Watch Beyoncé, Elton John & Yes, Taylor Swift Race to Boxscore Gold
Written by djfrosty on November 30, 2023
Another year, another Boxscore recap. After Ed Sheeran scored consecutive wins in 2018-19, Elton John and The Rolling Stones led abridged COVID-flanked charts in 2020-21, and Bad Bunny broke ground in 2022, Beyoncé rules the 2023 year-end Top Tours ranking.
According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the Renaissance World Tour grossed $570.5 million during the 2023 tracking period – Nov. 1, 2022-Sept. 30, 2023 – and another $9.3 million on its final show on Oct. 1. But the tour didn’t even begin until May 10 – and now, you can take a look at how the Top Tours chart took shape, from start to finish.
For the first month, Coldplay and Elton John dominated the race. John began ahead with $7.8 million on Nov. 1 from a show at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium. The final shows of Coldplay’s 10-night run in Buenos Aires gave them the lead by Nov. 2, but a week later, John resumed his reign.
After dominating the 2022 year-end charts, Latin music reigned in December and into the new year. Bad Bunny took over first, before ceding to Daddy Yankee, whose farewell La Ultima Vuelta World Tour grossed $72.5 million between early November and its late December finish.
The Brits returned to the top in January, as John reclaimed the No. 1 spot, followed by Harry Styles.
Notably, figures for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour have not yet been reported to Boxscore. While that disqualifies her from appearing on year-end charts, Billboard’s projections place her at the center of the year’s biggest touring acts.
Based on estimates, Swift would have ended the Styles era around mid-April, becoming the first artist in 2023 to gross $200 million, $300 million, $400 million, and beyond. By the end of August, The Eras Tour played its last shows of the tracking period, with more than $800 million in the bank.
Based on official figures, Styles and John continued to flip the top spot well into the summer, until Beyoncé broke through in August. The Renaissance World Tour brought her to the top 10 within a month of launching, with $85.8 million by June 5 and $141.8 million by the end of its first leg (June 28).
Kicking off the North American leg on July 8, Beyoncé kicked into high gear, averaging nearly double the nightly grosses of her European shows. Her three shows at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Aug. 11-12 and 14 charged the tour’s overall gross from $324.8 million to $364.6 million, pushing the Renaissance World Tour to No. 1, where it’d stay through the end of the tracking period.
Ultimately, at $570.5 million, Beyoncé enjoys a 67% lead over Coldplay, which snuck by Styles at the last minute to land at No. 2.
Though they never occupied the top spot, BLACKPINK and Ed Sheeran were among the top 10 throughout most of the year. The K-pop girl-group spent the first four months of the tracking period in the top five, before dipping off the graph and returning to the top 10 for year’s end. Sheeran took the early months off from touring, and then shot onto the list by late February. For his part, Morgan Wallen blossomed in the late months with stadium shows in support of One Thing at a Time, ultimately yielding the biggest year-end gross for a country tour ever.
Click here to see the full year-end 2023 Boxscore charts.