Taylor Swift gave millions in bonuses to Eras Tour staff, fans speculate dancers got US$750,000 each

Taylor Swift has handed out, quite literally, eye-watering bonuses to her Eras Tour crew, according to her new Disney+ docuseries.

In viral clips from the second and latest episode of the six-part series The End Of An Era, Swift’s employees are each given a card on "bonus day", which she encourages them to read aloud. 

“Everybody has the same message on their card, so I was hoping you could open it,” she says, standing with her backup dancers. 

Fan-favourite Eras Tour dancer Kameron Saunders then opens his card and reads, “My full gratitude doesn’t come from a bank account, but here’s [redacted] just to say thanks.”

The actual amount is bleeped out in the documentary and hasn’t been confirmed by Swift’s employees, but Swifties – known for their online sleuthing – have theorised that each person received a whopping US$750,000 (S$968,500).

Several people in the room appear visibly shocked when the amount is read aloud, with a number of them getting emotional and doubling over to compose themselves.

While the six-figure sum per person is mere speculation, People magazine confirmed that Swift gave out a total of US$197 million in bonuses to Eras Tour employees throughout the two-year tour – including to truck drivers, caterers, instrument technicians, the merchandising team, lighting, sound, production staff and assistants, carpenters, dancers, band, security, choreographers, pyrotechnics, riggers, hair and make-up, wardrobe, physical therapists and the video team.  

The tour, which began in March 2023 and concluded in December 2024, had reportedly grossed over US$2 billion in ticket sales across its 149 shows spanning five continents.

“Bonus day is so important because setting a precedent with the Eras Tour is really important to me,” Swift says in the documentary. 

“Because people who work on the road, if the tour grosses more, they get more of a bonus. And these people just work so hard and they’re the best at what they do.” 

She shares that she also wrote a note for “every single person on the crew”, which took her a couple of weeks. Many of them had after all been away from their family for months. 

“It feels like Christmas morning when you finally get to say thank you.”

This isn’t the first time Swift has made headlines for her generous bonuses. She surprised each truck driver with a bonus of US$100,000 after the first leg of the tour in the United States in 2023. 

Her latest gesture seemed to be well-received online too, even among non-fans.

Said a commenter, “I’m not a Swiftie but I have mad respect for Taylor. She is an empathetic, caring soul. It’s refreshing in a world that becomes more crude every day.” 

Others pointed out that such generous rewards would ensure that Swift would always have the best talent in the industry.  

“Another benefit of business practices like this is that you can always guarantee you have the pick of the very cream of the crop in terms of talent. TS (sic) will not have to worry about staffing her tours,” wrote a Reddit user. 

And while some also acknowledged that the bonus might be seen as a mere public relations (PR) stunt by Swift, it didn’t matter since the sum “probably changed lives”. 

“If my employer gave me a six-figure bonus, I won’t care if it’s for PR. They can use me for PR every year. Give me that bonus,” wrote another netizen on Reddit.