Taylor Swift’s “Eras” Tour vs. Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” Tour, in Charts

Everyone is talking about the biggest movie battle of the year, but no one is talking about this summer’s other, equally important double feature: Taylor Swift’s Ticketmaster-crashing “Eras” tour vs. Beyoncé’s record-breaking “Renaissance” tour. Now, here at Slate we’re not in the habit of pitting women against each other. But we are interested in celebrating the massive achievements of two of our most influential entertainers. In order to do that, it’s helpful to know just how massive these achievements are, especially when the two tours are projected to become the highest grossing of all time. And maybe you, like many unlucky others who couldn’t snag a coveted ticket to one or both, are wondering how they measure up to each other. We are on the case.

With the recent announcement of an additional extension, Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour will wind up lasting for a year and a half, with her first date having occurred in March 2023 and her last (for now, at least) set for November 2024. Beyoncé, on the other hand, doesn’t have time for all that! In addition to being a superstar, she’s also a mother! Her “Renaissance” tour will run from May to October, barring any extensions.

While individual concerts on each tour vary in length, Swift’s career-spanning run-through generally clocks in at over three hours, sometimes as long as 3 hours and 30 minutes. Overall, Setlist.fm estimates that the average show length on the “Eras” tour is 3 hours, 23 minutes. Meanwhile Beyoncé’s traveling ballroom is more unpredictable—sometimes over three hours, sometimes closer to two and a half, with Setlist.fm estimating that the average performance is 2 hours, 29 minutes.

Swift takes the lead here with an average set list of 46 songs (including the two “surprise songs” that change each show), which makes sense considering her tour is a celebration of her entire career thus far. Whereas Beyoncé’s is a celebration of something else entirely.

This is for all the Swifties out there wondering how much play time each era gets in her setlist (excluding special songs). #JusticeForSpeakNow!

The three unreleased covers specified here include two sung by Beyoncé: Rose Royce’s “I’m Going Down” (popularized by Mary J. Blige) and a tribute to the late, great Tina Turner with “River Deep–Mountain High.” The third cover is from Beyoncé’s backup singers, who offer a beautiful rendition of Diana Ross’ “Love Hangover.” Beyoncé also performs her version of “Before I Let Go,” by Maze, but we categorized that with Homecoming: The Live Album, since that’s where her version was first released.

Though the numbers have changed over time, Taylor Swift goes through about 16 different costumes per show, most of which echo her iconic looks from each respective “era” she reprises. Beyoncé completes about half the amount of quick-changes, instead segmenting her show with visual interludes that allow her to sport around nine different costumes.

Swift may don more outfits per night than Beyoncé, but when it comes to switching looks, overall, it’s Queen Bey who takes the crown. Swift has worn approximately 44 costumes throughout her entire tour—though, I must say, many sources count a simple exchange of kitschy jackets as a whole new outfit, which is a debatable inclusion. By comparison, Beyoncé has worn nothing but the fashions of today’s top designers (including her own Ivy Park line), which she refreshes at nearly every stop on her tour. Her stylist, Shiona Turini, posted on Aug. 28 that after 42 shows in 12 countries, Bey officially wore her 100^th look (a black Loewe dress with a metallic bodice).

At Swift’s Aug. 9 show in Los Angeles, the crowd of 70,000 delivered an impressive eight-minute ovation following her performance of “Champagne Problems,” the extended applause for which has become something of a nightly showstopping ritual. On the other hand, Bey’s production doesn’t allow much time for cheering. But the loudest and longest cheers that have taken place have definitely been for her daughter, Blue Ivy, who often dances during the songs “My Power” and “Black Parade.”

At the end of her show, Beyoncé flies around the stadium on a gigantic silver horse, a reference to her Renaissance album cover. Unsurprisingly, Swift’s show features no equivalent.

Beyoncé’s 23 dancers include the famous duo Les Twins and an official dance credit for Blue Ivy, while Swift boasts a comparatively modest 16 dancers.

After all is said and done, the “Eras” tour will have hosted 10 opening acts, from established groups like Paramore and Haim to up-and-coming indie darlings like Beabadoobee and Girl in Red. In contrast, Beyoncé is her own opening act. [Update, Sept. 5: While Beyoncé has not had official openers, she has invited the occasional DJ to curate an opening set, including the musician Arca in June for her Barcelona show. For two of Beyoncé’s Los Angeles concerts at the beginning of September, which celebrated the singer’s Sept. 4 birthday, DJ Khaled filled that slot, bringing out 11 other hip-hop artists: 2 Chainz, Wiz Khalifa, Offset, Coi Leray, Roddy Ricch, Lil Wayne, YG, Big Sean, Doechii, O.T. Genasis, and Lil Durk. For the third L.A. performance, taking place on Beyoncé’s actual birthday, she was serenaded by Diana Ross, who sang “Happy Birthday,” and joined by Kendrick Lamar to perform their remix of “America Has a Problem.”]

Swift, very much in the spirit of celebrating other artists and turning her tour into a party, has had five special guests perform with her so far, including frequent collaborator Aaron Dessner of the National and rapper Ice Spice. The number jumps to eight if we’re including her opening acts joining her on stage for a song or two, though that’s less of a surprise. Beyoncé’s show is a tad more structured, and because of that, the only consistent “special” guest she’s brought on stage is her daughter. As of this writing on Sept. 1, the other special guest Beyoncé has featured was another dancer, voguer ChaCha Balenciaga, who performed in Washington, D.C., during the show’s mini ball section.

No tour, no matter how meticulously planned, can go off without a hitch. And it’s safe to say that’s no different for our reigning divas. From our research, we were able to find seven mishaps during Swift’s tour (that were no fault of her own): like when her trap door didn’t open on time, or her mic stopped working, or she swallowed a bug. Meanwhile, Ms. Carter had to work some stage direction into her song when her crew forgot to turn her fan on. There was also that time the aforementioned giant flying horse malfunctioned, which visibly annoyed the perfectionist. Nobody’s perfect, but even with equestrian blunders, some of us still come closer than others.