Are you ready for it? Because this week, Taylor Swift rolls into town for the first UK dates of her record-shattering Eras tour, to dominate front pages, social media, and a large proportion of the national conversation for the foreseeable.
Something has shifted in the Swiftverse in the past few years. She now transcends even the highest echelons of pop fame, massively boosting everything from music sales to, well, the entire global economy.
The Eras tour is a cultural and economic juggernaut; the first to cross the $1bn mark, according to Pollstar’s 2023 year-end charts, and already beating the record set by Sir Elton John and his Farewell Yellow Brick Road goodbye, which ran from 2018 to 2023 and grossed $939 million. Several experts predict it could generate more than $4bn by the time it finishes.
Swift is the first arts and entertainment star to be named Time’s Person of the Year. The first ever music billionaire to reach the milestone solely through her songwriting and recording. A slick pop star who understands the power of This. Sick. Beat, but also a songwriter and lyricist whose words are studied as poetry around the world. She has long been the biggest modern music star on the planet – but could she now be the biggest of all time?
To answer that question, you have to look to The Beatles. The band that changed the nature of the industry, long regarded as the most influential music act in music history.
In October last year, Swift re-released her fifth album, 1989, the record that really marked her crossover from incredibly successful country star to pop phenomenon. Featuring re-records of tracks that remain among her biggest hits to date, including Shake It Off, Blank Space and Bad Blood, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) inevitably followed all her others in skipping to the top of charts around the world.
Now And Then topped the singles chart, naturally. But when it came to taking on Swift on the album chart, the star held her spot – denying the biggest and most influential band in history an extension to their record-breaking UK number one tally of 16.
The unstoppable force of Taylor Swift
Image: Pic: AP/ George Walker IV
Of course, The Beatles albums were reissues, but it’s worth noting Swift’s re-recordings are also not entirely new – she is re-recording much of her early work to reclaim her rights, with the addition of “from the vault” tracks – plus, fans had already been buying 1989 (Taylor’s Version) for three weeks by this point.
To Swifties, she is undoubtedly the biggest music artist of all time. To fans of the Fab Four, there will never be another act that comes close. Can their achievements be compared?
It’s tricky. Swift and The Beatles reached the height of their fame (and Swift might not even be there yet) in different – ahem – eras. There are multiple caveats – inflation, population growth, streaming and the affordability of music, live music becoming more lucrative, social media, do we include the individual Beatles’ solo output (we haven’t), and so on – that mean there is no exact science here.
But, we’ve given it a go…
Topping the charts
In the battle of the number ones, The Beatles get the points.
When it comes to singles, surprisingly, Swift hasn’t had as many as you might think topping the charts in the UK. Her first was Look What You Made Me Do in 2017 – Shake It Off, her biggest-selling hit, reached number one in the US, but number two here. Anti-Hero, from Midnights, became her second UK number one in 2022, with Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) and Fortnight, her recent collaboration with Post Malone, adding to the pile in the last year.
The Beatles, on the other hand, started scoring number ones early on. The first, From Me To You, was their third single, released in 1963, and was followed by hits including She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand, Can’t Buy Me Love, Help!, All You Need Is Love, Hey Jude… the list goes on.
Album chart-toppers are more evenly matched. The Beatles actually have more in the US than they have in the UK, as different versions and more records were released across the pond. All apart from one of their 12 studio albums topped the charts in the UK – Yellow Submarine peaked at number three in 1969 – and they have also reached the top spot with live and compilation albums.
Apart from her debut, Taylor Swift, released in 2006, all of Swift’s albums have reached number one in the US. In the UK it was her fourth album, Red, that became her first chart-topper, and all others since have followed.
Record sales
This one is a tricky one as not all sales are certified. According to Guinness (and we’ll come to world records later), The Beatles have amassed the greatest sales for any group, with all-time sales estimated by record label EMI at more than one billion discs and tapes to date. Note this is worldwide, and estimated.
So we’ve looked at certified sales of the music star’s studio albums – no compilations or live album sales – in the UK and US. In the UK, The Beatles take the win, with more platinum and gold sales than Swift. But in the US, she’s way ahead.
Interestingly, they both add up to just under 295 million certified sales in the UK and US.
In the UK, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) rates platinum sales for albums as those that reach 300,000 units, with gold sales at 100,000. In the US, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) rates diamond sales for albums at 10m units, while platinum is 1m and gold is 500,000.
The trophy cabinet
Swift wins this one – but there are a lot more awards up for grabs nowadays. She has 26 Teen Choice Awards, for example, and 40 American Music Awards, and neither were around in the 1960s.
The Grammy Awards were, though, and Swift is definitely the winner here – with 14 wins out of 52 nominations. Earlier this year, she became the first and only artist to win the Grammy for album of the year four times, for Midnights (2024), Folklore (2021), 1989 (2016), and Fearless (2010). She also has the most nominations for song of the year, with seven, but interestingly has never won in this category.
The Beatles have seven Grammy wins from 23 nominations, including best new artist and best performance by a vocal group, for A Hard Day’s Night, in 1964.
Despite her Grammys success, Swift is by no means the ceremony’s biggest winner – that accolade goes to Beyonce, who has 32 gongs from 88 nominations.
Deep space and earthquakes: Who’s the biggest record breaker?
In 2021, Swift’s re-recorded version of Fearless became the star’s third to top the UK charts in less than 12 months, breaking a long-held record by The Beatles.
In February, she surpassed their record for holding the most weeks in the Billboard 200’s Top 10 in the last 60 years. In April, she topped the UK album chart with The Tortured Poets Department, outselling the rest of the top 10 combined and beating The Beatles for the record of fastest artist to rack up 12 UK number ones.
And remember her billionaire status? Well, Sir Paul is also in the club – but having reached that point only earlier this year, a month after Swift, it’s taken him a lot longer to gain membership.
According to Guinness, Swift currently holds at least 77 records, while The Beatles hold at least 29. However, there is a chance there could be even more than this as records are constantly being set and broken – and it should be noted that with streaming, inflation and more awards shows now, it is easier to keep breaking records now than it was back in The Beatles’ day.
Some of Swift’s records include several for Spotify, such as being the most streamed act in 24 hours following the release of Midnights in 2022; most US singles chart entries (263); most million-selling weeks on the US albums chart; plus the greatest seismic activity caused by a music concert (equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake).
The Beatles’ records include the best-selling group ever worldwide; most consecutive weeks at number one on the UK albums chart – 30 weeks in 1963 for debut Please Please Me; most viewed Wikipedia page for a music group; and first song to be beamed into deep space with Across The Universe in 2008, courtesy of NASA.
Can’t Buy Me Love – but musicians can boost an economy
Now this one is pretty difficult to compare. So we won’t. But there are some impressive stats.
According to Barclays’ Swiftonomics report, released in May, the UK leg of the Eras tour is set to boost the UK economy by almost $1bn.
Eras Tour tickets sparked a 15.8% year-on-year increase in UK spending on entertainment when they were released last July, the bank says, and now the dates are here, nearly 1.2m fans attending 15 gigs taking place in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Liverpool and London are predicted to spend an average of £848 in total on tickets, travel, accommodation, outfits and other expenses.
The Beatles’ economic impact is harder to quantify. But there is information available on the band’s continuing boost to Liverpool alone – £81.9m to their home city’s economy each year, according to a report commissioned by Liverpool City Council in 2016.
This was set to grow by up to 15% each year, the report found at the time, with the band’s legacy also supporting more than 2,300 jobs.
Help! Is Swift bigger than The Beatles?
Image: Pic: AP
We asked some experts for their thoughts.
Dave Fawbert, founder of the Swiftogeddon club nights playing Swift, and nothing but Swift, says she is unmatched at the moment.
“She really does have it all,” he says. “She’s incredibly gifted melodically… you listen to Shake It Off, there’s literally about eight incredible hooks in that song.
“Most of the tracks, you hear the choruses once or twice, they’re so well written, you’ll be able to sing along by the third chorus. The other thing about her songs is they’re arranged so brilliantly, there’s never any wasted space in them.”
And then there’s her lyrics, he says, her ability to pick out universal emotions, specific details, and express them in song. “And she’s done it across virtually every genre. She’s a genius and she’s got the genius to work with good people as well.”
He says he would compare her dominance now to that of Michael Jackson in the 1980s and 1990s. But what about The Beatles? “I mean, they’re the best, I’m not sure they’ll ever be surpassed,” he admits. “But Taylor’s close.”
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
UK tribute band The Bootleg Beatles say it’s too early to make a call.
“The music of The Beatles has already stood the test of time. The reaction we get as we continually tour around the UK – we’re back this month – and indeed the world, is testament to that,” they say. “So, while Taylor Swift is undoubtedly a wonderful talent, it’s probably around 50 years too early to judge her against the Fab Four.”
Hits Radio presenter Tom Green says they are two artists that “owned the zeitgeist” of their times. So is the comparison fair? “Yes and no.”
He elaborates: “I think it was probably a bit easier to be the whole zeitgeist in the ’60s, because there was only so many media outlets. Everyone was watching the same thing.”
Now, it’s a lot harder to create something that everyone is looking at, but Swift is constantly keeping our attention, he says. “I think the comparisons are really hard to do and music is so subjective. But I think the interesting thing about The Beatles is they brought in a genre of music, they ushered in the genre of rock and roll into pop music.”
Dr Clio Doyle, a lecturer in early modern literature at Queen Mary University of London, teaches a module on Swift’s lyrics as literature. In her field, she says she would draw comparisons with artists such as Bob Dylan rather than The Beatles.
“It’s this kind of body of work that is really self-examining and self-revising and revisiting in a way that feels very dynamic and alive and intellectually interesting,” she says of Swift’s music. “I also think that one thing Swift has always done throughout her career is, she’s often talking about literature – from a very early song like Love Story, which is rewriting Romeo And Juliet, to a later song like The Lakes, which is thinking about romantic poetry.”
Dylan became the first musician to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 2016, she points out, a decision deemed controversial due to arguments over whether lyrics count as literature. “I think we have to say they do because they’re written texts,” says Dr Doyle. “I think those are very interesting conversations. And I think we see some of those conversations also now around Taylor Swift.”
And Amy Skjerseth, a lecturer in audiovisual media and a member of the Institute of Popular Music at the University of Liverpool, says that like Swift, The Beatles also had different eras, but Swift’s experience in the industry will have been different to theirs, as four male stars.
“For women-identifying pop stars, eras often are about survival in a music industry that does not make space for them, especially for artists of colour and queer artists,” she says. “There are also significant differences in class between Swift and The Beatles – Swift’s family had the means to support her career.
“And while Beatlemania was heavily stereotyped back in the day, Swift’s fans have an increased ability to push for social justice and social change, connect with each other, and create a larger sense of community.
“Beyond Taylor Swift, the Eras concept might help attract wider attention to artists who have worked tirelessly under the radar to transform their musical messages across changing times.”
So are we any closer to saying whether Swift is the biggest artist of all time?
Some of the stats suggest she might be. Beatles fans will disagree.
Will there be an answer? Maybe in 50 years, as The Bootleg Beatles say. For now, we’ll let it be.
A man who stalked Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas for six years has avoided jail.
Kyle Shaw, 37, got a 20-month suspended sentence and a lifetime restraining order on contacting Ballas, her mother, niece, and former partner.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he thought Ballas was his aunt and “began a persistent campaign of contact”.
“He believed, and it’s evident from what he was told by his mother, that her late brother was his father,” said prosecutor Nicola Daley.
The court heard there was no evidence he was wrong, and “limited evidence” he was correct.
Ms Daley said Shaw’s messages had accused Ballas of being to blame for the death of her brother, who took his own life in 2003 aged 44.
He also set up social media accounts in his name.
Shaw had pleaded guilty to stalking the former dancer between August 2017 and November 2023 at a hearing in February.
Incidents included following Ballas’s 86-year-old mother, Audrey Rich, while she was shopping and telling her she was his grandmother.
The court heard in messages to Mrs Rich, Shaw had asked: “Where’s my dad?”
Ballas was so worried for her mother’s safety that she moved her from Merseyside to London.
Image: Kyle Shaw outside court on the day of his sentencing. Pic: PA
In October 2020, Ballas called police after Shaw messaged her and said: “Do you want me to kill myself, Shirley?”
Posts on X included one alongside an image of her home address that warned: “You ruined my life, I’ll ruin yours and everyone’s around you.”
Another referenced a book signing and said: “I can’t wait to meet you for the first time Aunty Shirley. Hopefully I can get an autograph.”
The court was told Ballas’s niece Mary Assall, former partner Daniel Taylor and colleagues from Strictly Come Dancing and ITV’s Loose Women were also sent messages.
‘I know where you live’
On one occasion in late 2023, Shaw called Mr Taylor and told him he knew where the couple lived and described Ballas’s movements.
The court heard the 64-year-old TV star become wary of socialising and stopped using public transport.
Prosecutor Ms Daley said: “She described having sleepless nights worrying about herself and her family’s safety and being particularly distressed when suggestions were made to her that she and her mother were responsible for her brother taking his own life.”
Image: Ballas has been head judge on Strictly Come Dancing since 2017. Pic: PA
Shaw cried and wiped away tears as he was sentenced on Tuesday.
The judge said the stalking stemmed from his mother telling him Ballas’s brother, David Rich, was his biological father.
“I’m satisfied that your motive for this offending was a desire to seek contact with people you genuinely believed were your family,” he said.
“Whether in fact there’s any truth in that belief is difficult, if not impossible, to determine.”
Image: Shaw pictured at court in February. Pic: PA
Defence lawyer John Weate said Shaw had been told the story by his mother “in his mid to late teens” and had suffered “complex mental health issues” since he was a child.
He added: “He now accepts that Miss Ballas and her family don’t wish to have any contact with him and, importantly, he volunteered the information that he has no intention of contacting them again.”
Shaw, of Whetstone Lane in Birkenhead, also admitted possessing cannabis and was ordered to undertake a rehab programme.
Gary Glitter has been made bankrupt after failing to pay more than £500,000 in damages to a woman he abused when she was 12 years old.
She sued the disgraced singer, whose real name is Paul Gadd, after he was found guilty of attacking her and two other schoolgirls between 1975 and 1980.
Glitter, 80, was jailed for 16 years in 2015 and released in 2023 but was recalled to prison less than six weeks later after breaching his parole conditions.
A judge awarded the woman £508,800, including £381,000 in lost earnings and £7,800 for future therapy and treatment, saying she was subjected to abuse “of the most serious kind”.
The court heard she had not worked for decades due to the trauma of being repeatedly raped and “humiliated” by the singer.
Image: Glitter was jailed for 16 years in 2015. Pic: Met Police/PA
Glitter was made bankrupt last month at the County Court at Torquay and Newton Abbot, in Devon – the county where he is reportedly serving his sentence in Channings Wood prison, in Newton Abbot.
Richard Scorer, head of abuse law at Slater and Gordon, the law firm representing the woman, said: “We confirm that Gadd has been made bankrupt following our client’s application.
More on Crime
Related Topics:
“As he has done throughout, Gadd has refused to cooperate with the process and continues to treat his victims with contempt.
“We hope and trust that the parole board will take his behaviour into account in any future parole applications, as it clearly demonstrates that he has never changed, shows no remorse and remains a serious risk to the public.”
Glitter was first jailed for four months in 1999 after he admitted possessing around 4,000 indecent images of children.
He was expelled from Cambodia in 2002, and in March 2006 was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam where he spent two-and-a-half years in prison.
His sentence for the 2016 convictions expires in February 2031.
Glitter was automatically released from HMP The Verne, a low-security prison in Portland, Dorset, in February 2023 after serving half of his fixed-term determinate sentence.
But he was back behind bars weeks later after reportedly trying to access the dark web and images of children.
Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan will play Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in the upcoming Beatles films – with a Stranger Things star also portraying one of the Fab Four.
The two Irish actors will be joined by London-born performers Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.
The cast for the Sam Mendes project was revealed at the CinemaCon event in Las Vegas, with all four appearing on stage and taking a bow together in Beatles style.
Image: (L-R) Mescal, Quinn, Keoghan and Dickinson appeared together at the announcement. Pic: Reuters
Mendes is making four interconnected films – one from the perspective of each of the band members – and they are all set to be released “in proximity” to each other in April 2028.
It marks the first time The Beatles and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.
Playing McCartney is another big role for 29-year-old Mescal, who recently starred in the Gladiator sequel and was nominated for an Oscar in 2023 for Aftersun.
Barry Keoghan – who also got an Oscar nod for The Banshees of Inisherin – will portray the other surviving Beatles member, Ringo Starr.
More on The Beatles
Related Topics:
Image: Pic: PA
Meanwhile, Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn, who appeared with long hair as Eddie Munson in the fourth series, takes up the role of George Harrison.
Harris Dickinson has the challenge of stepping into the shoes of perhaps the most famous Beatle, John Lennon.
The 28-year-old recently starred in erotic thriller Babygirl with Nicole Kidman and also appeared in satire Triangle of Sadness.
Mendes told the industry audience at CinemaCon there is “still plenty to explore” despite the Beatles’ rise having being well chronicled.