How 'The Tortured Poets Department' Will Boost Taylor Swift's Net Worth

Taylor Swift is already having a record-breaking year and now her new album is set to boost her already impressive net worth.

In April, the singer landed on Forbes' billionaires list for the first time. The business media outlet wrote that the 14-time Grammy winner reached billionaire status in October 2023, due partly to an "estimated $190 million post-tax earnings from her historic Eras Tour." It also wrote that Swift was the "the first person to [become a billionaire] based solely on songwriting and performing."

The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD), released April 19, is the pop superstar's 11th album and one of the most highly anticipated records of the year. She shocked fans by announcing the surprise album while accepting the award for Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights at the Grammys in February.

One can't deny that Swift is one of the biggest stars in the world right now—and TTPD may well break a new world record upon its release. In turn, this will help her achieve more financial success.

Read more: The Best Types of Investments to Boost Your Own Net Worth

Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for Swift for comment Thursday.

Savannah Roberts is a freelance journalist and music expert who has been a Swift fan for years. She told Newsweek that it is "practically a certainty" that TTPD will surpass a million copies sold in its first week, becoming the sixth album of hers to achieve this milestone.

Roberts explained that with The Eras Tour being "the most global stage there is," Swift has had a rare opportunity to market her new album to unprecedented levels.

"Midnights generated over $230 million in sales for Universal in 2023 alone, despite having been released in October the year before. Taylor's first original release in nearly two years coinciding with the second half of The Eras Tour will no doubt project its cultural relevance and earnings to another record-breaking scale," she said.

"Pre Midnights and pre-Eras Tour, Taylor's net worth was estimated at around $570 million, it now sits at the $1.1billion mark ... With 8 months of the tour remaining (that we know of) and another brand-new album, it's likely this value will rise by another $500 million at a minimum. Considering there are two re-recordings left–the first and last of her pre-Universal Music Group days–another billion is likely in reach."

This is in reference to the fact that since leaving Big Machine Records for the Universal Music Group in 2018, Swift has been in the process of re-recording her first six albums.

Roberts added: "Not only will TTPD be an entirely new era to capitalize on within the setlist and tour, but it will likely boost all of its predecessor records and Taylor's empire in the process. Fans will find the parallels between her music new and old, feeding back into the brand and continuing the cycle that keeps Taylor so relevant, but most of all, lucrative."

Chris Cooke, a music business expert from music industry website CMU, said Swift's new record should generate significant revenues for her and her team. He explained that in this day and age, the biggest revenue generator for the record industry is streaming.

"The way streaming revenues work is complicated, but on average, you'd expect at least a few thousand dollars for each million streams in more established music markets. That revenue is shared between the artist and her label partner," Cooke told Newsweek.

"With some record deals, the label may take the majority of the money in return for its upfront investment and marketing. However, since Taylor's acrimonious split from her original label Big Machine, she now has what we call a distribution deal with Universal Music. This gives her more control—it's why she can have her music on TikTok while Universal is boycotting the platform—and it also means she'll get to keep more of the revenue her recordings generate. Probably lots more."

Matt Ferrel, VP and Head of Growth at TickPick, an online ticketing website, told Newsweek that predicting the specific impact Taylor's most recent release will have on her net worth is difficult. However, he agreed that it would have an impressive effect on Swift and her career.

"It would be foolish to predict anything other than further success," he said. "With each subsequent release and business decision, we've seen Taylor and her team continue to make correct and creative decisions that build upon the foundation she's established."

Joel Smith, audio expert and founder of the music hub AllAxess.com, echoed Ferrel's sentiments. He told Newsweek that since Swift is one of the biggest names in music right now, her new album is likely to do well commercially. This is largely thanks to Swift's dedication to her music as well as her passionate fan base.

"When [Swift] drops a new record, it's always a really big deal. Based on how her past albums have done, we can expect this new one to sell pretty well," he explained.

"Taylor's last album Midnights sold over 3 million copies in the first week which is a huge achievement. When you've got a fanbase that devoted, they're going to drive a ton of album and merchandise sales."

While it's difficult to predict exactly how many albums she will sell, the singer-songwriter could sell more than 10 million albums in the U.S. alone, which is no easy feat. While this wasn't difficult decades ago, since the invention of streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, it's become a lot harder for artists to achieve this milestone.

It's been 13 years since an artist moved 10 million albums in America. The last album to achieve this was Adele's 21, which was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). However, Swift could make history by achieving this with her new album.

According to bookies.com's betting odds, Swift is favored to sell more than 10 million copies of her album in the U.S. with -155 odds, or just over a 60% chance.

These odds are based on EAS—Equivalent Album Sales—which means that someone has purchased the album no matter the format, whether that be vinyl, CD, or downloads. For the last eight years, this has been the standard measurement used.

If this happens, it would be a significant improvement from some of her previous albums, as only Fearless and 1989 have sold more than 10 million copies globally. However, since Swift's less successful albums were released, her star power has skyrocketed and she has gained even more loyal fans.

Her fans, otherwise known as Swifties, are incredibly devoted and enjoy throwing all of their support behind their favorite pop star.

Taylor Swift's Previous Achievements

Swift is no stranger to achieving record-breaking success, which has helped line her pockets. Her Eras Tour has earned over $1 billion in revenue since it began in March 2023, breaking the Guinness World Record for the highest-grossing tour ever—with many more months of gigs to go.

It has seen unprecedented demand and according to stats shared by Pollstar on December 16, 2023, it had already earned $1.04 billion. Swift's sixth concert tour has been so successful that it has made more money than the combined earnings of the next two highest-grossing tours of 2023, which were the tours of Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen.

The singer's success doesn't end there, as in just its first weekend of release, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour became the highest-grossing domestic concert film of all time. It made $92 million in its opening weekend and according to Box Office Mojo, the movie has made more than $260 million globally since its October 13 release. It has surpassed Michael Jackson's This Is It as the No. 1 concert and documentary film of all time

The cherry on top is that in 2023 she was crowned the most listened-to artist in the world with more than 26.1 billion global streams.

Update 4/19/24, 11:10 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a link to Joel Smith's website.