The Eras Tour kicked off in March 2023 — two years ago today, in fact — and wrapped in December 2024. Swift’s record-setting global trek grossed more than $2 billion and sold over 10 million tickets. The Eras Tour is the highest-grossing tour of all time, by artists of any genre, and from any era in music history, per Billboard Boxscore. It surpasses the record of Coldplay’s ongoing Music of the Spheres World Tour, the only other tour to gross more than $1 billion.

Super Swiftie comedian Nikki Glaser announced the tour of the century honor by revealing that she attended 22 concerts of the trek. “Never in my childless dog lady life will I ever witness a live performance of that magnitude,” Glaser promised. “Every single show was a marathon of perfection, the vocals, the athleticism, the costumes, the secret songs, my bedazzled adult diaper — those are memories and a rash I’ll have forever. So it makes perfect sense why iHeartRadio is giving Taylor Swift the award for tour of the century.”

While Swift wasn’t in the building, she did send in a video message to thank iHeart and her dedicated fans.

“I’ve been doing a lot of processing since I’ve been off the road these last few months,” Swift said in the video. “And, you know, people often say that sometimes the greatest challenges in life end up being something you’re so proud of, or end up being the most gratifying feeling in the end, if you can rise to the occasion. And this tour was absolutely the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life. Three and a half hour show,s more shows than I’ve ever done on a tour, and it really was the most gratifying thing I’ve ever done.

“I think about that tour constantly,” she continued. “I’m so proud of it. And the only reason I was able to take on those challenges, among others, the ambition of the production, the length of the show, the amount of shows, all the different countries we played in, that’s all because of the fans. You made the songs for the last couple decades into what they became so that we could do a three and a half hour setlist. You had the passion and the generosity to care about traveling to see us on tour in all these places all over the world. It blows my mind. I’m never going to stop being grateful for it, and I appreciate this more than you know.”

 

Swift had a treat for the audience in her absence, sharing a video of her “Mirrorball” performance from night 1. Her second of two acoustic songs that night was her first single ever, “Tim McGraw.”

Earlier in the night, while accepting the breakthrough artist award, Gracie Abrams shouted out Swift for including her on The Eras Tour as an opening act throughout its two-year run, giving thanks “for the incredible artists who allowed me to share their stages at different times and in different ways — Taylor and Olivia [Rodrigo] and Noah Kahan and The National.”

Watch Swift’s acceptance speech below:

https://twitter.com/tswifterastour/status/1901812177016860789