Love Story moves the earth at Wembley as Swifties trigger Taylor tremors
Taylor Swift fans partied so hard in Wembley Park across the first three dates of the London leg of The Eras Tour at Wembley Stadium that they made the Earth move according to the seismology team at University College London (UCL).
Hundreds of thousands of Swifties flocked to Wembley Park to shake their stuff at the first three of her eight performances at Wembley Stadium with the opening night, Friday 21st June, recording the greatest levels of ground motion of the three dates. Swift’s hit songs ‘Shake It Off’, ‘Love Story’, ‘Look What You Made Me Do’, ‘I Can Do With A Broken Heart’ and ‘Karma’ generated the most movement on the opening night with Love Story producing the strongest ground shaking - equivalent to an earthquake of magnitude around 0.8 - followed closely by ‘Shake It Off’.
Reaction to Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce’s surprise debut as a dancer during the intro of ‘I Can Do It With A Broken Heart’ to rapturous applause from fans, was also recorded by the seismometers on Sunday 23rd June, as was the crowd's support of Swift and her live band earlier that night. Wembley Park – the globally renowned entertainment district in North West London – invited the seismology team from the Department of Earth Sciences at UCL to monitor the impact of the concerts.
Led by Geophysicists Professor Ana Ferreira and Dr Stephen Hicks, the UCL team positioned nine measuring devices across Wembley Park. In addition to UCL’s own resources, UK-based manufacturer Güralp Systems Ltd provided five highly sensitive seismometers.
University of Oxford’s Associate Professor of Geophysics, Dr Paula Koelemeijer, also shared instruments for use in Wembley Park, allowing for detailed data to be recorded on the impact of the Swifties dancing and stomping their feet in Wembley Stadium – along with those ‘Taylor-gating’ outside the iconic venue.
Seismological data summary:
- Nine seismometers were installed around Wembley Park tailored for optimal seismic recordings of the Taylor Swift concerts.
- Ground seismic waves, generated by fans dancing within Wembley Stadium and those outside the venue, were recorded from 21st to 23rd June 2024.
- The opening night, Friday 21st June, recorded the greatest levels of ground motion of the three dates with Earth movement up to a maximum of 0.03 mm (the size of a very fine hair).
- ‘Love Story’ produced the strongest ground shaking, equivalent to an earthquake of magnitude around 0.8, followed closely behind by ‘Shake It Off’, on Friday 21st June.
- ‘Shake It Off’ produced one of the highest beat rates (approx. 5 beats per sec) on Friday 21st June.
- Some songs such as ‘Love Story’ led to stronger up-and-down recordings while others such as ‘Shake It Off’ led to stronger side-to-side recordings. This may reflect different dancing styles.
- Travis Kelce’s surprise guest appearance and Swift’s thanks to her band on Sunday 23rdJune also triggered the sensitive seismometers
- The seismic recordings from each night were nearly identical, highlighting the highly professional nature of the performances
Claudio Giambrone, Head of Marketing, Wembley Park, said: “The Eras Tours has thrilled and delighted fans here in Wembley Park on its opening nights in London.
“The neighbourhood welcomed visitors from all over the world across the first three dates and the ground movements recorded by UCL reflect the immense enjoyment of Swifties dancing to hit after hit in a night that they will remember for a lifetime.” Professor Ana Ferreira, Seismology Laboratory at UCL, added: “Taylor Swift fans were clearly having the time of their lives in Wembley Park during Taylor’s first London concerts.
“With our instruments we were able to ‘listen’ to the Earth's heartbeat which was certainly beating fast during songs such as ‘Love Story’ which produced energy in the ground equivalent to an earthquake of magnitude around 0.8. This is a great testimony of how even a so-called small magnitude event is actually ‘big’, being generated by such a huge and enthusiastic dancing crowd.”
One of those measuring the tremors over Swift’s first three performances in Wembley Park was UCL palaeontology PhD student Paul Burke. Highlighting that modern scientific study doesn’t mean being confined to the lab, he said: “Being a Swiftie since I was 13, I never thought my job as a researcher at UCL and Taylor Swift would collide together.
“Taylor brings so much joy to so many people and there’s a feeling you get from going to her concert that you cannot replicate. We got to use science to measure seismic activity during her concerts at Wembley, showing the fun applications science has and the importance of it.
“Hopefully this experiment leads to the public being more aware of all the great science we do at UCL and all the fun things we can do with it.” Equivalent ‘Taylor tremors’ are anticipated on 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20 August, as Swift continues to wow audiences as she returns to Wembley Stadium.