Photo Credit: Mick Haupt
Taylor Swift’s appearance at two NFL games over the past few weeks has risen the hackles of long-time sports fans. The outcry on social media is loud—but does it make sense? Let’s take a peek at the data.
A peek at data from Luminate’s Artist & Genre tracker reveals that male fans of Taylor Swift have increased over the summer, while female fans decreased. Also evident? Female Taylor Swift fans are much more likely than the average female to be engaged with sports content (whether that’s football or another sport entirely).
53% of female respondents to Luminate’s data polls identify as a Swiftie, down from 60% in June 2023. Of that percentage of Swifties, 38% say they have watched, listened to, or attended a sporting event in the past three months. And Swifties are 15% more likely than the average female music fan to engage with sports on average.
On the male front, 47% of respondents said they were fans of Taylor Swift, a 9% increase from June 2023. And of that number, 32% of male Swifties are more likely to have engaged with sports content in the past three months compared to the general population. In short—Swifties both male and female tend to like and engage with sports content.
Swift’s recent appearance at two football games has sparked a fierce debate online at whether it’s appropriate to document celebrity game attendance. The NFL has defended its stance by saying it is always documenting what happens during games—both on and off the field. Meanwhile, NBC Sports revealed viewership among teen girls aged 12-17 spiked 53% from the season-to-date average for Sunday Night Football.
Sales of Travis Kelce’s jerseys across the Fanatics network have also spiked, leading the tight-end’s jersey to jump from 19th on the charts into the top five. Fanatics confirmed it saw a 400% increase in interest in Kelce’s jersey since Swift began appearing at games in support of him. The Kansas City Chiefs will next play the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday—will Swift make yet another appearance?