Taylor Swift fans have gained a reputation for being a force of nature, but this past weekend, they really outdid themselves. On July 22nd and 23rd, Swifties packed into Seattle’s Lumen Field for two sold-out nights of Swift’s ongoing “Eras Tour” (grab tickets here) and according to seismologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, their hooting and hollering caused seismic activity equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake.
Caplan-Auerbach, a geology professor at Western Washington University, collected about 10 hours of data over the course of the two nights, revealing that the seismic activity in the area was nearly identical for each show. She shared her findings with CNN, where you can see a visual representation of the data.
Surprisingly, this kind of event actually isn’t that rare. Last year, a Garth Brooks concert at Louisiana State University caused a minor earthquake when he performed the school’s unofficial anthem, “Callin’ Baton Rouge.” Similarly, even Caplan-Auerbach has seen it before — in 2011, when Seattle Seahawks fans celebrated a touchdown by running back Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch, they caused a period of seismic activity later dubbed “Beast Quake.” Caplan-Auerbach recorded data for that mini-quake too, but Earthquake (Taylor’s Version) blew it out of the water.
“The shaking was twice as strong as ‘Beast Quake.’ It absolutely doubled it,” Caplan-Auerbach told CNN, before explaining how the phenomenon happens. “The primary difference is the duration of shaking. Cheering after a touchdown lasts for a couple seconds, but eventually it dies down. It’s much more random than a concert. For Taylor Swift, I collected about 10 hours of data where rhythm controlled the behavior. The music, the speakers, the beat. All that energy can drive into the ground and shake it.”
In the same CNN article, one concertgoer who attended the shows is quoted saying, “You could literally feel the ground shaking beneath your feet.”
Of course, this is just the latest entry in the log of the “Eras Tour” and its historic achievements. So far, she’s had cities renamed after her, become a temporary mayor, played a role in the choosing of the official sandwich of New Jersey, and even inspired a new anti-scalping bill in Brasil dubbed the “Taylor Swift Law.” All in all, the tour is expected to generate around $4.6 billion in consumer spending in the US alone. It’s broken plenty of records, too, like causing Chicago to experience its highest hotel occupancy rates of all time.
In fact, the seismic activity wasn’t the only record she broke in Seattle last weekend. Her first night also set the attendance record for Lumen Field, bringing in over 72,000 fans. For her part, Swift posted on Instagram that it was “genuinely one of my favorite weekends ever.”
The “Eras Tour” is still ongoing. Check out the full list of dates, and grab your tickets here.