~11k: How many washboards the Columbus Washboard Co. still sells annually, down from 1m+ in the 1940s. Sales jumped 57% in 2020 during the pandemic, but it’s not all about doing laundry — percussionists make up ~40% of sales.
$1.3B+: How much Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera” grossed in NYC alone during its legendary 35-year run on Broadway. The show closed due to unsustainable operating costs of $950k/week.
$51: Average amount workers who returned to the office this year spent per day on things like coffee, meals, parking, and commuting. This figure increased to $71 for those who needed pet care, and dropped to $15 for those who worked from home.
383.2B+: Possible latte variations Starbucks can make. Drink customizations add $1B+ in revenue annually — but workers loathe them and customers hate the wait times. Consequently, Starbucks has invested billions toward finding ways to churn them out faster, including switching to smaller, easier-to-scoop ice cubes.
1.3m+: Players who completed Larian Studios’ “Baldur’s Gate III,” winner of The Game Awards’s 2023 game of the year. Most importantly, players pet Scratch, the RPG’s lovable dog and certified good boy, 48.5m times.
237: For those who enjoy complaining about “kids these days” and their smartphones, that’s the median number of notifications US teens receive on an average day. They only engage with a median of 46 per day, thanks to blocking, filtering, or prioritizing apps — but the max number was a whopping 4.5k+ notifications delivered with 1.2k+ seen.
$1.1B: Taylor Swift’s new net worth. Like it or not, 2023 was the pop star’s year. Her Eras Tour became the first to gross $1B+ and added $4.3B to the US’s GDP, while her concert film set AMC’s new record for single-day ticket sales at $26m.
