Chart Beat
Page: 2

05/29/2025
The multi-genre smash rules Billboard’s 100-position Top Hot Country Songs of the 21st Century retrospective. Below, find a breakdown of the 2000-24 top 10.
05/29/2025
Linkin Park’s 2024 album From Zero returns to a bevy of Billboard’s album charts (dated May 31) following its deluxe reissue with additional tracks on May 16. The set reenters Top Album Sales (at No. 5), Top Hard Rock Albums (No. 4), Vinyl Albums (No. 8), Top Alternative Albums (No. 9), Top Rock Albums (No. 15), Top Rock & Alternative Albums (No. 17), Indie Store Album Sales (No. 17) and the Billboard 200 (No. 71).
From Zero debuted at No. 1 on all of the above charts last November, save for the Billboard 200 and Top Album Sales, where it arrived at No. 2.
Trending on Billboard
The album was bolstered with three new studio recordings (“Up From the Bottom,” “Unshatter” and “Let You Fade”) on its digital and streaming editions, while physical formats (two double-CD sets and two double-vinyls) also added in five live tracks. The same week From Zero’s deluxe impacted the album charts, one of the new songs added to the project, “Up From the Bottom,” hit No. 1 on both the Alternative Airplay and Mainstream Rock Airplay charts.
In the tracking week ending May 22, From Zero earned 14,000 equivalent album units (up 173%), with traditional album sales comprising 7,500 of that sum (up 531%). The latter figure pushes the album’s reentry on Top Album Sales at No. 5.
Elsewhere in the top 10 of the all-genre Top Album Sales chart, five albums debut in the region from Morgan Wallen, Jin, BOYNEXTDOOR, Sleep Theory and MEOVV.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units.
Wallen’s I’m the Problem launches at No. 1 on Top Album Sales with a career-best 133,000 sold, marking his fourth top 10-charting effort (all have reached the top three). Jin’s Echo enters at No. 2 with 35,000 sold, garnering the singer his second effort to reach the top three. BOYNEXTDOOR’s 4th EP: No Genre starts at a career-high No. 3 with nearly 14,000 sold; it’s the fourth top 10 for the act.
Sleep Token’s Even in Arcadia falls 1-4 in its second week on the chart (nearly 8,000; down 90%), while the aforementioned From Zero reenters the list at No. 5.
Kali Uchis’ Sincerely. retreats 2-6 in its second week (just over 7,000; down 81%), Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping GNX climbs 8-7 (7,000; up 6%) and P1Harmony’s DUH! dips 3-6 in its second week (nearly 7,000; down 69%).
Rounding out the latest top 10 is Sleep Theory’s first full-length set Afterglow, which scores the band its first top 10 (and chart entry) with its No. 9 debut (6,500) and MEOVV, who sees their debut EP My Eyes Open VVIDE start at No. 10 (6,000).
After leading Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart since last January, Bad Bunny’s “DTMF” cracks the No. 1 slot on the Latin Airplay chart (dated May 31). It’s the third song from Debí Tirar Más Fotos, his sixth solo album, to hit the top of the overall Latin radio ranking.
“DTMF” advances 2-1 in its 13th week on the Latin Airplay chart, after a 31% gain in audience impressions, to 8.8 million, earned in United States during the May 16-22 tracking week, according to Luminate.
Trending on Billboard
“DTMF” marks the third track from the album Debí Tirar Más Fotos to hit No. 1 on the tally, after “El Clúb” and “Baile Inolvidable” each charted at the summit for two weeks between February and March.
As Benito claims the Latin Airplay crown, he adds a 28th chart-topping hit –a run that started in 2018– and enters a tie with Daddy Yankee for the fourth-most since the ranking began in 1994. Here’s a recap of those artists with the most wins, with Shakira standing out as the sole female representation among those acts with at least 24 No. 1s:
No. 1s, Artist37, J Balvin35, Ozuna32, Enrique Iglesias28, Bad Bunny28, Daddy Yankee24, Maluma24, Shakira
Rauw Alejandro & Luis Angel ‘El Flaco’ Score Big Wins: Elsewhere on the Latin charts, Rauw Alejandro and Luis Angel ‘El Flaco’ score additional gains.
Rauw Alejandro returns to the summit on the Latin Pop Airplay chart almost a year after “Touching The Sky” ruled for one week (August 2024). His recent single, “Carita Linda” jumps 3-1 in its sixth week with 4.15 million in audience impressions, up 19%, earned during the same period. The song becomes the Puerto Rican’s seventh ruler, and third unaccompanied by any other act.
Meanwhile, Luis Angel ‘El Flaco’ scores a second champ on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart with “Vuelve a Mi.” The song, which climbs 5-1, becomes the airplay Greatest Gainer of the week after a 44% boost in impressions, to 6.7 million.
“Vuelve a Mi” also takes Luis Angel to his third top on the overall Latin Airplay chart, where it rallies 14-4 in its 11th recap.
Another new album, another historic week on the charts for Morgan Wallen.
On this week’s Billboard 200 (dated May 31), Wallen’s new album I’m the Problem follows his previous releases Dangerous: The Double Album and One Thing at a Time to a No. 1 debut — this time with a 2025-best 493,000 units moved, according to Luminate, falling just 8,000 short of the 501,000 posted by One Thing upon its 2023 bow. (The latter album, which spent a 2020s-best 19 weeks atop the chart, holds at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 this week, while Dangerous slides from No. 11-12.)
Meanwhile, it launches 29 new tracks onto the Billboard Hot 100, joining eight returning Wallen Hot 100 hits for a record-setting 37 simultaneous entries on the chart, breaking his own record of 36 from One Thing‘s debut week. The 37 tracks are led by the Tate McRae-featuring “What I Want,” which debuts atop the chart — marking Wallen’s fourth No. 1 on the listing, and McRae’s first.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
How do these incredible numbers compare to our pre-release expectations? And will I’m the Problem end up lasting on the chart the way its predecessors have.
Trending on Billboard
1. Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem debuts at No. 1 with 493,000 units moved – the biggest first-week number of 2025, and just 8,000 off the total One Thing at a Time bowed with two years earlier. Is that number higher, lower or about what you expected?
Elias Leight: That count seems right on target. Streams fell off a little from One Thing at a Time, but sales increased. And Wallen had his best sales week ever on vinyl, with 48,000 copies sold.
Jason Lipshutz: About what I expected. Morgan Wallen’s sky-high popularity with country fans has remained more or less consistent over the past few years, and while none of the singles from I’m the Problem have been as chart-dominant as “Last Night” from One Thing at a Time (yet), he’s still been able to rattle off No. 1 hits in the interim, including “Love Somebody” from the new album. Multiply that maintained success with another sprawling track list, and it’s no surprise that I’m the Problem bowed with a similar stat line to his previous 30-plus-song full-length.
Melinda Newman: It feels downright petty to say I’m surprised it didn’t surpass One Thing at a Time’s opening week — though 8,000 down is a blip when you’re in the half million range. However, Wallen’s star has only continued to ascend, and the huge pop success of “I Had Some Help” with Post Malone for sure introduced him to new fans, which made me think his first week would have been higher.
Jessica Nicholson: That number is slightly lower than what I would have expected, given that the length of this album (just barely) exceeds the length of One Thing at a Time, and this album includes many of the same collaborators, including Eric Church and ERNEST, as its predecessor, in addition to another Post Malone collab.
Andrew Unterberger: Almost exactly what I predicted, maybe a tiny bit higher. The trending of the streaming numbers for Wallen’s latest round of pre-release tracks indicated that he might have been in for a bit of a dip there from One Thing at a Time, which the vinyl release predictably mostly offset anyway. The Morgan Wallen rocket ship may have finally hit its peak, but we still probably have some time before it defintively starts heading back down to earth.
2. All but one of the 37 of the tracks hit the Hot 100 this week, led by the brand new Tate McRae-featuring “What I Want” at No. 1. Does the song sound like the obvious breakout hit of the non-previously-released tracks on the set, or do you think another will ultimately pass it?
Elias Leight: There are a few songs that sound like potential hits: “TN,” co-written by Ashley Gorley, the man with 75 No. 1s on his resume, has stadium singalong ambitions and a strikingly memorable chorus, all staccato state abbreviations and slippery assonance, while “Kick Myself” takes the self-recrimination that courses throughout the album and dresses it up as sunny pop-rock.
That said: On One Thing at a Time, the obvious breakout was not necessarily the massive hit. The title track, which translated late 1970s Fleetwood Mac into commercial country gold, seemed like a slam dunk; it peaked at No. 10 on the Hot 100. Meanwhile, the more muscular country hip-hop hybrid “Last Night” spent 16 weeks at No. 1.
Jason Lipshutz: While “What I Want” isn’t the most immediate song on the I’m the Problem track list, the combined star power of Wallen and McRae is too sizable to deny, or bet against. Wallen has linked up with McRae at the exact right point for maximum commercial gains, considering the hot streak that the ascendant pop star has been on over the past two years; following hits like “Greedy” and “Sports Car,” and by far the biggest album debut of her career with So Close to What, McRae is enjoying a sharp upward trajectory, with plenty of attention paid to any new music. Considering that Wallen’s core fan base remains country listeners, McRae’s appearance on “What I Want” should continue to corral curious pop fans, and power the song to a sustained chart run.
Melinda Newman: In terms of the Hot 100, it felt like the immediate go-to since it paired Wallen with a rising pop star and was his first duet with a woman (which was a goal of his after releasing several duets with male artists). The song feels a little ephemeral and unlikely to best the six weeks “I Had Some Help” spent at No. 1. As far as a song surpassing it, that really depends upon what that the label decides to push at radio. They’ve released some of the top selections already and the Post Malone collaboration on this set, “I Ain’t Comin’ Back,” doesn’t have the zest of “I Had Some Help” (and has already been released weeks ago to streamers).
Jessica Nicholson: Cross-genre collabs tend to do pretty well in garnering Hot 100 hits and this song has definitely raised its hand as a fan favorite. I feel like this is likely the Hot 100 breakout hit of the non-previously released songs.
Andrew Unterberger: I think its primary competition at the top of the charts in the weeks to come isn’t from any of the other new tracks, but from “Just in Case,” the advance track that still seems to have the most juice among his fans (and for my money is the best of the ITP singles thusfar). It might come down to which radio gloms onto first, though certainly with the built-in pop appeal of “What I Want” — thanks to the presence of another already-minted radio star in McRae — it should have the higher ceiling there.
3. Wallen’s 37 simultaneous entries on the Hot 100 (also including his feature appearance on Post Malone’s 2024 Song of the Summer “I Had Some Help”) breaks a record he had previously set with the One Thing release week. Do you think this will be his last time breaking that record, or do you see his albums getting even bigger in size and/or popularity in the future?
Elias Leight: As big as he is, there are still pockets of listeners who don’t listen to much country and seem to be finding out about him for the first time (several of them appear to be music critics). And in a streaming-happy world, there is nothing preventing Wallen from releasing a 50-track album next time — though the vinyl copies would start to get a little unwieldy. He could put out a call for songs tomorrow and get bombarded with 100 top-shelf demos.
But even if he breaks the record again, at a certain point, the law of diminishing returns kicks in; adding tracks 40 to 45 has a lot less impact than adding tracks 15 to 20. And as Wallen told Theo Von, when writing that many songs, it becomes “hard to not say the same things I’ve said before.” “A lot of things that were successful and easy in the past were just whiskey, drinkin’, all that stuff,” he explained. “I’ve almost explored every angle of that that’s possible.”
Jason Lipshutz: I mean, never bet against Morgan Wallen releasing a hit album with an improbably long track list — maybe the next one has 40 songs, or 50! — but 37 is a LOT OF simultaneous entries on the Hot 100 chart. I’m going to go against conventional wisdom and say that this is a high-water mark that Wallen either won’t try to top, or won’t be able to top, on his next effort, and that no one else will, either; I could see this record standing for quite a while.
Melinda Newman: He’s created a monster of his own doing. His fans have rewarded him for the mega-packages with huge streaming numbers so there’s no real reason to stop now. He’s proven critic-proof and for good reason. Almost every review, including Billboard’s, criticizes the number of tracks and the sheer number tread the same heartbreak road, but our opinion doesn’t mean squat to him (and shouldn’t). On the other hand, he’s set enough records that I’m not sure he needs to keep chasing them, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the next album is less. He could cut back to 15 now and simply say that was how many he was inspired to record, or he could go to 50 and say the same. He’s writing his own rules at this point.
Jessica Nicholson: It is possible that this could be his last time breaking that record, as fans could eventually get fatigued by super-sized albums. However, his most recent albums have been blockbusters and his fans are fervent about any new music he releases, so I could certainly see his next release being as lengthy or even longer.
Andrew Unterberger: I feel like the streaming numbers dipping slightly for this release despite the even-more-packed tracklist means that Wallen and his team have basically taken the volume approach as far as it’ll go. That doesn’t mean that his next album will only be 12 tracks or anything — nobody wants to risk their numbers potentially being cut in half, or worse — but I’d best this arms race he’s been waging with himself over the past couple albums’ tracklists might be coming to an end, at least.
4. If you could have Wallen go further into any particular direction that he explores on I’m the Problem – either musical or thematic – where would you have him go?
Elias Leight: He’s rightly gotten a lot of credit for his easy way with genre hybrids. This savvy blending defines some of his biggest hits, including “Last Night” and “You Proof”; strip the guitar off “Just in Case” and it could be a song for Drake or SZA, while “Miami” would barely need any adjustments to fit onto RapCaviar. But there’s also Wallen’s buoyantly tuneful side, the stuff of “One Thing at a Time” and “Single Than She Was” on the last album and “TN” on this one. On a long album full of romantic vitriol and emotional desolation, songs in this mode provide brief eruptions of uplift — a necessary counterbalance.
Jason Lipshutz: Regardless of style or quality, any 37-song album is going to feel less focused than a full-length with a more traditional track list. I would love for Wallen to try and make his next project a 10-track affair — whittling down his collection to his strongest material, and presenting his most cohesive artistic statement. Wallen has conquered his genre with these sprawling, stream-happy albums, but such a move could prioritize creative growth in a bold new way.
Melinda Newman: The songs that are the most compelling on the album are the ones where he gets away from woe-is-me love songs (though he’s got that down) and looks at the world around him like “Working Man’s Song.” Hands down, the best song on the album is album closer “I’m a Little Crazy,” where he — like most of us — feels burdened by the insanity he sees around him, and yet is unable to look away. The world-weary tone of his vocals suits the song’s message perfectly and he manages to record and issue-oriented song without taking a political stand, which is not an easy feat these days.
Jessica Nicholson: At least one song on the album, “Working Man’s Song,” finds Wallen digging into twangy Southern rock territory and lets him display a gravelly side to his voice that we don’t often hear. Also, songs such as “Jack and Jill” are a departure from the heavy string of heartbreak songs on this album, and it would be nice to hear him continue delving into other such topics.
Andrew Unterberger: In my opinion, the most consistently engaging Wallen material always comes when he takes a real hard look at himself — not in the sense where he allows that he occasionally drinks too much and behaves poorly in relationships, but in the sense where he acknowledges that his fundamental impulses are self-destructive in a way that he legitimately doesn’t know if he can (or would) get away from. “Kick Myself” is the perfect example from this album, and perhaps the best song on here; I wish he returned to the subject as often as he returns to whiskey and romantic toxicity.
5. As I’m the Problem debuts, One Thing at a Time remains in the Billboard 200’s top five, and even 2021’s Dangerous: The Double Album is just outside the top 10. By the time of Wallen’s next album, do you expect I’m the Problem will have shown similar chart endurance?
Elias Leight: Dangerous: The Double Album is the top Billboard 200 album of the 21st century, while One Thing at a Time broke Garth Brooks’ record for most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a country album. Both those releases spent at least 100 weeks in the top 10, making Wallen the first artist to ever accomplish that feat. Barring a comet hitting the earth or a zombie apocalypse, I’m the Problem will be in circulation for a long time.
Jason Lipshutz: Sure. What evidence is there to doubt him? Over the past half-decade, Wallen’s superpower has been his ability to release albums that linger around the top of the Billboard 200 for years and years, in a way that has become singular in its might. I’m the Problem could be more or less potent than his previous albums, depending on who you ask — but its one inarguable commercial quality is that it will be on the charts for a long, long time.
Melinda Newman: Yes. He’d already had three No. 1s on Country Airplay with songs from the set before its release and the one thing we’ve learned is there seems to be no burn-out on Wallen’s music with his fans. They soak up whatever he is putting out and can’t seem to get enough. There are several more songs that are sure to be released to radio which will bring in casual fans who haven’t already worn a hole in the album yet. His music wears well and it wouldn’t surprise me if two years from now when we have a new Wallen album that he has two or three albums still in the top 15.
Jessica Nicholson: It likely will. There are already some sharp fan-favorites on this album, like “Just in Case,” “Love Somebody” the Eric Church collab “Number 3 and Number 7” and the McRae duet. With his upcoming tour dates sure to feature many songs on this project, it will give fans even more reason to keep streaming its many songs.
Andrew Unterberger: I expect its endurance relative to One Thing will be like its first week numbers — maybe not quite as potent, but close enough you’d have to really squint to see much of a difference.
Newly crowned American Idol winner Jamal Roberts, a 27-year-old gym teacher from Meridian, Miss., debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart (dated May 31) with “Heal.” He capped off his championship run on the ABC competition May 18 with a stirring rendition of the faith-based track, which was written by Tom O’Dell, who released his version in 2013.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Released May 18, Roberts’ “Heal” sold 9,000 downloads in the United States in the week ending May 22, according to Luminate. It tops Gospel Digital Song Sales, marking his initial No. 1; he previously hit No. 4 with “He’s Preparing Me” earlier in May. On the all-genre Digital Songs survey, “Heal” opens at No. 2, granting Roberts his first top 10 in his rookie appearance. The spiritual power ballad also drew 918,000 official U.S. streams in the tracking week.
Trending on Billboard
Meanwhile, Roberts is joined on Digital Song Sales by two fellow American Idol finalists: Breanna Nix with “Higher” (No. 4; 5,000 sold), and John Foster with “Tell That Angel I Love Her” (No. 6; 4,000 sold). They finished in third and second place, respectively, in the series’ latest season.
Notably, the three acts’ haul outpaces that of American Idol contestants from a year ago, when champion Abi Carter was the sole competitor to appear on the Digital Song Sales chart (dated June 1, 2024) following the finale, with “This Isn’t Over” (No. 23; 2,000 sold).
We Get an ‘Amen’
Pastor Mike Jr. adds his record-extending seventh straight career-opening leader on Gospel Airplay as “Amen” lifts 2-1. He co-authored the song with Adia Andrews, David Lamar Outing II and Terrell Anthony Pettus.
Pastor Mike Jr., from Birmingham, Ala., last led Gospel Airplay with “Windows” for a week in June 2024. Before that, he reigned as featured on Kierra Sheard’s “Miracles,” for a week in July 2023, and with his own “Impossible,” featuring James Fortune (two weeks, April 2023); “Amazing” (two weeks, May 2022); “I Got It” (four weeks, beginning in March 2021); and “Big Rock City” (10 weeks, beginning in February 2020).
In addition to owning the career-opening record run, Pastor Mike Jr. boasts the longest streak of Gospel Airplay No. 1s overall. Tasha Cobbs Leonard and Tamela Mann follow with active streaks of six consecutive chart-toppers. (Cobbs Leonard ranks at No. 7 on the latest list with “Do It Anyway,” a week after it reached No. 6.)
Additional reporting by Alex Vitoulis.
On Wednesday (May 28), Billboard revealed its midyear Boxscore charts, celebrating the top-grossing and best-selling artists, venues, and concert promoters around the world between Oct. 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025. Amid the pop, rock, R&B and Latin acts that blanket the Top Tours ranking, an unprecedented string of K-pop artists are in the mix, with five such acts among the all-genre top 50.
SEVENTEEN leads the pack, as it did for K-pop on midyear recaps for 2024 and 2023. But after grossing $30 million on the 2023 list, and $67.5 million for 2024, the group is No. 3 on the overall tally with $120.9 million and 842,000 tickets sold, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. The group is sandwiched between Shakira at No. 2 ($130 million) and Eagles at No. 4 ($112.2 million).
SEVENTEEN is the highest-ranking Korean act ever on the all-genre midyear list, surpassing BTS’ No. 4 rank in 2022. BTS did manage a matching No. 3 rank on 2019’s year-end tally, but hadn’t played enough shows in the first half of that chart year to appear on the midyear chart.
Not only has K-pop’s top artist essentially doubled its midyear gross for the second consecutive year, but the bench is deepening. This year’s all-genre top 50 includes five K-pop acts, up from three in 2023 and 2024, and two in 2022. The threshold for K-pop’s top five is $25.1 million at the midyear point – this time last year, it was $3.1 million.
After SEVENTEEN, ATEEZ and J-Hope are next at Nos. 2-3 on Top Tours by Genre (K-pop), each with earnings of more than $28 million. The latter is the first K-pop soloist to make the midyear overall Top Tours chart, though he previously was included with his fellow BTS bandmates. ENHYPEN and TOMORROW X TOGETHER round out the list, also within a couple percentage points of one another above the $25 million mark.
These four groups and one soloist made their millions while proving the international strength of Korean artists. During the six-month tracking period, they toured arenas and stadiums throughout Asia (SEVENTEEN, J-Hope, ENHYPEN and TOMORROW X TOGETHER), Europe (ATEEZ and TOMORROW X TOGETHER), Mexico (J-Hope) and the U.S. (SEVENTEEN and J-Hope).
Altogether, K-pop acts on the midyear Top Tours chart brought in a collective $228 million and sold 1.6 million tickets from 78 shows. That marks a 79% increase over the genre’s 2024 showing, which itself was a 93% jump from 2023. In just two years, K-pop has more than tripled its presence on the midyear chart.
Scroll down for details on the top five K-pop acts on Billboard’s midyear Boxscore report. The midyear tracking period covers all reported shows, worldwide, between Oct. 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025.

Chris Stapleton’s 2015 LP Traveller reigns as the No. 1 country album on Billboard’s recap of the first 25 years of the 21st century, as it crowns Billboard’s Top Country Albums of the 21st Century chart. The 100-position ranking is based on performance on the weekly Top Country Albums chart from the start of 2000 through the […]
On Wednesday (May 28), Billboard revealed its midyear Boxscore report, tracking the top touring artists, concert venues and promoters around the world. From October 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025, the midyear recap focuses on the biggest tours from the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025, before global stadium tours and music festivals take over the summer.
The animated graphic below shows how the top 10 tours have shaped and shifted over this six-month period.
The immediate leader was Paul McCartney. The legendary Beatle played a sold-out stadium show in Montevideo, Uruguay on the first day of the tracking period, bringing in $4.5 million from 37,573 tickets sold. Later that week, he had two dates at Estadio River Plate in Buenos Aires, adding $20.6 million and 128,000 tickets to his totals.
But by October 9, Bruno Mars stole McCartney’s thunder. Four shows deep into a six-night run at Sao Paulo’s Estadio do Morumbi, Mars’ $28.2 million surpassed McCartney’s $25.1 million. These early shows, plus Luis Miguel’s seven nights in Mexico City and Aventura’s stadium shows in Argentina and Peru, helped establish Latin America as live music’s center of gravity for the early days of the 2025 Boxscore tracking period.
Before the end of October, estimates for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour overtook Mars, McCartney and everyone else, as she began the final leg of her record-breaking two-year trek. While overall tour gross and attendance was reported by The New York Times, show-by-show data has still not been reported to Billboard Boxscore. Therefore, Swift remains absent from official midyear charts and her specific grosses in this time period have not been officially submitted.
Swift stays on top throughout the rest of the video, ultimately grossing an estimated $250 million in the tour’s final months in the U.S. and Canada. But the top 10 continued to fluctuate with November and December shows from Aventura, P!nk and Usher.
After bouncing around the top five in the late months of 2024, Coldplay asserted itself under Swift in January. The band played shows in the United Arab Emirates and India, breaking stadium attendance records for the 21st century with its two nights in Ahmedabad, India (more than 111,000 tickets each show).
Late-in-the-game moves come from K-pop boy band SEVENTEEN and Latin pop icon Shakira. Both artists grossed more than $100 million by the end of March, with Shakira banking her entire $130 million in just the last two months of the tracking period.
Coldplay, Shakira, Eagles, and Usher have all had reported shows in April and May that set them up for bigger totals by year-end. And the last few weeks have seen the kick-off for major tours by Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar & SZA and Post Malone. By the end of 2025, this top 10 will likely get shaken up several times over.
Most people wouldn’t expect to see pillows passed around a Dead & Company concert.
But for Bernie Cahill of Activist Artists Management — the firm that manages Bobby Weir, a founding member of the Grateful Dead and frontman of Dead & Company (which Cahill co-manages with Irving Azoff and Steve Moir) — the decorative pillows, handed out to fans with floor tickets during the band’s nightly performance of “Drums/Space” at its Sphere residency, serve an important purpose. Those on the floor are encouraged to lie down and gaze up at the cutting-edge venue’s towering screen, which during the instrumental segment often displays imagery of the cosmos; at other points during the band’s Dead Forever shows, audiences take in visuals from the San Francisco Bay Area to psychedelic animations.
Thanks to its massive video screen, its booking of superstar acts and its aggressively high ticket prices, Las Vegas’ Sphere — where Dead & Company alone grossed $21.6 million from six concerts in March, when it resumed shows there following a successful run last year — is again the world’s top-grossing building, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. It surpasses the top stadium (Mexico City’s Estadio GNP Seguros) and two iconic New York venues (Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall) with a $165.3 million haul at midyear, which spans from Oct. 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.
Sphere’s economic power isn’t in its show count — at midyear, the venue has hosted only 42 dates, including other residencies by the Eagles and dance artist Anyma — but in its average ticket price, which at $238 is roughly double those of Madison Square Garden ($133) or London’s O2 Arena ($105). While much of the music industry debates rising ticket prices, Sphere has shown there’s a vibrant market ready to pay a premium for special experiences delivered by top talent.
A DOWNWARD TREND: This year’s midyear charts are down significantly compared with 2024: Last year, the top 10 tours at this time had a combined gross of $1.4 billion, while in 2025, the top 10 outings have grossed a combined $1 billion, a drop of more than 28%. Among the top 50 tours, the combined gross disparity was less stark but still notable, going from $3.2 billion in 2024 to $2.5 billion in 2025, a drop of about 21%.
But this shift doesn’t necessarily signify weakness in the market. The main reason was show count: There have been fewer concerts in 2025 at the midyear point than there were in 2024. In 2024, the top 10 tours at midyear reported a combined 442 total shows for the period, compared with 245 in 2025, a 45% decline. For the top 50, the 1,425 shows reported in 2024 fell to 1,159 in 2025, a drop of 18.7%. On Billboard’s Top Promoters chart, Live Nation’s grosses were down to $2.2 billion in 2025 from $2.8 billion in 2024. But because shows are booked months, or sometimes over a year, in advance, changes in the number of total shows don’t reveal much about consumer spending or demand in early 2025.
The decline partially stems from timing. During a recent earnings call, Live Nation president/CEO Michael Rapino noted that more artists are waiting until the second and third quarters to launch their tours — and with more acts playing stadiums in 2025, more major tours are on the road in the summer, when the weather is better. The 2025 show count should increase in the next six months, which historically covers the busiest part of the year, especially in North America.
Importantly, last year’s touring numbers at midyear were unusually high thanks to U2’s venue-opening Sphere residency, which grossed $231.6 million from 38 shows during that time. That tracking period also included dozens of concerts from three major tours (Madonna, P!nk and Luis Miguel) that led to a high show count.
CHART STATS: Three acts in the 2025 midyear top 10 — Coldplay, P!nk and Eagles — also appeared in last year’s midyear top 10. And three more among the top 10 — Paul McCartney, Bruno Mars and SEVENTEEN — ranked among the top 20 at midyear in 2024. But there are some notable differences in the music genres atop the chart.
After three Latin tours reached the top 10 at midyear in 2024, only Shakira has done so in 2025. And after Travis Scott ranked No. 9 at midyear in 2024, no hip-hop artists cracked the top 10 in 2025. The highest-ranking hip-hop tour at midyear is Tyler, The Creator, who is No. 16 with $65.3 million grossed.
When it comes to ticket prices, Eagles at Sphere had the highest average price among the top 10 tours of $285 per ticket, followed by Usher, who charged an average of $179, and P!nk, whose tickets averaged $174.
The cheapest tickets among the top 10 tours were for Coldplay ($109), Mars ($118) and McCartney ($129). On average, the ticket price of the top 50 tours was $130, down 10% from 2024. On the Top Tours chart, 10 acts had an average ticket price that was under $100: Aventura ($99), Sebastian Maniscalco ($98), André Rieu ($94), Deftones ($88), Iron Maiden ($85), Trans-Siberian Orchestra ($84), Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds ($84), Cody Johnson ($77), Feid ($77) and Strait ($49).
THE TOP 10: Keep scrolling for details on the top 10 touring artists of Billboard’s midyear Boxscore period, tracking all shows worldwide from Oct. 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.
Justin Timberlake
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Barely three months after his “Not Like Us” shattered the mark as the longest-running No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, Kendrick Lamar is back for another stab at the record books.
Lamar’s “Luther” collaboration with frequent collaborator (and current Grand National co-headliner) SZA captures a record-tying 22nd week at No. 1 on the multi-metric Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart dated May 31, matching “Not Like Us” for the all-time mark since the chart became a singular, all-encompassing genre ranking in October 1958. “Not Like Us” rang up 21 weeks in charge in 2024 amid its moment in Lamar’s diss track war with Drake, and rebounded for a 22nd frame in February after Lamar’s performance of the song during the halftime show of Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9.
For SZA, the “Luther” look also returns her to a perch she once claimed: Before “Not Like Us” took the title, the singer-songwriter’s “Kill Bill” scored the most weeks at No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, 21 in 2022-23.
Trending on Billboard
As “Luther” shares the gold medal, here’s a look at the songs the most weeks at No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in its 66-year history:
Most Weeks at No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs:
22, “Luther,” Kendrick Lamar & SZA, 2024-2522, “Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar, 2024-2521, “Kill Bill,” SZA, 2022-2320, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus, 201918, “Industry Baby,” Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow, 2021-2218, “One Dance,” Drake feat. WizKid & Kyla, 201616, “Blurred Lines,” Robin Thicke feat. T.I. + Pharrell, 201315, “Be Without You,” Mary J. Blige, 2006
[embedded content]
For its 22nd week in charge, “Luther” registered 16.7 million official United States streams, 2,000 sales downloads and 60.5 million in airplay audience in the tracking week of May 16-22, according to Luminate, declines of 8%, 6% and 4%, respectively, in each metric.
Mirroring its Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs triumph, “Luther” achieves a 22nd week at No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart. The melodic rap cut remains in second place for the longest stay at the summit in the chart’s 35-year history, trailing only “Not Like Us” and its 26-week record.
While “Luther” extends its domination on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts, it surrenders the top spot on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 to Morgan Wallen’s “What I Want,” featuring Tate McRae. The new champ clips the “Luther” reign at 13 weeks – still, easily the longest-running No. 1 for both Lamar and SZA atop the flagship chart.