Taylor Swift and Beyoncé Owned Pop in 2023: Comparing Their Blockbuster Years

The queens of modern pop solidified their shared throne this year. Beyoncé and Taylor Swift dominated the entertainment news cycle throughout 2023 with huge world tours — Eras and Renaissance — inspiring passionate fan movements among the Swifties and the BeyHive, and countless headlines covering their concerts, economic impacts and more. Publications even hired specialized reporters whose entire jobs were to cover Swift and Bey.

The media narrative often tries to pit these stars against one another, but the shared reign of Swift and Beyoncé is less a popularity contest — the two shine equally bright — and more a case of two artists having similarly successful years (to put it lightly), making parallel moves and thriving in different phases of their careers. Here are all the ways Beyoncé and Swift took over our worlds 2023.

Eras and Renaissance take center stage

Taylor Swift and Beyoncé's 2023 tours represent distinct landmarks for each artist. For Swift, Eras is a look back at her history — from adolescent singer-songwriter to global superstar. For Bey, Renaissance is the start of a new chapter, taking its name from her Grammy-winning 2022 album that channeled dance music and queer club culture. Swift and Beyoncé spent the majority of the year on their respective mega tours, hitting the road in March and May, respectively. Bey concluded this run of Renaissance in October, and Swift is picking Eras back up in February after a brief break. Live Nation announced that Bey's global trek raked in more than $579 million worldwide, with 2.7 million fans attending across 56 dates in 39 cities. Swift's Eras Tour made $1.04 billion in estimated gross ticket sales (becoming the first tour ever to break the $1 billion mark), with 4.35 million sold, per music industry trade publication Pollstar.

The tours' impacts spread beyond their attendees. All year, the internet flooded with details and clips from the shows, from Swift stagediving to Bey floating in atop a giant silver horse. The tours produced viral memes and conversations. Fans spread the word about Beyoncé's "on mute" challenge, preparing Renaissance show-goers to stay silent when the queen sings the line "Look around/ Everybody on mute" from her song "Energy." Swifties created spreadsheets and manifestation exercises around the Eras Tour "surprise songs" segments.

Boosting economies and consumer spending

Eras and Renaissance proved to be moneymakers for both the pop stars and the cities they visited. Hotel prices surged across North America alongside Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour stops. In some cases, hotels raised their prices as much as 60 percent to capitalize on increased demand.

Australia's largest hotel chain, Accor, reported "unprecedented" demand from fans booking rooms six months in advance after Swift announced her Melbourne tour dates. The Australian Hotels Association predicted the Eras Tour could break the record for most hotels ever booked for a single event in Melbourne.

Swift reportedly brought business to local hair salons and restaurants, filled with fans primping and fueling before her shows. A Canadian politician filed an official grievance with Parliament, asking Swift to bring her economic magic to the country — which she will in the new year. Meanwhile, Beyoncé’s tour was linked to an increase in Sweden's inflation rate, adding an estimated 0.2 to 0.3 percentage points, and inspired local businesses in the U.S. to make special preparations for Queen Bey's arrival.

According to a summer report from data company QuestionPro, Renaissance attendees outspent Eras attendees. The report said the Beyhive spent $1,800 on average, $300 more than the Swifties, for tickets, concert outfits, merch, hotel and travel. For many Bey fans, a good chunk of that budget went toward fun clothing for the event. The average price for attendees' outfits sat at $400, with some spending up to $10,000.

Extending the tour to the screen

The Swift-and-Bey party didn't stop when their tours wrapped. The stars kept their brands strong with concert films. In August, Swift announced that the Eras Tour movie, documenting her blockbuster world tour, would screen exclusively in AMC theaters in the fall. The result? Sold-out theaters, a spike in AMC shares and happy Swifties. It had the biggest-ever opening weekend for a concert film, earning $92.8 million in North American ticket sales. Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé is now playing in theaters in the U.S., Canada and Mexico after its premiere last month. As of this week, the movie has grossed $30.8 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $8 million in other territories, for a global total of $38.8 million. Both the stars' films shot to the top of the box office upon release.

While both were loosely billed as "concert films," the two artists' movies took different approaches. Swift's Eras film ran through the full almost-three-hour set. It was true to the show, in that the only new addition was the special, themed graphics that punctuated each era. Meanwhile, Beyoncé's film included behind-the-scenes footage of the star conceiving of and practicing Renaissance in the lead-up to the tour.

Bey and Tay attended each other's premieres in two highly publicized outings. After Beyoncé walked the Eras movie red carpet, Swift took to Instagram to celebrate and thank her. "The way she's taught me and every artist out here to break rules and defy industry norms," Swift wrote. "She's been a guiding light throughout my career and the fact that she showed up tonight was like an actual fairytale."

Personal lives in the public eye

Swift took over headlines in the latter half of the year with big news in her dating life. She and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce remain the main characters of the internet as we close in on 2024. The relationship certainly raised her profile even higher — if that's even possible — paired with Eras tour press. Bey, on the other hand, kept mostly private, as per usual. But she provided a rare look into her family life via Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé. The movie exposed personal moments moments of the singer's home life, including pre-performance exercises with her daughter and spending time with her twin boys. Her family unintentionally made headlines when her daughter Blue Ivy danced onstage during the Renaissance tour to both praise and criticism. But haters only fueled Blue, whose dancing skills evolved over the course of the tour, as many pointed out.

Evolutions and the future

In 2023, Swift was bigger than ever before, catapulting forward while looking back on all the past eras that made her the icon she is today. She was even named Time's Person of the Year. Beyoncé, meanwhile, stayed at the top of her game, firmly in the latest phase of her stardom and evolving artistry. Next year, Swift will return to touring. As for Bey, she previously confirmed that Renaissance will be a "three-act project." It's unclear what she has in store for the second and third installments, but maybe we'll get a preview in 2024.