Melbourne stages Taylor Swift’s biggest audience

Taylor Swift is the latest music star to enjoy a career-defining ‘Melbourne Moment’, performing to the largest crowds of her career in Melbourne over the weekend.

With 96,000 Swifties at each of the three headline shows at the MCG – and thousands more outside the stadium – the performances delivered a memorable moment for around 300,000 fans.           

It’s not the first time a global music icon has achieved a personal record in the city, which is recognised by consumers as the the live music capital of Australia according to Visit Victoria’s brand health research.

Taylor Swift joins an illustrious and very select club – artists who have played to their biggest ever crowds and created extraordinary memorable Melbourne moments at the MCG – including Ed Sheeran in 2023 (109,500), and Billy Joel in 2022 (76,300).

Beyond the music scene, the nation’s largest stadium has also hosted many memorable Melbourne moments, such as for the 90,000 plus passionate supporters who filled the stadium for India v Pakistan in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2022 – setting a new attendance record for a match not featuring the home team in Australia.

The major events calendar attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to unmissable moments such as Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which provided a positive flow on effect for our city’s hotels, restaurants, and other businesses. Melbourne Airport also reached a new record in the post-pandemic era, welcoming more than 117,000 passengers through its terminals on Friday ahead of the Eras Tour.

Data from Tourism Research shows that Australia Melbourne is the top domestic overnight destination for trips involving theatre, concerts and performing arts – and the city’s accommodation sector is benefiting from this demand. Melbourne hotels were booked solidly over the concert nights, at 88 per cent, 87 per cent and 71 per cent respectively, according to STR.

Visit Victoria helped to create Taylor Swift moments in the city to welcome the singer-songwriter and her tens of thousands of fans and put Melbourne’s major event, live music, and tourism credentials on the global stage. Activity included lighting up Flinders Street Station with a ‘Welcome to Melbourne, Swifties’ message and her music playing at Flinders Street tram stops. The activity was pitched to local, national, and international media and also promoted on social media – generating unique coverage of Taylor Swift’s Melbourne concerts distinct to other destinations in the Eras Tour.

It was a global moment with all eyes on Melbourne as the perfect city to host the pop icon and generating more momentum for our visitor economy.

Brendan McClements

CEO, Visit Victoria