One cannot have a conversation about powerhouse women without mentioning Taylor Swift, whose ongoing Eras Tour became the first tour to gross over $1 billion in December 2023.
The singer can’t seem to stop breaking records — Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is now the highest-grossing concert film of all time with more than $261.6 million earned globally — and she’s not slowing down anytime soon. At the 2024 Grammy Awards in February, Swift announced her forthcoming 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department, which is due out April 19.
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Join Us for a deeper look at how Swift, Beyoncé, Simone Biles, Sydney Sweeney and more have proven that they are the women to watch this year:
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Taylor Swift
The smashing success of the Eras Tour hasn’t just been a boon for Swift and her team; it’s also given a boost to the economies of the cities it passes through.
The survey company QuestionPro estimated that the tour could generate close to $5 billion in consumer spending in the U.S. alone as Swifties travel far and wide to see the pop star live, spending money on travel, accommodations, food and, of course, new outfits.
Swift’s superstardom is nothing new, but she’s managed to reach even greater heights this past year. With the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) in July 2023, she became the first woman to have four albums on Billboard’s Top 10 chart simultaneously. The rerecorded album was also Swift’s 12th record to reach No. 1, more than any other female artist in history.
Just last month, Swift’s Album of the Year Grammy win for Midnights made her the only artist to win the accolade four times. (Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra and Paul Simon comprise the small list of people who have won three times.)
Swift even made America’s most popular sport more relevant when she began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Throughout the 2023 NFL season, viewership among teen girls increased 53 percent as glimpses of Swift cheering on Kelce provided a new reason to tune in.
According to Apex Marketing Group, the pop star generated $331.5 million in “brand value” for the Chiefs and the NFL. The Chiefs’ February 11 Super Bowl win against the San Francisco 49ers is the most-watched telecast of all time, and it’s safe to say that Swift had a hand in that. What if we told you none of it was accidental? We’re dealing with a mastermind, after all. 
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Reese Witherspoon
Witherspoon has an Oscar under her belt and numerous iconic roles on her resume, but her achievements aren’t limited to acting. In 2016, she cofounded the production company Hello Sunshine, which focuses on female-led projects.
In addition to producing an impressive library of content that includes Daisy Jones & the Six and Where the Crawdads Sing, Hello Sunshine curates Reese’s Book Club, which has a reputation for boosting the sales of its Book Club Picks.
Witherspoon sold a portion of Hello Sunshine for $900 million in 2021 and is currently juggling acting and producing positions on both The Morning Show and the upcoming third season of Big Little Lies. What, like it’s hard?
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Quinta Brunson
Brunson wears all the hats — creator, executive producer, star and cowriter — on the hit sitcom Abbott Elementary. In January, she became the first Black woman in more than 40 years to win an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy. The multihyphenate also inked a multiyear deal with Warner Bros. Television Group in 2022 to create, develop and produce original content.
“I’ve lived my whole life proud to be the underdog, but to be recognized in this way makes me feel like something has changed,” Brunson told Harper’s Bazaar in January 2023 after winning her first Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. “And that’s good for the world.”
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Shakira
With three Grammys and a whopping 14 Latin Grammys to her name, Shakira is one of the biggest global crossover artists working today. Last year alone, she was crowned Woman of the Year at Billboard’s Latin Women in Music 2023 and broke records when the video for her post-divorce revenge song, “Out of Your League” with DJ Bizarrap, garnered 82 million YouTube views in one day.
Shakira’s next album, Los Mujeres Yo No Lloran, is due out March 22. She is currently planning her first tour in six years with arena and stadium shows in Latin America, North America, the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East.
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Alex Cooper
Cooper signed a $60 million three-year deal with Spotify in 2021, making her the second-highest paid podcaster on the streaming giant’s payroll. As host of the mega-popular podcast “Call Her Daddy,” Cooper has conducted tell-all interviews with stars including Miley Cyrus and John Mayer.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Cooper launched The Unwell Network in August 2023, signing influencers Alix Earle and Madeline Argy to develop their own podcasts. She also cofounded a “Gen Z media venture” called Trending with fiancé Matt Kaplan that June. The umbrella company is comprised of The Unwell Network, “Call Her Daddy” and Kaplan’s ACE Entertainment.
“The goal as I get older is I don’t want to just be relying on ‘Alex Cooper’ and ‘Call Her Daddy,’” she explained during a February interview with The New York Times. “The point of starting this was also so that I have all these different ancillary businesses that can be running.”
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Beyoncé
Beyoncé has won 32 Grammys, more than any other artist in history, and she’s still forging new musical frontiers. Her new country album, Act II, which serves as a follow-up to 2022’s Renaissance, will be released on March 29.
After proving herself in the world of R&B, pop, hip-hop and house music, Beyoncé became the first Black woman to score a No. 1 hit on the country charts with “Texas Hold ’Em,” one of two lead singles from Act II.
Queen Bey’s new era comes on the heels of her 2023 Renaissance World Tour, which raked in $579 million, making it the second-highest grossing tour by a female artist after Swift.
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Zendaya
The Euphoria star made Emmys history in 2022 by becoming the youngest two-time winner for acting and the first Black woman to win for Lead Actress in a Drama Series twice. In addition to receiving critical acclaim for her role on the HBO series, Zendaya became an executive producer on Euphoria ahead of its second season.
With two major film releases during the first half of 2024 — Dune: Part Two in March and The Challengers in April — it’s going to be a big year for Zendaya.
