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Billboard Boxscore

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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 rap. Hip-hop […]

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 […]

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. This week, we are breaking down the year’s biggest tours, genre by genre. Today, we continue with country. Country music […]

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. This week, we are breaking down the year’s biggest tours, genre by genre. Today, we begin with K-pop, […]

Last week, Billboard kicked off its 2023 year-end Boxscore coverage. Beyoncé led reported tours, Taylor Swift is poised for a record-setting finish and BLACKPINK and Karol G are helping usher in a new generation of genre diverse headliners. Plus, Boxscore breaks down the highest-grossing venues in the world, split between four capacity categories, plus a chart for stadiums.

New York City is spotlighted atop two of these lists. Madison Square Garden reigns supreme amongst venues with a capacity of 15,001 or more (excluding stadiums), while Radio City Music Hall is tops for venues with a capacity of 5,001-10,000.

For Madison Square Garden, 2023 marks its 15th year at No. 1 in its capacity category, dating back to 1999. It’s been No. 1 for six of the last seven years, after dipping to No. 2 in 2021. And for the second consecutive year, it’s the highest-grossing venue, regardless or capacity or structure. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, MSG’s 116 shows grossed $223 million and sold 1.6 million tickets between Nov. 1, 2022 and Sept. 30, 2023.

For Radio City Music Hall, it’s back at No. 1 for the first time since 2020, after Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater led in 2021-22. Over 231 shows in the tracking period, the theater earned $122 million from 1.2 million tickets.

Red Rocks remains the venue with the most tickets sold in the 5,001-10k category (1.4M), while London’s O2 Arena takes top honors for 15,001+ (2.4M).

In between, Dickies Arena (Fort Worth, Texas) completes a steady climb to its first year-end No. 1 in the 10,001-15,000 category. After opening in November 2019, the arena was No. 10 on the 2020 year-end recap, and No. 4 in 2021 and 2022. With $70.5 million, it narrowly takes the gold over Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena ($69.3M), Austin’s Moody Center ($67.8M) and Glasgow’s OVO Hydro ($67.3M).

Even newer, Las Vegas’ Resorts World Theatre claims the top spot among venues with capacity of 5,000 or less. It opened in December 2021 and remains undefeated after crowning last year’s chart. Bolstered by residencies by Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Carrie Underwood, the theater hosted 90 shows and grossed $45.3 million.

Finally, the Top Stadiums chart is led by SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., outside Los Angeles. Like Dickies, it’s a relatively new building, after launching in September 2020. This year marks a return to the top, after leading in 2021 and sitting at No. 2 last year behind Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The venue reported 19 shows that collectively earned $175.1 million and sold more than 1 million tickets.

The numbers are in for the first leg of Madonna’s The Celebration Tour. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the European leg grossed $77.5 million and sold 429,000 tickets.
In January, Madonna announced The Celebration Tour, slated to honor the biggest hits of her legendary career. After a medical emergency forced a postponement of the first batch of North American dates, she launched the trek on Oct. 14 at London’s O2 Arena.

Over four shows that week, Madonna earned $14.7 million and sold 60,000 tickets, only to return to the O2 for the leg’s final two shows on Dec. 5-6, which added another $7.5 million and 31,000 tickets. Since returning from the pandemic, only Elton John and Queen + Adam Lambert have amassed bigger totals at the O2, and they did it with nine and 10 shows, respectively. When Madonna last played the O2, it was just two nights in 2015, compared to this year’s six.

In between, Madonna stopped in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and more, for a total of 27 shows across 11 European markets. Four nights at Paris’ Accor Arena provided the tour’s other eight-figure gross, bringing in $10.7 million from 62,000 tickets on Nov. 12-13 and 19-20.

Madonna’s European totals average out to $2.9 million and 15,900 tickets per night on a $180.53 ticket. Compared to the theater-residency run of her last tour, the Madame X Tour (2019-20), she’s up by 312% in nightly earnings and by 518% in average attendance.

On more level footing with the European leg from the Rebel Heart Tour from 2015-16, Madonna’s last arena tour, her 2023 shows are still up – by 9% in attendance, sold out on every show, and by 70% in average gross, thanks in large part to bulked up ticket pricing.

Immediate demand for The Celebration Tour expanded Madonna’s initial routing of 12 shows in Europe to 27. Likewise, the first batch of 26 shows in the U.S. and Canada has swelled to 47. She kicks off the North American leg on Wednesday (Dec. 13) at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. After a handful of shows this month, she’s back for the rest in 2024, playing through April 15 in Austin, plus five shows from April 20-26 at Mexico City’s Foro Sol.

Looking at the relationship between Madonna’s European shows and stateside shows on the Rebel Heart Tour, Billboard expects the U.S. and Canadian leg to earn about $150 million from 650,000 tickets.

With the handful of Mexico shows to follow, the current routing for The Celebration Tour is headed toward a total haul of $240-245 million and 1.1-1.2 million tickets over 79 shows. That would situate it behind stadium runs on the Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008-09; $407.7 million) and The MDMA Tour (2012; $305.2 million), but ahead of arena treks the Confessions Tour (2006; $194.8 million) and the Rebel Heart Tour (2015-16; $169.8 million).

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. This week, we are breaking down the year’s biggest tours, genre by genre. Today, we continue with rock. […]

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. This week, we are breaking down the year’s biggest tours, genre by genre. Here, we continue with R&B.

R&B has some humongous contemporary stars – Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Usher and more – but in the last decade, it’s been too reliant on those stars to keep it afloat. The graph below shows how the genre has experienced severe spikes and drops, often victim to the scheduling whims of a small group of headliners.

In 2016, when Beyoncé mounted The Formation World Tour, R&B spiked from 3.5% of the overall top 100 gross, to 8%. But in 2019, after Bruno Mars wrapped his globe-conquering 24K Magic Tour, its share plummeted from 11.5% to 2.7%.

In 2023, R&B is hitting from all sides. The established superstars named above – Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Usher – were all active, joining forces with next-gen headliners such as SZA and The Weeknd. More than that, Lionel Richie, New Edition and others are harnessing their legacies to build the next phase of their touring careers. All of that builds to the genre’s biggest share of the top 100 tours, dating back more than a decade.

That mix of classic artists and ascendant stars bodes well for the genre, even when its biggest icons are off cycle.

Keep reading to check out the top 10 highest grossing tours by R&B artists, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. All reported shows worldwide between Nov. 1, 2022 – Sept. 30, 2023, are eligible. Here, we define R&B acts as artists who have recently featured on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums or Hot R&B Songs charts.

Lionel Richie

Image Credit: Adam Bettcher/Getty Images

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. This week, we are breaking down the year’s biggest tours, genre by genre. Today, we begin with Latin.

Throughout the 2010s, Latin acts – here, defined as artists who primarily perform in Spanish – were consistently supporting players on the Boxscore charts. Strong supporting players, with generally a combined 3-6% share of the yearly top 100 tours’ total gross, but supporting, nonetheless. But as the many subgenres that comprise Latin music’s growing global footprint gained international recognition and popularity, acts from Puerto Rico, Colombia, Mexico and more returned from the pandemic with a strengthened touring audience.

Latin’s top-100 share rose from 5.3% in 2019 to 12.1% in 2022. That was thanks, in large part, to Bad Bunny’s record-breaking year atop the year-end Top Tours chart, plus fumes from Daddy Yankee’s farewell tour. In 2023, the genre dips to 11.5% in 2023. But in the absence of Bad Bunny’s $373.5 million from last year, Latin’s deepening bench picked up the slack to remain relatively steady, signaling the potential for even more growth in the years to come.

While reggaetón and pop acts continued to power Latin touring, 2023 marked the rise of regional Mexican music, on streaming services and on stages. Eslabon Armado, Fuerza Regida and Peso Pluma conquered Billboard’s global charts, while those acts, Grupo Firme and others were selling out arenas across the U.S. and Central America.

Scroll to check out the top 10 highest grossing tours by Latin artists, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. All reported shows worldwide between Nov. 1, 2022 – Sept. 30, 2023 are eligible.

Carin Leon

Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Latin Recording Academy

A decade ago, the top eight acts on the 2013 Billboard Boxscore Top Tours chart each took in more than $100 million in ticket sales. Of those, Taylor Swift and Rihanna were young superstars; Pink and Beyoncé were each in their second decade as solo performers; and three — Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi and The Rolling Stones — were legacy rock acts. (The eighth was Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson show.) Those results were typical for the time, which was why concert industry executives feared for years that their business wouldn’t have a steady supply of superstars that could fill stadiums and arenas after acts like the Stones and Elton John retired.

Now in 2023, the second full year of post-pandemic touring, 17 acts reached the $100 million mark (and 13 hit the inflation-adjusted equivalent of $132 million). Of those, nine released a debut album after 2010: Harry Styles, Morgan Wallen, Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd, BLACKPINK, Karol G, Drake, Luke Combs and Post Malone.

They look and sound differently, too. Unlike the rock acts that dominated the Boxscore charts in 2013 and for many of the years before and after, this new generation of headliners leans more toward pop, either in terms of genre (Styles, Sheeran, BLACKPINK), radio airplay (The Weeknd, Post Malone) or both. They’re more diverse, both personally and in terms of audience appeal, and more likely to score hits on the Billboard Hot 100. And they have enough drawing power to charge as much or more than legacy rock acts that appeal to an older, and presumably wealthier, audience.

To understand why so many newer acts can now gross more than $100 million, it helps to look at how that happens. To score those kinds of results, an act needs to not only sell a lot of tickets — it needs to sell them for a fairly high price. For years, most stadium acts had their roots in classic rock, and they alone could break the $100 mark for per-ticket pricing, at least partly because their audience tends to have more money and partly because fans knew they wouldn’t tour forever.

Some younger top acts use elaborate productions and cultural cachet to create that same sense of event — the fear of missing out — that makes fans willing to part with more money. That’s at the heart of the year’s top outing, Swift’s The Eras Tour, which Billboard Boxscore estimates brought in $920 million. (Swift and her team opted not to report attendance or ticket sales to Billboard Boxscore, which disqualifies her from the chart. Swift, who has previously reported her ticket sales, is not the first act to opt out, but she’s the first who would have been a contender for the top spot.)

If Swift had reported her numbers, she would certainly come in ahead of the official No. 1, Beyoncé’s Renaissance world tour, which took in $570.5 million from 55 shows during the tracking period. (Beyoncé played a final show on Oct. 1, which added $9.3 million to the tour’s overall haul.) That’s the highest single-year gross ever reported to Boxscore. Some of that success was due to pent-up demand — Beyoncé hadn’t performed as a solo artist since the 2016 Formation World Tour — and some resulted from more aggressive pricing. Many acts have raised ticket prices, apparently in order to capture more value that might otherwise go to scalpers.

Like Beyoncé’s shows, Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres world tour, which came in at No. 2 with $342.5 million from 55 concerts, had an elaborate visual component. So did Styles’ arena outing, which took in $338.2 million from 69 concerts, including nine at the Los Angeles Forum. Rounding out the top five were Wallen ($260.4 million from 44 shows) and Sheeran ($256.9 million from 46). Filling out the top 17 tours that grossed over $100 million were P!nk, John, The Weeknd, Depeche Mode, BLACKPINK, Karol G, Drake, Combs, Metallica, Dead & Company, Post Malone and George Strait.

The concert business isn’t only reacting to this trend toward younger and more diverse artists — it has played a role in making it happen. Over the last decade, the industry has shifted its focus from breaking individual acts as top touring attractions to creating a venue network that can identify artists with growth potential.

AEG and Live Nation have both adopted this strategy, and each has its own club and theater network that it uses to court artists like Wallen, Karol G, Combs and Post Malone. From there, artists can be steered into the company’s other divisions, including festivals or specialty promoters like The Messina Group, which is half-owned by AEG and this year produced tours by Swift, Strait, Eric Church and others.

This approach to developing artists as live acts focuses on boosting them to a certain level of popularity before moving on to the next. It’s paying off. The total gross of the top 10 tours is up 22% from 2022, to $2.7 billion, while the total for the top 100 is up 17%, to $7.5 billion. (These figures undercount industry growth because the time period that Boxscore used is a month shorter than in previous years — Nov. 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2023, rather than the previous period of Nov. 1 to Oct. 31.) That means 36% of the money taken by the top 100 tours went to the top 10 — and 51% went to the top 20.

That sharp rise in revenue partly comes from increased ticket prices, especially for younger artists. In fact, in a break with long-standing industry practice, younger acts are now charging more for some tickets than veterans. This year, it cost an average of $33 less to see the oldest of the top 10 touring acts, 76-year-old John (average: $166), than the youngest, 29-year-old Wallen (average: $199).

That might not last. The average price for the top 100 tours is now around $122, and fans may not be able to pay much more. A recent Peak Performance study by UTA Intelligence and Variety surveyed 1,500 concertgoers and found that over 62% said the biggest impediment to seeing more shows was the price, while 38% said the sole reason they didn’t go to a concert they wanted to attend was the expense.