More than a million virtual queue numbers for Taylor Swift concert tickets were issued within 10 minutes on Wednesday (Jul 5).

The pre-sales, open to only UOB cardmembers, kicked off at noon, for tickets to the American pop star’s Eras Tour in March 2024.

But by 12.10pm, customers were already receiving queue numbers in the one million range. Ticketmaster, the agent handling the sales, announced on Wednesday afternoon that all tickets under the UOB presale have been sold.

When ticket sales began at noon on Wednesday, buyers who were on the Ticketmaster website for the artist were directed to another page that said “you are now in the queue”, followed by a queue number at the bottom accompanied by a loading bar.

Similarly, on June 22, over a million virtual queue numbers were issued for Coldplay, with many saying they have never received such a high queue number before.

Pre-sale tickets for the British rock band’s four concerts at the National Stadium to take place in January 2024 sold out after five hours.

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Ticket buyers typically advance from the virtual queue to a page to select the date and preferred ticket category, before being directed to the payment page.

An hour before the UOB pre-sale started, many complained about facing technical issues on the ticketing website Ticketmaster.

Customers who tried logging in to their Ticketmaster account after 11am received the message “rate exceeded” on their screens.

Other customers who managed to get to the payment page after selecting their tickets were unable to log in, and received a similar message.

Temasek Polytechnic student Gabriel Chong, 18, told The Straits Times that he managed to enter the queue at noon, and had a queue number of 33,000.

However, he was kicked out after reaching the payment page, as he was unable to log in. He saw a “rate exceeded” message, and after refreshing multiple times, got logged out due to “security issues”.

Ticket buyers can have multiple queue numbers if they access the pre-sale link from different devices, or have multiple accounts with the ticketing website.

Each buyer has only 10 minutes to complete the transaction, and ticket sales are limited to a maximum of four for each account.

Swift will be playing six nights at the National Stadium, from March 2 to 4 and 7 to 9, 2024.

Ticket prices range from S$108 to S$348, with VIP packages also available.

General sales will start on Friday at noon online at Ticketmaster or physically at SingPost outlets islandwide for all who obtained an access code after a prior pre-registration exercise.

UOB card applications jumped in the weeks leading up to the pre-sale.

The bank said new credit card applications from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam rose by an average of 45 per cent daily from June 21 to 27, compared with earlier weeks in the month.

Debit card applications in Singapore and Vietnam more than doubled, up nearly 130 per cent for the same period.

Singapore Sports Hub, which is owned and managed by Kallang Alive Sport Management, has said that the National Stadium will be the only venue in Asia outside of Japan where Swift will be performing on her The Eras world tour.

More than 300,000 fans are expected to attend her shows here – and the economy can expect a boost from those from fans around the region. THE STRAITS TIMES