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Taylor Swift Lands at Fifth Place on Forbes’ List of the World’s Most Powerful Women

She's the first woman from the media and entertainment industry to crack the top ranks

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Taylor Swift is one of those artists who can really draw in a massive fanbase. Her fans are super dedicated – they’ll snag the best seats at her concerts, buy her albums and swag, support every project she tackles, and even travel long distances to meet their idol. 

This year, Taylor hit the road for her global tour, The Eras Tour, after taking some time off from the music scene. She had some serious issues with record labels and song rights, but she’s back in full swing. She kicked off the tour in the US back in March, and after making her way through Latin America, she’s set to hit up Asia and Europe next year. With around 146 shows planned in less than two years, she’s looking at a haul of over $500 million by the time the tour wraps up. That could easily make The Eras Tour one of the most financially successful tours ever. 

And speaking of big achievements, she has just been named the fifth most powerful woman in the world in Forbes’ 2023 annual ranking. That’s pretty incredible, considering she’s the first woman from the media and entertainment industry to crack the top ranks. The top spots usually go to women in politics, like Ursula Von Der Leyen, Christine Lagarde, Kamala Harris, and Giorgia Meloni. 

Forbes backs up Taylor’s fifth-place ranking by pointing to her impressive wealth, which comes from multiple sources. She’s got more than $500 million in estimated earnings from things like copyrights and tours. Her music catalog alone is valued at another $500 million. Plus, she’s got around $125 million in real estate holdings. 

Taylor’s Struggles

But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Taylor. Before all this success, both personally and professionally – including her relationship with NFL player Travis Kelce – she faced some pretty serious challenges. It all started back in 2009, when Kanye West decided to make a scene at the MTV VMAs. Taylor had just won the Best Female Video of the Year award for her song «You Belong With Me.» But Kanye jumped onstage, grabbed the mic, and declared that Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. The whole thing was pretty shocking. 

    I open a thread about all the damage that kanye west and the kardashian/jenner did to taylor swift.

Fast forward to June 2016, and Kanye West pulled a fast one on Taylor with his song «Famous.» He included some explicit lyrics about her, all while claiming she’d given her approval. And to add to the drama, the music video featured a mostly-naked Taylor Swift in bed with Kim Kardashian (who was married to Kanye at the time) and even Donald Trump. 

The controversial lyrics of «Famous» included lines like, «I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous.» Kim Kardashian, the most famous of the Kardashian crew, dubbed Taylor Swift a snake and released a video of the conversation between Kanye West and Taylor Swift about «Famous» without spilling the beans about those controversial lyrics. 

On top of all that, Taylor faced some major hurdles with her record labels. She had to re-record her entire music catalog because the rights to her songs were sold to Scooter Braun and Ithaca Holdings, her new record company, after they took over Big Machine Records, her first record label. 

Original article in Spanish by Paula Diaz for LOS40.

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