It’s safe to say Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce could afford to rent out (several) restaurants every day for the rest of their relationship.
Swift and Kelce broke the internet in September 2023 when they confirmed their romance by the Grammy winner watching Kansas City Chiefs play the Chicago Bears at Arrowhead Stadium in Missouri.
Since then, fans (and haters) have debated who is more famous — one of the biggest names in music and one of the most successful tight ends in NFL history — and who has more money in the bank.
“I’m really gonna start fighting sports people saying taylor is with travis for pr literally what pr does she need?? she’s the biggest artist in the world. she does not need him name or his money. she ate ranch and ketchup and now heinz is mixing ranch and ketchup like please stfu,” a fan declared, referring to Heinz’s limited edition “Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch” sauce.
While the biggest (and most obvious) takeaway is both Kelce and Swift are very successful — and very rich — Us is taking a closer look at the numbers:
Football vs. Music
Kelce initially signed a four-year $3,126,304 contract with Chiefs, which included a $703,304 signing bonus, in 2013. Four years later, Kelce’s contract was extended, and he inked an impressive five-year $46,842,000 contract with the team and a $10,000,000 signing bonus.
For the 2023 season, Kelce’s salary was $11,250,000. He then signed a two-year extension, worth $34.25 million, in April 2024, which cemented his spot in Kansas City through the end of the 2027 season. He earned $17 million guaranteed in 2024, which made him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL.
Swift, for her part, kicked off The Eras Tour in March 2023. In April 2024, Forbes noted that Swift made “$190 million post-tax earnings” from her concerts.
In October 2023, Swift reached billionaire status, according to a report from Bloomberg News Analysis. Bloomberg noted at the time that Swift’s music catalog is worth an estimated $400 million. The outlet reported that she made an estimated $370 million in concert sales and merchandise, $120 million in streaming earnings from Spotify and YouTube and $80 million in royalties from her music sales at the time.
Additionally, Swift’s 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, became the best-selling album of 2024 within 48 hours of its April release. The album has since broken several sales and streaming records, earning the title of the fastest album to surpass 1 billion global album streams in history.
Social Media and Endorsement Deals
Kelce only boasts 6.8 million Instagram followers to Swift’s more than 283 million fans. While the numbers aren’t exactly comparable, Kelce may directly profit off of his profile via Instagram ads more often. In 2023, it was reported that the football star makes $5 million annually on endorsements with several brands, including Nike, T-Mobile, Old Spice, McDonald’s, Walgreens, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bud Light, Pfizer and more. It’s likely his rate has only gone up in 2024.
Kelce also cohosts a podcast with brother Jason Kelce titled “New Heights,” which earns the athletes an estimated $1 to 2 million in yearly revenue. According to Spotify, inquiries for “Travis Kelce” increased by more than 1,300 percent on the streaming service after Swift’s initial attendance at the Chiefs game.
In August 2024, the brothers signed a deal worth more than $100 million with the podcast studio Wondery for the rights to “New Heights.” Per the deal, Wondery was given global distribution of the podcast, as well as the rights to previous episodes, ad-sales representation and the right to launch international versions of the podcast, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Dow Jones’ “conservative” estimate for how much Swift — who has partnerships with Capital One, Coca-Cola, Target and Apple — will make in endorsements in 2023 is $25 million.
Merch
After Swift went to the Chiefs game, Travis’ No. 87 jersey saw a 400 percent spike in sales via the Fanatics network of sites, including NFLShop.com. According to reports, NFL players earn a percent of the profits from their jersey sales. Travis also owns a clothing brand called Tru Kolors Brand and “New Heights” sells merch, which often sells out.
Swift, for her part, sells out of merchandise regularly at her concerts and online, with cities opening up the stadium days before her show to give fans a chance to secure T-shirts, sweatshirts, limited-edition CDs (yes, Swift has fans buying CDs), vinyls and more. In October 2023, Bloomberg reported that Swift made $370 million in concert sales and merchandise.
TV and Film
In addition to music, Swift has acted in several TV shows and movies over the years, such as New Girl, The Lorax, The Giver and Cats. While Kelce made his acting debut in the 2020 series Moonbase 8, the athlete booked his first major role in May 2024 by joining the cast of Ryan Murphy’s Grotesquerie. Fans got their first glimpse at Kelce’s undisclosed role in the show’s August 2024 teaser, one month ahead of its release.
Travis is also set to make his game show debut as the host of Prime Video’s revamped version of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, titled Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?, which premieres in October 2024.
Travis’ dream of appearing in the sequel to 1996’s Happy Gilmore will soon come true, as star Adam Sandler confirmed that Travis will make a cameo in the film’s sequel during an August 2024 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
