 2023 all on its own was larger than the GDP of some small nations.

But the biggest number in 2023, arguably, is that by Bloomberg's count, it was the year that Swift entered her billionaire era. The 33-year-old's net worth is now roughly $1.1 billion, according to a Bloomberg News analysis, which the publication called "conservative," and included the value of her five homes, earnings from music sales, streaming deals, concert tickets and merchandise, as well as the value of her music catalog.