Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Film Sets All-Time Record

Though Taylor Swift didn't win any Golden Globes this past Sunday (January 7), the singer-songwriter broke a record with her Eras Tour concert film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour movie is now the highest-grossing concert/documentary film of all time. The three-hour documentary recently opened in China, pushing the film to the top spot for the all-time highest opening for the genre worldwide. With $8.7 million in grosses in China following its December 31 debut, the Eras Tour movie surpassed $261.6 million, pushing it past the previous record holder, Michael Jackson’s This Is It, the posthumous 2009 doc that grossed $261.2 million at the global box office.

Swift's concert film garnered most of its record gross during its October opening weekend in North America, pulling in $92.8 million. With $30.7 million in international gross, the "Anti-Hero" singer's film raked in a total of $123.5 million. Her opening weekend total gave the Eras doc the biggest opening of all-time for a concert movie, also beating out the previous record-holder, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, which racked up $73 million in its opening frame in 2011.

AMC Theatres recently said that the Swift film had crossed the $250 million mark, placing it among the top 20 biggest films of 2023. Swift’s footage of her record-setting tour grossed $179.2 million during its nine-week initial run in theaters. “On behalf of all of us at AMC Theatres, I send my congratulations and eternal gratitude to Taylor Swift for her remarkable and record-setting box office performance,” AMC Entertainment chair-CEO Adam Aron said in a statement on Sunday. “Her spectacular performance delighted fans around the world and serves as another strong reminder about the power of extraordinary filmmaking and magic of movie theaters.”

Swift goes back on tour after a few months on hiatus on February 7. The first of four dates take place in Japan before moving on to the land down under in Australia, followed by Singapore and Paris.

It is quite baffling that 2019 was five years ago! Time really does fly by, and it seems like it wasn't that long ago that these pop songs dropped. Billie Eilish's debut studio album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? released in March of that year, with her gorgeous vocals shining on tracks like "bury a friend," "ilomilo," and "i love you." That same year, Lizzo's third album, Cuz I Love You, was released the following month. She took radio waves by storm with bangers like "Truth Hurts," "Tempo," and "Juice." Taylor Swift also released new music in 2019 with her seventh studio album, Lover. It was the singer-songwriter's first album after her departure from Big Machine Records. The album featured such tracks as "Cruel Summer," "Lover," and "The Archer." According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, it was the global best-selling studio album of 2019, with sales of 3.2 million copies.

Ariana Grande's fifth studio album, thank u, next, was released six months after her fourth studio album Sweetener. It was Grande's most personal album recorded up to this point in her career, following the death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller and the end of her engagement to Pete Davidson. Songs like "thank u, next," "fake smile," and "7 rings" reflect on the artist's personal flaws, grief and denial, as well as independence and self-empowerment. A newcomer to the pop music scene this year was Lil Nas X, who had major success the year prior with his collaboration with Billy Ray Cyrus on "Old Town Road." His EP, 7, featured the award-winning track and the remixed version. The song went 17 times platinum in the US alone, and the music video has over 1.2 billion views on YouTube.

Take a look below at five songs that turn five in 2024:

We love this synth-pop track, with dark and violent lyrics Eilish sings so well from the perspective of a monster under someone's bed. She said, "Anything could be the monster — it could be someone you love so much that it’s taking over your life. I think love and terror and hatred are all the same thing." And yeah, we know "bad guy" is on that album and yes, that's a classic too. Don't come at us! We just love "bury a friend." 

Besides Lil Nas X's 2021 track, "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)," all his versions of "Old Town Road" continue to have classic status. The song initially gained popularity on TikTok and later that year, was certified diamond by the RIAA for selling ten million units in the US, making it the fastest song to be certified diamond.

The title track is so timeless and it will surely be played at weddings for years to come. Swift said while recording, she imagined the production to sound like "just the last two people on a dance floor at 3 a.m. swaying." The music video is just as romantic, but with a playful idea of Swift and her lover living the ups and downs of their life within a dollhouse.

In this iconic pop R&B track, Ariana sees a guy at a club and is attracted to him, only to realize that he has a girlfriend who looks just like her -- high ponytail and all. By lingering as a third wheel to the couple, he keeps looking back at Ariana. But by the end, she pushes him away and goes for his girlfriend. The video's climax was seen as "queerbating" by some, but her choosing her lookalike insinuates she would rather love herself.

Lizzo's funky pop song was the lead single from Cuz I Love You. The self-esteem empowering track has an equally fun and empowering music video showcasing Lizzo's self-love. In the video, the singer takes part in an '80s-style workout program, late-night talk show, and selling products on an infomercial.