Taylor Swift general public sale canceled by Ticketmaster after presale chaos

Taylor Swift
(Image credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

Taylor Swift fans who came up short of snagging concert tickets during this week's presale ... You're on your own, kid.

Ticketmaster has canceled plans to make tickets for Swift's Eras tour available to the general public on Friday after a presale event was plagued by glitches. In a tweet, the company cited "extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand."

Tickets for Swift's highly anticipated tour, her first since 2018, were made available during a presale this week after certain fans received a code through the site inviting them to participate before the general public. But many fans found themselves encountering glitches or waiting in long virtual lines, only to be told, after hours on the site, that no tickets were available.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Ticketmaster says over two million tickets were sold for Swift's tour during the Tuesday presale, "the most tickets ever sold for an artist in a single day." But the company blamed the glitches and error messages on a "staggering number of bot attacks as well as fans who didn't have invite codes."

Ticketmaster continues to face scrutiny over its handling of the presale, with some lawmakers arguing its 2010 merger with Live Nation created a monopoly that should be examined. Tennessee's attorney has also announced an investigation, while those Swifties who failed to secure tickets begin dressing for revenge.

Explore More
Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.