More than a musical phenomenon, Taylor Swift has become a symbol of success for some young Americans. Photo: AP
Taylor Swift is igniting passions with her world tour, The Eras Tour, and its accompanying film. More than a musical phenomenon, the star has become a symbol of success for some young Americans. According to a survey, her influence even exceeds that of certain big names in tech and finance.
More than a quarter of US students (26%) believe that Swift is a greater embodiment of financial success than American billionaire Warren Buffett (24%) or Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg (22%), according to a recent survey from Morning Brew/Generation Lab.* The star also outranks Oprah Winfrey (16%), Beyonce (14%), Rihanna (10%) and Kim Kardashian (9%) in this list.
These findings reflect the extent to which Swift has succeeded, over the years, in building an image as a formidable businesswoman among America's youth. Since her beginnings in Nashville, Tennessee, the musician has led her career with a steady hand, controlling her discography, her image and, above all, her business. Her net worth was recently estimated at US$1.1bil by Bloomberg.
Unlike successful artistes like Rihanna, Swift owes most of her fortune to her music. Bloomberg points out that the value of her music catalog reached a turning point in 2019, when she began a fight to regain ownership of her first six albums, after her former label, Big Machine, was bought out by producer and manager, Scooter Braun. She has since re-recorded four of these six albums.
While Swift's business acumen is unquestionable, American students still see certain big names in tech, like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, as greater embodiments of financial success. The former Amazon CEO embodies financial success for 40% of young people surveyed, compared with 35% for the Tesla and SpaceX boss.
But the personality most cited by respondents remains Bill Gates, with 50% of votes. This is hardly surprising, given that the personal fortune of the American tycoon, and ex-CEO and co-founder of Microsoft, is estimated at US$110bil or 100 times that of Swift.
His financial power is particularly visible in the fields of health and development, through the work he carries out with his ex-wife, Melinda, within their Foundation. The latter is often described as the world's largest private charity. – AFP Relaxnews
*This survey was conducted by Morning Brew and Generation Lab among 978 US college students. Data was collected in October 2023.
