Taylor Swift might have said she would shake it off, but no one could have expected her to mean it so literally.
More than 220,000 Swifties flocked to Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium from last Friday to Sunday to attend the Scottish leg of the American superstar’s Eras Tour.
Their synchronized dancing was so enthusiastic that it caused an earthquake that could be picked up by seismologists more than four miles away.
Thanks to Swift’s identical performances every night, scientists have even managed to figure out which songs got the most reactions.
And while Shake it Off may have been appropriate, was it the hit Ready For It? from 2017? which sent the biggest shockwaves through Scotland.
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour performance at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield stadium was so enthusiastic that her dancing fans created seismic activity that could be detected by earthquake monitoring stations
Taylor Swift fulfilled her promise for ‘Shake It Off’ at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium this weekend when her fans’ dancing caused a small earthquake
Taylor Swift’s musical vibrations were recorded by researchers from the British Geological Survey (BGS) working at a monitoring center in Edinburgh.
These experts usually use their sensitive equipment to detect earthquakes, but on Monday the team discovered a different kind of activity in their recordings.
Because Swift’s performances are so precisely choreographed, data from each of the three nights could be merged to filter out the background noise of Edinburgh.
What they discovered was a series of distinct spikes showing the exact moments when fans’ favorite songs started playing.
Callum Harrison, a seismologist for the BGS, said: ‘It’s amazing that our data has allowed us to measure the response of thousands of concertgoers remotely.
‘It’s clear that Scotland’s reputation for delivering one of the most enthusiastic audiences is still intact!’
The BGS could see fans dancing to Shake It Off, Cruel Summer, and even detected a vibration caused by the four-minute applause for Champagne Problems.
The BGS could see fans dancing to Shake It Off, Cruel Summer, and even detected a vibration caused by the four-minute applause for Champagne Problems.
It was ready though? that produced the largest seismic spike as fans delivered energy equivalent to 6,000 car batteries directly to Earth at a rate of 160 bpm.
The seismic data even shows which night was the liveliest, with Friday evening coming out on top based on the distance the ground traveled.
At the peak on Friday, the Earth had moved 23.4 nanometers, compared to 22.8 nm and 23.3 nm on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
However, the BGS says the vibrations would not have been strong enough to be felt outside the stadium.
Earthquakes typically release energy very quickly, in a quick burst of seconds rather than the length of an entire song.
While the energy released during a song may be the same as a small earthquake, the amount of vibration is much lower.
But while the displacement may have been small by earthquake standards and not even large enough to rank, it is huge for a concert.
Swift isn’t the first to rock the Murrayfield stadium, but her performances over the weekend have dwarfed previous records.
Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour only managed to move the ground 14nm, while Bruce Springsteen’s fans only managed a paltry 1.8nm.
Murrayfield’s capacity was expanded to 72,990 specifically for the Eras Tour, but that didn’t stop fans queuing from 5am to get the best spots.
Swift might be happy to know that her fans have broken her ex Harry Styles’ previous record for seismic activity at Murrayfield. The couple was believed to have had a brief relationship in 2012 (pictured)
And, perhaps most satisfyingly for Swift, her fans also broke her ex Harry Styles’ previous record.
This weekend’s groundbreaking performance could have been helped by the decision to expand Murrayfield’s capacity specifically for the Eras Tour.
The stadium agreed to admit a further 5,860 fans for the visiting pop star, increasing the maximum by almost nine percent to a record 72,990.
Even with the expanded capacity, fans were out and about as early as 5 a.m. to secure a spot at the front of the line for the sold-out show.
This isn’t the first time Swift’s multibillion-dollar Eras Tour has literally shaken up the host city.
While performing in front of 70,000 fans in LA, fans generated a ‘Swift-quake’ with a magnitude of 0.85 while performing Shake It Off.
During another 2023 concert at Seattle’s Lumen Field, Swift caused seismic activity equivalent to a magnitude 2.3 earthquake.
For comparison, an earthquake of 2.5 or more is the threshold at which tremors become noticeable and cause minor damage.
During that concert, Swift played to an audience of 144,000 fans, causing tremors even bigger than 2011’s “Beast Quake” caused by an NFL game.