Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated Eras Tour went on sale November 15, 2022 on Ticketmaster. The tour is Swift’s first since 2018, and excitement among fans was immense leading up to the on-sale date. However, the Ticketmaster on-sale was filled with technical issues, long online queues, and quickly sold out shows, leaving many fans frustrated and ticketless. Just how many people tried to get Taylor Swift tickets on Ticketmaster? Let’s take a closer look at the numbers and metrics around one of the most highly anticipated tour on-sales in recent history.
Over 3.5 Million People Registered for TaylorSwiftTix Presale
Leading up to the public on-sale date, Ticketmaster implemented a Verified Fan program called TaylorSwiftTix to try to ensure that fans, not bots, got access to tickets. Swift fans had to register for the presale through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan, and over 3.5 million people signed up for the program in hopes of securing presale code access.
Ticketmaster stated that the 3.5 million registrants broke the company’s all-time record for Verified Fan sign ups. To put that into perspective, Ticketmaster said that’s more people than live in the entire state of Utah. This gives an idea of just how anticipated these Taylor Swift tour dates were prior to tickets going on sale.
1.5 Million Verified Fans Were Given Presale Codes
Out of the 3.5 million people that registered for the TaylorSwiftTix Verified Fan presale event, only 1.5 million users were given presale codes to access tickets. This was Ticketmaster’s way of trying to weed out potential bots and scalpers and give access to true Swift fans.
However, even being granted a presale code was no guarantee of getting tickets. The presales on November 15 and 16 were plagued with long wait times, website outages, and error messages across Ticketmaster platforms.
2 Million People Were Queued Online During Presales
During the Verified Fan presales on November 15 and 16, Ticketmaster reported “historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up” to the site. At one point, Ticketmaster claimed 2 million people were queued online waiting for access to tickets.
With only 1.5 million presale codes issued, this meant high demand and intense competition for the limited number of presale tickets available. The massive online queues and traffic caused the Ticketmaster site to crash repeatedly over the presale dates.
Over 2 Million Tickets Sold on November 15
Ticketmaster has since released an official statement that over 2 million tickets were sold for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour during the Verified Fan presale on November 15. They said this broke their all-time record for tickets sold in a single day.
To put 2 million tickets into context, it’s more than the typical capacity of SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, which holds approximately 70,000 people. Considering Taylor Swift is playing multiple nights in huge stadiums like that on this tour, 2 million tickets makes sense based on the tour plans. But it also shows just how quick and in-demand these concert tickets were.
Ticket Sales Breakdown for November 15:
- Over 2 million tickets sold
- 229 show dates sold out
- Average of 11,000 tickets sold per show
- Largest single day of sales in Ticketmaster company history
Hundreds of Thousands Remained in Queues
Even after the 2 million presale tickets sold on November 15, Ticketmaster reported that hundreds of thousands of people remained in online queues waiting for the chance to get tickets. However, the reality was that nearly the entire presale inventory was gone by that point.
Ticketmaster stated: “Hundreds of thousands of tickets were sold immediately…the huge demand for tickets online and the insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand is what led to the long wait times and queue issues that consumers experienced today.”
The fact that so many fans were still actively waiting in queues indicated that much more demand existed for Taylor Swift tickets.
Millions More Tried During General Public On-Sale
After the presales, the final Ticketmaster public on-sale for remaining tickets was scheduled for November 18. Again, millions of eager Taylor Swift fans showed up on Ticketmaster trying to purchase tickets and faced major issues.
The site crashed, error messages prevented ticket selection, and wait times soared over 200,000 ahead in queues. This revealed that well beyond the millions of presale participants, millions more Swifties attempted to get their tickets during general on-sale.
Key Stats from Public On-Sale Day:
- 3.5 million people pre-registered for Verified Fan
- 1.5 million Verified Fan presale codes issued
- 2 million tickets sold during presale
- Millions more fans tried on public on-sale date
- 376,000 people simultaneously on site at peak
The combination of presale and general on-sale demand added up to unprecedented traffic for Ticketmaster. Their systems were simply not robust enough to handle the immense fan interest in Taylor Swift’s tour.
Hundreds of Thousands Still actively Waiting Post On-Sale
Days after the chaotic public on-sale dates, Ticketmaster revealed that “hundreds of thousands” of people were still actively waiting in queues with the hopes of getting Taylor Swift tickets. Essentially, these fans had kept their browser queues open for days since the initial on-sale.
Ticketmaster said this ongoing interest demonstrated just how demand for Swift far exceeded the tour’s ticket inventory. Even after all original shows had sold out, countless fans remained committed to getting tickets somehow.
Additionally, Ticketmaster noted there were already hundreds of thousands of people registered for the waitlist in case more Taylor Swift tickets became available.
Over 1 Million More Tried During Capital One Presale
After the initial public on-sale pandemonium, Ticketmaster held an additional presale for Capital One cardholders from November 15-17. This exclusive presale offered tickets to previously sold out shows.
According to Ticketmaster, over 1 million extra fans came to the site with hopes of getting Capital One presale tickets after missing out during the initial sales. Again, these massive queues created technical issues and crashes on Ticketmaster platforms.
Key Stats from Capital One Presale:
- 1 million+ more people tried for tickets
- Fans waited 8+ hours in queues
- Crashes prevented ticket purchases
The Capital One presale showed that well over 1 million additional people without Capital One cards had been shut out during the first presale and general on-sale. It reinforced the enormous demand for Taylor Swift tour tickets.
Tens of Thousands Still Looking at Resale Sites
Since Ticketmaster has completely sold out of Taylor Swift ticket inventory, huge numbers of fans have been left empty handed. As a result, tens of thousands of Swifties are now scouring resale sites looking to pay inflated prices.
TickPick, a no-fee secondary ticket marketplace, reported a huge surge in Eras Tour ticket searches the week after Ticketmaster’s sales. Searches were up 350%, showing how desperate fans still are to see Taylor Swift on tour.
Likewise, sites like StubHub have thousands of Eras Tour tickets now listed for resale. The demand is still present, as eager Taylor Swift fans pursue any method they can to get tickets.
Data from Ticket Resale Sites:
- 350% surge in searches on TickPick
- 10,000+ tickets now resale on StubHub
- Huge markups over original price on resale
Tens of Thousands Registered for New Shows
After the unprecedented demand and sellouts during the Eras Tour on-sale dates, Taylor Swift announced eight new shows in the US to help meet demand. The additional concerts are slated for Philadelphia, Chicago, Foxborough, East Rutherford, Los Angeles, Seattle, Santa Clara, and Las Vegas.
Less than 48 hours after the new shows were posted, Ticketmaster reported that over 40,000 new Swift fans had already signed up for the Verified Fan presale. This demonstrates that huge demand remains for Taylor Swift tickets, even on new dates.
Over 1 Million Tried for 52,000 Tickets in Presale
When the Verified Fan presale began for Taylor Swift’s new tour dates, over 1 million users entered the queue with hopes of tickets. This was for just 52,000 available presale tickets.
Fans reported wait times exceeding 12 hours in the Ticketmaster queue. Ultimately, the limited allotment of presale tickets sold out quickly, leaving the majority of Swifties still empty handed.
This showed how incredibly difficult it has been to get tickets to any of Taylor Swift’s tour dates, with millions competing for just thousands of seats.
Key Presale Stats for New Dates:
- 1 million fans queued up
- 52,000 tickets available
- 12+ hour waits in queue
- Tickets sold out fast
Overall Demand Exceeded 14 Million Ticket Requests
Taken altogether, Ticketmaster has revealed that total “Verified Fan” registrations and system requests across Taylor Swift’s tour topped 14 million. That massive number includes:
- 3.5 million Verified Fan presale registrations
- 2 million presale tickets sold
- 1 million general on-sale attempts
- 1 million Capital One presale attempts
- 1 million new show Verified Fan registrations
- 5.5 million more “system requests”
While likely some repeats from frustrated fans, it still displays enormous interest in Taylor Swift tickets. Ticketmaster called it unprecedented demand that exceeded the company’s “highest traffic day in history.”
Total Ticket Demand Summary:
Date | Event | Demand/Traffic Estimate |
---|---|---|
Before Nov. 15 | Verified Fan Presale Registrations | 3.5 million |
Nov. 15 | Verified Fan Presale | 2 million tickets sold |
Nov. 18 | General Public On-Sale | 1 million more tries |
Nov. 15-17 | Capital One Presale | Over 1 million attempts |
Before New Dates | Verified Fan Registration | 40,000 sign ups |
New Dates Presale | Attempts for 52,000 Tickets | Over 1 million queues |
Other | Additional Requests | 5.5 million |
Total | All Dates Combined | Over 14 million requests |
Conclusion
Looking at all the Ticketmaster data, one thing is clear – demand for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour tickets reached unprecedented, even mind-blowing levels. Between presales, Verified Fan registrations, general on-sales, and additional dates, total estimated traffic and demand exceeded 14 million ticket requests.
That is nearly three times more people than the number of fans who actually were able to buy tickets. The frenzy underscores how intense interest was to see Taylor Swift’s long awaited return to touring. It also exposed major shortcomings in Ticketmaster’s systems and processes in handling such astronomical demand.
While many loyal Swifties remained shut out from getting tickets, the enormous passion around Taylor Swift is evident. As Swift herself said following the chaotic sales, it’s clear “there are a LOT of them.” And Ticketmaster’s systems buckled under the staggering weight of Swift fandom.