Janelle Irwin Taylor
The Kansas City Chiefs pulled off a nail-biter of an overtime win against the San Francisco 49ers, eking out a 25 to 22 victory with an overtime touchdown.
Now, one of the team’s most famous players is making new waves, by selling a massive amount of swag without even trying.
Google analytics data shows that searches for “Travis Kelce jersey” were up 2,252% during and after Sunday night’s big game, according to an analysis by Hearts.co.
Overall, searches for Kelce jerseys are up over Chief’s quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but searches for his jersey spiked with an increase of 2,531% in the last few seconds of the game around the time Mahomes threw the game-winning pass. However, Mahomes’ jersey search surge only lasted briefly before Kelce regained the internet’s interest.
Kelce’s popularity is in large part thanks to his even bigger celebrity girlfriend, pop singer billionaire Taylor Swift.
“The surge in searches for ‘Patrick Mahomes jersey’ reveals strong fan support for the quarterback after he secured the game for the Chiefs with a winning touchdown pass,” a Hearts.co spokesperson said. “But Travis Kelce demonstrates greater popularity overall with a large increase in searches before and after the game, driven by his on-field performance and high-profile relationship with Taylor Swift.”
The company analyzed data using Google Trends, with search terms “Patrick Mahomes jersey” and “Travis Kelsey jersey” reviewed over seven days to measure increases in Google searches.
This year’s Super Bowl was flooded with a new kind of interest as Swift’s presence took hold at games leading up to the big game. For fans, her presence brought new or renewed energy and interest to football, and to the Chiefs more specifically. But Swift also drew harsh criticism, particularly from partisans on the right who have concocted all sorts of conspiracies.
Following the Super Bowl, some were already speculating that Swift orchestrated a Chief’s win, with people posting to X a video of her talking with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and footage of the final play with speculation that the 49ers intentionally missed a tackle. The word “scripted” was trending Monday morning, a reference to the conspiracy.
Still, the pop sensation’s presence led to an increase in ads targeted to women and Google searches for red sweaters after Swift was spotted wearing one at a previous game. Google searches for red lipstick — Swift’s token shade — were also up.
Whatever side you’re on as it relates to the Taylor Swift conspiracies, you can bet she’s probably going to just shake it off.
