How Much Money Is Joe Alwyn Making From His Taylor Swift Songwriting Credits?
Joe Alwyn and Taylor Swift’s love wasn’t forever — but his financial gain from their time together might be.
Alwyn, 33, cowrote six songs during his longtime relationship with Swift, 34, under the pseudonym William Bowery: "Exile” and "Betty" from 2020’s Folklore, “Champagne Problems,” “Evermore” and "Coney Island" from its sister album, Evermore, and “Sweet Nothing” from 2022’s Midnights.
Despite their 2023 split, Alwyn is still raking in money thanks to his writing credits, with multiple outlets reporting that the actor will make “a five-figure sum every year” for his contributions to Swift’s discography.
Alwyn has already reportedly made about $2.3 million for Spotify streams alone, according to an analysis by Life & Style earlier this month. He will continually earn money from additional streaming and any of Swift’s live performances where the songs are included, an industry source told the outlet. Swift’s Eras Tour has grossed $1 billion, and Alwyn is likely a small piece of the financial pie.
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“Fair or not, it’s made him a very rich guy,” the source told L&S. “Joe is making so much on royalties and returns from [Taylor’s] Eras Tour that he doesn’t ever need to worry about money again.”
Fans were quick to decode Alwyn’s pen name, William Bowery, on Swift’s Folklore album, and the singer later confirmed her then-boyfriend was the mystery writer.
"I came in and I was like, 'Hey, this could be really weird, and we could hate this, [but] because we're in quarantine and there's nothing else going on, could we just try to see what it's like if we write this song together?'" Swift said during her 2020 Disney+ film, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions.
Swift said Alwyn wrote the "entire piano part" for "Exile,” recalling, "He was just singing it, the way that the whole first verse is ... I was entranced and asked if we could keep writing that one."
In addition, Alwyn’s work with Swift earned him music’s biggest honor in 2021 after Folklore won Album of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. While on stage, Swift gave a rare shout-out to her then-boyfriend.
"Joe is the first person that I play every single song that I write, and I had the best time writing songs with you in quarantine,” she said while accepting the Grammy.
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Swift previously admitted she didn’t think she would have ever collaborated with Alwyn if it weren’t for the circumstances of being stuck at home together amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“He’s always just playing instruments and he doesn’t do it in a strategic ‘I’m writing a song right now’ thing,” Swift said of Alwyn during a December 2020 interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “He’s always done that. But do I think we would have taken the step of, ‘Hey, let’s see if there’s a song in here. Let’s write a song together’ if we hadn’t been in lockdown? I don’t think that would have happened, but I’m so glad that it did.”
Swift and Alwyn split in April 2023 after six years of dating. Swift has since moved on with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, while Alwyn sparked dating rumors with The Brutalist costar Emma Laird earlier this month.
