Beyoncé single-handedly increased inflation in Sweden, economist says

• Beyoncé kicked off her blockbuster Renaissance tour in Stockholm, Sweden.
• The shows attracted a surge in hotel stays which impacted the country's inflation, an economist said.

The Beyhive swarmed hotels in Stockholm, Sweden, for the opening of Beyoncé's Renaissance world tour, resulting in an ever-so-slight bump in the country's inflation, one economist estimated.

"Basically, her fans vacuumed hotels around Stockholm with a radius of some 40 miles," Michael Grahn, an economist at Danske Bank, told The Wall Street Journal, adding that the phenomenon contributed around 0.2 percentage points to the country's inflation.

It now has experts worried about how another big act could impact Sweden's economy — Bruce Springsteen will perform for three nights in Gothenburg later this month.

The "blip," as Grahn called it, may have been minor, but it came amid an already high month inflation-wise for the country. Economists predicted a more significant drop in inflation in May, to around 9.2%, but ended up with a rate of 9.7%, per the Journal.

On Wednesday, Sweden Statistics, a government agency, said restaurants and hotels added 0.3 percentage points to the rate while recreation and culture metrics contributed 0.2 percentage points, according to The Financial Times.

"Beyoncé is responsible for the extra upside surprise this month," Grahn added to The Financial Times. "It's quite astonishing for a single event. We haven't seen this before."

In addition to paying for lodging near her shows, Beyoncé fans are known to drop major coin for the icon — even more so than Taylor Swift's similarly rabid fanbase, thanks in part to merchandise spending. Forbes estimated that Bey will rake in around $2.1 billion from her tour, a cool $500 million more than what Swift is expected to earn from her Eras tour.

The company behind Beyoncé's tour, Parkwood Entertainment, didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.