Taylor Swift. Photo:
FOX
Taylor Swift is being honored for her record-breaking Eras Tour.
On Monday, March 17, the 14-time Grammy winner received the Tour of the Century Award at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards, held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
“I really can’t tell you how much this means to me because this, on behalf of my tour mates, all my fellow performers, my band, everyone who toured with us, our crew… this is actually the two-year anniversary of the first show of the Eras Tour, so I’ve been doing a lot of processing since I’ve been off the road these last few months,” Swift, 35, said in her virtual acceptance speech.
“People often say that sometimes the greatest challenges in life end up being something you’re so proud of or end up being the most gratifying feeling in the end, if you can rise to the occasion,” she continued. “And this tour was absolutely the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life. It’s a 3.5 hour show, more shows than I’ve ever done on tour.”
The “Down Bad” songstress added that she thinks about the tour “constantly” — and what got her through was her “fans.”
Taylor Swift performs “Mirrorball”. FOX
“To the fans, you made these songs from the last couple decades into what they became so that we could do a 3.5 hour setlist. You had the passion and generosity to care about traveling to see us on tour in all these places all over the world. It blows my mind. I’m never going to stop being grateful for it. And I appreciate this more than you know.”
After she delivered her speech, the awards show aired an exclusive performance of “Mirrorball” from opening night of the Eras Tour in Glendale, Ariz. in March 2023.
Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour in London in June 2024. Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images
The Eras Tour kicked off on March 17, 2023 — two years to the date of the 2025 award show. Swift took her final bow of the countries-spanning tour in December 2024 in Vancouver.
Check out all of PEOPLE’s full iHeartRadio Music Awards coverage here.
During the penultimate concert, Swift told her fans how much she appreciated them joining her on her journey. “This is the most fun, joyful, exciting, intense, powerful and wonderful tour I have ever done, and that’s all because of the way that you have treated it,” Swift said, per a video shared on X.
“There’s a reason why this is my longest tour I’ve ever done. I’ve never played this many shows on a tour before, and it’s just cause I really never wanted it to end, because you guys have made it into such a wonderful experience for all of us on stage,” she added.
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“You’ve got all your traditions that you’ve created. Like, I wrote one line in a song that mentions ‘make the friendship bracelets,’ and I show up to the first show of the Eras Tour, and you guys made friendship bracelets, your trading friendship bracelets, you’re making friends, and now, I feel like, friendship bracelets, you’ve kinda made that idea synonymous with the Eras Tour.”
“That’s a pretty wild thing you can do — and that’s just one of the things,” concluded Swift.
Swift was nominated for 10 awards at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards, tying with Morgan Wallen for the most nominations this year.
Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour in London in June 2024. Kevin Mazur/Getty
Swift’s nods include pop artist of the year, artist of the year, best collaboration, best music video and best lyrics with Post Malone for “Fortnight” and favorite surprise guest (for bringing out boyfriend Travis Kelce at the Eras Tour during a June concert in London).
She is also being recognized for favorite tour tradition (one nod for the “22” hat and one nod for the Eras Tour surprise songs), favorite tour style and favorite onscreen for theTaylor Swift | The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) movie.
The 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards air live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Monday, March 17, at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. Fans can also tune in live to iHeartRadio stations nationwide and on the iHeartRadio app.
