Researchers at CalTech and UCLA revealed that the energy created by Taylor Swift’s fans dancing and jumping at her concert was the “equivalent of a 2.3 magnitude earthquake.”
The concert that measured up to the force of a natural disaster was Swift’s July 2023 tour stop at Seattle’s Lumen Field, as part of her Eras Tour. The ‘shock value’ doesn’t stop there. There were a total of 70,000 fans at Swift’s fifth concert in Los Angeles, which took place at the SoFi Stadium in August 2023, and they jumped up and down to the beat of her music, creating seismic activity, according to the findings published by People. Swift’s concerts are now being referenced as “Swift quakes,” according to the report titled, “Shake to the Beat: Exploring the Seismic Signals and Stadium Response of Converts and Music Fans,” according to People.
Taylor Swift performs onstage during iHeartRadio’s Z100 Jingle Ball 2019 Presented By Capital One on December 13, 2019 in New York City. Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
Taylor Swift performs onstage during the 2017 DIRECTV NOW Super Saturday Night Concert at Club Nomadic on February 4, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for DIRECTV
Swift may be a top-selling recording artist, but it’s actually her fans who are responsible for launching her to “Swift Quake” status. The publication clarified that the tremor-like energy wasn’t the result of the music being played, but was strictly created by the energy from the crowd, according to the study.
They said the movements of the audience generated “distinct harmonic tremors,” which were powerful enough to make their mark on the Richter scale.
The academic paper said researchers set up motion sensors roughly five-and-a-half miles away from the venue on the fifth night of Swift’s SoFi concert, as part of their study. The researchers conducted their study and then analyzed the data by evaluating spectrograms (graphs) that tracked the wavelength frequencies traveling through the ground, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Taylor Swift performs onstage during iHeartRadio’s Z100 Jingle Ball 2019 at Madison Square Garden on December 13, 2019 in New York City. Photo by Manny Carabel/Getty Images
Taylor Swift performs onstage for the opening night of “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” at State Farm Stadium on March 17, 2023 in Swift City, Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Taylor Swift performs onstage during opening night of her 2018 Reputation Stadium Tour at University of Phoenix Stadium on May 8, 2018 in Glendale, Arizona. Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for TAS
The results showed that “Shake It Off” produced the largest local magnitude of .851, and “You Belong With Me” came in at a close second, according to the study.
The scientists evaluated the “Swift Quakes” against the “concert tremors” from other performers, including Beyonce, Metallica and Morgan Wallen. (RELATED: Reba McEntire Denies Rumors She Verbally Attacked Taylor Swift)
The Eras Tour first shattered multiple attendance records throughout its run, and became the highest-grossing music tour of all time, according to People.