Taylor Swift v The Beatles: As the Eras tour hits the UK, how does the star compare against the biggest band of all time?
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.
Three weeks later came reissues of The Beatles’ classic Red and Blue album collections following the surprise release of Now And Then, the first original single in years, finally finished by Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr after more than four decades.
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
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 stars’ 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.
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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?
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.”
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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.”
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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.
“I’d say the last two years people are just – they just don’t care anymore, they are using knives and doing all sorts.”
PC Maguire, 28, speaks with the authority of experience: experience that comes from working in Greater Manchester’s most high-crime areas.
“I remember when I was a teenager,” she says, “you’d never really hear of people carrying a knife or anything. But now it’s the normal thing to do.”
“It’s mad,” she adds.
PC Maguire on patrol – her face is blurred because she also does undercover work for the unit
PC Maguire is part of Operation Venture, an elite policing unit within Greater Manchester Police set up to tackle serious violence and knife crime.
Over the past two months, we’ve been given exclusive access to watch them work.
Moped chase
We’re on a Friday afternoon vehicle patrol in south Manchester with another member of the Venture team, Sgt Mohammed Waqas, when his radio, and that of fellow officer PC Hodge, who’s driving, starts pinging.
Their plain clothes team has spotted two youths in balaclavas, on a moped, weaving in and out of traffic.
“We suspect they are involved in some sort of knife-point robberies,” Sgt Waqas says.
The moped has also had its registration plates pulled off – officers suspect it’s been stolen.
The team starts searching the streets and is flagged down by a passing driver who says he’s just had to swerve to avoid hitting a moped.
One of the GMP officers during the hunt for the moped which was suspected to have been stolen
“They’re little idiots, up there!” the driver says, visibly angry. “There are kids around.
“I swear to god I felt like f*****g chasing them down, and kicking them up the arse.”
Meanwhile, the unit’s covert officers are waiting where the moped has been previously spotted.
When it returns, a short while later, there are three youths onboard.
The team detain one, a 16-year-old who is known to them, but the two other youths get away.
The youths on the moped filming themselves escaping from police – suspects filming escapes and incidents and then posting it online has grown increasingly common
Sgt Waqas and PC Hodge take up the chase, following the moped at speed as it runs red lights.
Incredibly, we see one of the moped riders filming it all on their mobile phone.
Later, the officers tell us: “They’ll probably post it online.”
But right now, they are focused on trying to catch them, which, in rush hour traffic, proves impossible.
They lose them – “yeah, total loss”, Sgt Waqas reports via his radio to the comms operator.
“Just to log as well,” he adds, “two males, white males, both got balaclavas on.”
“One of them has possibly got something in his jacket. Can’t tell what it is, just the way that he was holding himself.”
It’s extremely frustrating for the team.
The elite unit has taken 250 knives off of Manchester’s streets – an officer holds one of the knives recovered that he describes as a ‘rambo’ blade
A baby buggy, a knife and £50,000 cash
A few hours later, during a patrol in Salford, we see the sorts of weapons they are up against.
We’re with PC Maguire again, on vehicle patrol, when a police camera flags a car with links to suspected drug supply.
Along with another of the unit’s patrol cars, PC Maguire works to get into a formation to box in the suspect’s vehicle.
“XR2, show me as Car two,” PC Maguire tells a radio operator, having quickly made ground to get the vehicle in her sights.
“You want to get a stop on, before they have an opportunity to get away,” she explains.
But, after a brief pursuit through the dark streets, the car they are following pulls over of its own accord.
The driver, who’s in his 20s, is searched – as is his vehicle.
Inside, along with baby buggies and car seats, officers find a knife in the glovebox and a shoebox full of cash.
One of the knives officers recovered during the elite unit’s work
The car pulled over by the officers was full of baby equipment, as well as a knife and cash
The cash recovered by officers from car – thought to be around £50,000
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Officers estimate there’s about £50,000 in there.
After brief questioning on site, the man tells officers that he’s been staying at a house nearby and admits there’s another weapon in there.
A few minutes later, PC Ben Cartledge – another Operation Venture officer – comes out holding what looks like a huge knife.
“It’s a machete,” he says, “it was in the bedroom.”
It’s extremely heavy and looks terrifying.
The machete recovered by officers in Greater Manchester Police’s Operation Venture unit from the bedroom of a suspect they pulled over
One of Operation Venture’s officers minutes before they pull over a car with £50,000 cash and a knife
“I’m not going to lie to you, mate, it’s for protection only,” the arrested man says, when PC Cartledge arrests him on a further offence of having an offensive weapon in a private place.
It’s a line officers have heard before.
“There’s that social media side of it,” a senior officers says.
“Sometimes they’ll film themselves doing the robbery and sharing it around, and that becomes the normality.
“So then people will sometimes carry weapons to protect themselves.”
The unit uses a combination of proactive stop and search, intelligence-led policing and undercover tactics.
It’s why we can name officers but sometimes not show faces.
UK
Capture: Victims of second Post Office scandal to receive ‘recognition’ payments before compensation
The government will give ‘recognition’ payments to Post Office Capture victims before they receive full compensation.
Former sub-postmasters and their families who are entitled to redress have been told the initial amount, which is yet to be finalised, could be £10,000.
Capture was a faulty computer system used by sub postmasters in the 1990s – before the Horizon scandal.
A report last year found the software is likely to have caused errors in accounting.
A redress scheme is currently being set up for those affected and could possibly be introduced by the end of the summer.
Steve Marston, a Capture user who was convicted of stealing from his Post Office in 1996, describes “quite a lot of progress” at a government meeting but raised concerns over pace.
He told Sky News: “I’m more than happy that the compensation scheme is going to be put in place as quickly as possible.
“None of us are guaranteed how long we’re going to be here. We just want people to see recognition as soon as possible.”
Steve Marston with his wife Jan
Ken Tooby’s late wife June was a Capture victim. Ken is seriously ill in hospital so his family has sent a plea to the government to “sort this Capture business asap”.
June Tooby represented herself in court in 2003 and challenged the Post Office over its “faulty” software system.
The evidence she compiled led to the Kroll investigation into Capture concluding there was a “reasonable likelihood” the software caused accounting errors.
Another victim, who wanted to remain anonymous, told Sky News he was “frustrated” at the slow progress of redress, describing it as “like pulling teeth”.
He also raised concerns over interim payments potentially being “too low”, claiming the government may be trying to “keep people sweet”.
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PO miscarriages of justice cases ‘double’
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), meanwhile, is currently investigating 28 convictions and it’s hoped decisions will be made over whether to refer cases to the Court of Appeal by the end of the year.
Neil Hudgell, lawyer for Capture victims, said there was a “positive dialogue” at the latest meeting between government officials and families.
“The real frustration is the time it takes because of the processes that are involved,” he said. “I can see why it would take as long as it has.
“But [victims] just want peace and to see the end of it… There’s a real acute need to bring matters to a close.”
On timescales, he said there were “no guarantees” but a “guesstimate” was that redress will start “to flow… in the second half of the year”.
Mr Hudgell said he would be “disappointed” if conviction cases have not been progressed by the CCRC by this autumn.
“I don’t under emphasise the amount of work they’ve got – it involves multiple cases… I think they’ve got enough evidence now to start to formulate a decision,” he said.
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “Postmasters have already endured immeasurable suffering, and we continue to listen to those who have been sharing their stories on the Capture system.
“Ensuring postmasters are treated with dignity and respect is our absolute priority.
“Officials met with postmasters [on Wednesday] as part of our commitment to develop an effective and fair redress process for those affected by Capture.
“We will continue to update on the development of the redress mechanism as it progresses.”
UK
Two children from Gaza enter UK for specialist medical care for first time after months of struggle
It was a welcome party of sorts, and it was assembled near arrivals at Heathrow’s Terminal 5.
A few people clutched flowers, others brought presents, while everyone carried a sense of relief.
Two children from Gaza had been given permission to enter Britain for specialist medical care and the pair would arrive on the evening flight from Cairo.
It was a significant moment – the first time UK visas had been granted to children from this war-ravaged enclave – and the product of months of struggle by a small group of British volunteers.
Ghena Abed, five, needs urgent treatment to save the vision in her left eye
As those in attendance offered up a cheer, a five-year-old called Ghena Abed emerged shyly from behind the security gates. With fluid pressing on her optic nerve, she needs urgent treatment to save the vision in her left eye.
Also in this party was a 12-year-old girl called Rama Qudiah. She is weak and malnourished and suffers from incontinence. Medics think she requires an operation on her bowel.
Medics think Rama Qudiah, 12, needs a bowel operation
Her mother, Rana, told us their arrival in Britian “is just a like a dream”.
Her daughter has certainly been fortunate. A small number of children from Gaza have benefited from medical evacuations, with the majority receiving care in countries in the Middle East, Europe, as well as the United States.
Rama’s mother, Rana
In March, the Israelis signed a deal with Jordan which could allow 2,000 children to leave the enclave for treatment of war injuries and conditions like cancer. However, just 29 were allowed to go at first instance.
The process has not been easy
Until now, not a single child from Gaza has entered the UK for medical care since the start of the current conflict, and the process has not been an easy one for the volunteers at Project Pure Hope.
They told Sky News it has taken 17 months to arrange temporary visas for Ghena and Rama.
Dr Farzana Rahman from Project Pure Hope
“A lot of us are health care workers and I think it’s in our DNA that when we see people who are suffering, particularly children, we want to try and do something and that’s what motivated us,” says Dr Farzana Rahman from Project Pure Hope.
When asked why she thinks it has taken so much time to secure their visas, Dr Rahman said: “I don’t know.”
Group argues it has no time to lose to help other children
But it is clear the arrival of children from Gaza is an issue of sensitivity. The British volunteers told us on a number of occasions that all costs would be met by private sources. The children will return to Gaza when the treatment is completed.
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Project Pure Hope is not finished, however – group members have drawn up a list of other children they can help, and argue they have no time to lose.
“One of the hardest parts of trying to make progress in this area is that delays cost lives. A number of children have died who we haven’t been able to help and this is an urgent situation and I think for all of us that’s the hardest part,” says Dr Rahman.
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