US singer and songwriter Taylor Swift has a current net worth of $1.1 billion after the success of her Eras world tour and its accompanying film, according to Bloomberg.
The success of the Eras tour – a Super Bowl-sized event spanning numerous cities that shattered records and sparked ticket frenzies – has propelled the 33-year-old pop star’s net worth past $1 billion, according to a Bloomberg News analysis on Friday.
Swift is one of the few entertainers to reach that status based on just her music and performance, Bloomberg said.
She now joins performers including Rihanna, Jay-Z and Beyonce in the coveted billionaires club.
Watch: Taylor Swift fans break out in song on delayed flight
The calculation took into account the estimated value of her music catalogue and five homes, and earnings from streaming deals, music sales, concert tickets and merchandise.
This includes an estimated $400 million from her music released since 2019, $370 million from ticket sales and merchandise, $110 million from her five personal properties, $120 million earned from Spotify and YouTube, and $80 million from music sales royalties, according to the report.
The Shake It Off singer’s 53 US concerts this year added $4.3 billion to the country’s gross domestic product, according to estimates from Bloomberg Economics.
The 146-date Eras Tour, which is expected to be the highest-grossing tour of all time when it closes next year, is projected to have a $5 billion economic impact on the US, according to software company QuestionPro. That would produce a gross domestic product larger than 50 countries.
Swift could earn as much as $4.1 billion from the tour, calculated on the standard artist’s share of 85 per cent, according to The Washington Post.
The 12-time Grammy winner makes between $10 million and $13 million per show, according to Forbes.
The Eras tour is Swift’s first since 2018 after she cancelled her planned Lover Fest tour in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since then, Swift has released four new albums and re-recorded three others as “(Taylor's Version)”.
Eras racked up more than $700 million in ticket sales for shows performed to date, according to Bloomberg estimates.
Swift is also dominating movie theatres. In its opening weekend, the pop singer’s concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, grossed an estimated $126 million to $130 million in global ticket sales, according to cinema chain AMC.
It is the highest-grossing concert film in US history.
Swift took the unusual step of making a direct deal with AMC, the world’s biggest theatre operator, instead of teaming up with a Hollywood studio to distribute her concert film, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Swift is now one of the world’s richest self-made women. The pop star officially has more No 1 albums than any woman in history. Previously, Barbra Streisand held the record, with 11 No 1 albums.
In 2019, Swift announced that she was planning to re-record her first six studio albums after her former label sold her master recordings. She has since released Taylor’s Version albums for Red, Speak Now and Fearless.
She pulled all her music from online music streaming service Spotify in 2014 in protest against what she called “unfair compensation” from the streamer. She then renegotiated her rates to rejoin Spotify after three years.
In 2018, she left her long-time record label Big Machine to go independent and negotiated a new contract with Universal Music Group that allows her to take a larger share of the royalties, according to Bloomberg.
Watch: Taylor Swift pulls music from Spotify
Swift also owns two Dassault private jets, Forbes said.
Her real estate portfolio includes four properties in New York City, a beach house in Rhode Island, properties in Nashville, Tennessee, a seven-bedroom home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, and an estate in Beverly Hills.
Swift has also endorsed companies such as Coca-Cola, CoverGirl, Target, AT&T and Sony Electronics.
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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