Last week, Billboard revealed its year-end Boxscore charts, ranking the top tours, venues, and promoters of 2023. That coverage included analysis of the new wave of genre diverse artists crashing stadium stages, and in turn, our charts. Here, we are breaking down the year’s biggest tours, genre by genre. Today, we continue with comedy.
Comedy is an outlier as a Boxscore genre, as it obviously exists outside of the traditional music industry. That’s not to say that the two don’t intersect – Adam Sandler has been a highly influential in musical comedy since the 1990s – but generally, comedians are playing a different game than Taylor Swift or Beyoncé. Most recently, Bo Burnham’s genre- and form-blending Inside hit No. 7 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and has logged 125 weeks (to date) at No. 1 on Comedy Albums.
With smaller traveling production, touring comedians have simpler stage setups. That can allow them to float from theaters to arenas and from amphitheaters to clubs from night to night. They can also perform multiple shows per night without the physical and vocal tolls of headlining pop stars. Two of 2023’s top 10 comedians played more than 100 shows during the tracking period, which no other act in the entire all-genre top 100 did.
Comedy’s share of the top 100 tours’ overall gross dipped to 1.8% this year. In part, astronomically rising ticket prices for stadium acts are creating a bigger gap between the biggest touring musicians and comedians who have stayed closer to more conservative pre-pandemic prices. Routing is also key – John Mulaney, Sebastian Maniscalco and Hasan Minhaj had much lighter schedules than in 2022.
Scroll to check out the top 10 highest grossing tours by comedy performers, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. All reported shows worldwide between Nov. 1, 2022 – Sept. 30, 2023, are eligible.
$13.4M / 198K tickets / 20 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: N/A
Jo Koy played a variety of theaters and arenas in the U.S., mostly promoted by Icon Concerts. He did best on the West Coast, with his six best grosses coming from California, Nevada and Washington.
$14.2M / 141K tickets / 15 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: N/A
From the global film box office to Billboard Boxscore, Sandler remains one of the most bankable names in comedy. Austin, Dallas and Nashville were highlights on his 2022-23 tour, which continues into next year.
$16.8M / 130K tickets / 39 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: N/A
Maniscalco has been a road warrior over the last decade, but found a home in Vegas. He played 16 shows at the Encore Theater at Wynn Resort, making up almost $3 million of his year-end total. Casinos in New Jersey, Florida and California add to his run.
$17.5M / 296K tickets / 132 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: N/A
Tomlinson played more shows than any artist on any of the 2023 Boxscore genre breakdowns. Often with multiple shows per night, she ranged from $1 million over two nights at Radio City Music Hall to $25k and 740 tickets in Brussels.
$20.5M / 276K tickets / 21 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: N/A
Kay hits the middle of the top 10, almost exclusively from shows in England. He repeated throughout the year in major markets such as Manchester, Glasgow and especially in London – in all, he played 10 shows at the O2 Arena during the 2023 tracking period.
$20.6M / 330K tickets / 113 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: N/A
More than 100 shows between November 2022 and September 2023 led to Bargatze’s first hosting gig on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. The Tennessee native played shows in Chattanooga, Johnson City, Memphis and Nashville, plus more than 60 others during the year.
$20.6M / 231K tickets / 37 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: N/A
A mix of theaters, arenas and casinos scored Burr his second consecutive year at No. 4 on the comedy breakdown. He peaked at $1.5 million on July 7-8 at the Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena in Atlantic City, N.J.
$32.9M / 460K tickets / 80 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: No. 82
A scan of Kreischer’s top markets of 2023 doesn’t find New York or Los Angeles or Chicago or any other typically major market. His strongest showings were in Tempe, Ariz.; Gilford, N.H.; Tampa, Fla. and St. Louis, Mo.
$36.6M / 254K tickets / 19 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: No. 68
Chappelle made lemonade out of very few lemons, playing fewer shows than anyone in the top 10 other than Sandler. He did it by sticking to arenas exclusively, only dipping below 10,000 tickets at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, Calif. (9,862). Four shows at Madison Square Garden earned $7.9 million and moved 49,000 tickets.
$67.5M / 631K tickets / 82 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: No. 29
Yet again, Kevin Hart takes the lead, making him the only act to repeat atop a Boxscore genre chart in 2023. Hart played as many shows as Kreischer and demanded high ticket prices like Chappelle and Sandler, amounting to an 84% lead over his closest competition. In all, he reported 27 engagements with more than 10,000 tickets sold, and 30 over the $1 million mark.