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Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce make a high-profile appearance at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. The moment was followed by a notable surge in Spotify streams for her latest album.

Taylor Swift’s Spotify streams surged after she appeared with Travis Kelce at the iHeartRadio Music Awards, turning a high-profile awards show moment into a measurable boost for her latest album. The appearance was their first as a couple at a major televised event such as an awards show since Swift and Kelce became engaged last August.

The sudden increase in Swift’s streaming numbers applied mainly to her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, with all 12 tracks on the album showing significant increases overnight after the Thursday iHeartRadio show, televised by Fox, according to data compiled by @Haunted_Spotify, a social media account devoted to monitoring Swift’s Spotify streaming totals.

“SEE!! that’s just from her showing up. Imagine if Taylor Swift actually performed … the numbers would’ve been INSANE,” commented another Swift-focused news account, The Taylor Swift Daily. “Like we’re talking a whole different level of impact.”

The significance of Swift and Kelce making their milestone public appearance extended beyond indications that their wedding may be imminent, displaying broader implications for Swift’s extraordinary career.

The Moment Fans Were Waiting For

In an interesting twist, while fans had been waiting for the “red carpet moment,” when Swift and Kelce would first enter an awards show together on the ceremonial red carpet, that did not happen. Instead, Swift initially arrived on her own.

“Swift arrived early and posed for photos in a mint green two-piece outfit, featuring a corset-style top with gold embellishments,” Heavy.com reporter Perry Miller Carpenter wrote describing Swift’s arrival. “She completed the look with strappy heels and kept her glam simple with a soft, natural makeup look.”

But when Swift entered the venue — the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California — Kelce was with her, creating an immediate buzz in the audience as well as throughout Swift’s fandom.

“The couple have been decidedly private on both public appearances and wedding date announcements, despite a steady stream of rumors,” wrote Elle senior writer Ruby Feneley. “Could this rare joint outing be a hint that nuptials are imminent? We certainly hope so.”

Appearance Followed by Sudden Spotify Surge

But the most measurable impact of the couple’s joint appearance came in Swift’s Spotify numbers, which showed an immediate increase. According to the @Haunted_Spotify data, streams for the entire Life of a Showgirl album increased by 9.76 million, a jump of 8.2 percent from the day of her appearance with Kelce to the next day.

The first single released from the Showgirl album, “The Fate of Ophelia,” saw the largest raw increase, rising by 3.8 million streams, or 5.7 percent, in the 24-hour period following the iHeartRadio appearance. Meanwhile, Swift’s most recently released single, “Elizabeth Taylor,” posted the biggest proportional gain, increasing by 15.1 percent, or 574,653 streams.

The track “Eldest Daughter,” which has not been released as a standalone single, also experienced a 15.1 percent increase, translating to 299,801 additional streams.

What does that mean for Swift financially? Spotify generally pays royalties based on a complex formula, according to reporting on the platform’s payouts, often estimated in the range of roughly $3 to $4 per 1,000 streams.

While Swift and Kelce were likely not paid an appearance fee for attending the iHeartRadio Music Awards, at $4 per 1,000 streams, Swift appears to have earned nearly $40,000 just by showing up, thanks to her ardent fans who stream her songs on Spotify.

Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin