Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour book hits Target stores today. Here’s what to know.
Early lines at Target as Taylor Swift book hits shelves Black Friday
03:15
Taylor Swift’s latest release isn’t a new song or album — it’s a book commemorating the pop star’s record-setting “Eras Tour,” which hit store shelves on Black Friday.
The collector’s item chronicles Swift’s wildly successful concert tour, which concludes in December and which last year became the first music tour to gross over $1 billion.
A movie version of the concert she performed on her Eras Tour also shattered box office records. It earned an estimated $96 million domestically over its opening weekend, making it the most successful concert film of all time, according to Comscore.
Target. It hit the retailer’s stores on Friday, while it will become available for sale on Target’s website on Saturday. Swift self-published the book under Taylor Swift Publications.
Emma McIntyre/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Some Target stores opened as early as 6 a.m. in anticipation of Black Friday shopping crowds and Taylor Swift fans.
Target first teased the book launch in an Instagram post on Oct. 15. Swift herself also promoted the book in an Instagram post that garnered more than 3.6 million likes.
What’s in The Eras Tour book?
The 256-page hardcover title, which costs $39.99, includes unreleased photographs of Swift in concert from every period of her career, according to Target.
The book also documents the production of Swift’s epic Eras Tour, which kicked off in August 2023, including “personal reflections” written by the artist herself.
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In tandem with the book release, Target is also exclusively launching “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” album as both a vinyl record and CD. The recording feature 35 tracks, including four acoustic versions of the following songs: “Fortnight,” “Down Bad,” “But Daddy I Love Him” and “Guilty as Sin?”
Two million copies of the book have been printed, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. Assuming the initial print run sells out, it would generate nearly $80 million in sales. Forbes puts Swift’s net at worth $1. 6 billion, including $600 million from music royalties and touring, a music catalog valued at an estimated $600 million, and $125 million in real estate.
Swift alone could be a forceful enough economic engine to boost Target. The retailer’s latest sales and profit figures fell short of analysts’ expectations, while Target lowered its earnings forecast for the current quarter. Analysts say that inflation-weary consumers are after deeper discounts than the retailer can offer, or simply aren’t making as many discretionary purchases.
“Consumers tell us their budgets remain stretched, and they are shopping carefully,” Target CEO Brian Cornell said in a Nov. 20 earnings call.
That restraint seems unlikely to deter the Swifties, the singer’s rabid fans, as she prepares to wind up the Eras Tour in Vancouver on Dec. 8.
Megan Cerullo
Source: cbsnews.com