Most music artists follow the traditional concert set, having one or more openers around an hour before their main set. Crowds often passively listen to the openers or skip them entirely unless they know of the opener before the show.
Despite the slight resentment towards concert openers, opening for a large artist is a major step when growing in the music industry. Many mainstream artists were once openers, making concert openers a lasting tradition.
In 2024, the industry saw a massive growth in artists who started the year as openers but left with chart-topping projects, headlined tours and accumulated crowds comparable to their original headliners.
Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour is a recent phenomenon that has launched its opening artists into the mainstream. The “Eras Effect” has launched artists with promising careers into a broader audience, making their recent releases their most anticipated projects. Artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Gracie Abrams have seen massive success with their recent releases “Short ‘n Sweet” and “The Secret of Us,” respectively.
Sabrina Carpenter gained immense popularity after her “Feather” choreography at the Eras tour went viral on TikTok. The #Feather on TikTok is flooded with clips of her iconic kick, and people on the site began recreating it. Her virality expanded her audience, prepping her for the release of her hit song “Espresso.” The track became her first global number-one hit on the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S.
Carpenter's career has been a slow climb to the top since her first album release in 2015 and opening for The Eras Tour was a final step to her already expanding career. After nearly 10 years in the music industry, she has cemented herself as a pop icon and has walked away with six nominations for the 2025 Grammys.
Gracie Abrams's album rollout for “The Secret of Us” was one of her most successful and debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart. She received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with her song “Us” featuring Taylor Swift.
Although she saw previous success with her previous debut album, which gained her a “Best New Artist” nomination last year, The Eras Tour expanded her audience and gained excitement for her new album.
Taylor Swift once was an opener herself for the “Life is a Highway” band Rascal Flatts in 2008 for her album “Fearless,” which won Album of the Year at the 2009 Grammys. She has now gained headliner status and holds the record for the highest-grossing tour in history.
Chappell Roan is another artist who has recently launched into the mainstream. She started the year opening for Olivia Rodrigo's GUTS World Tour and is now pulling crowds comparable to Rodrigo, including her record-breaking Lollapalooza crowd. She is nominated for six awards at the 2025 Grammys.
Although opening acts can seem to stand in the way from the start of the concert, exposure to different audiences is a critical step toward launching their career. The openers may soon become the headliner because they are likely in a similar position their headliner was once in.
