Touring
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Shakira is the top Latin touring artist on the Billboard Boxscore midyear chart, grossing $130 million on her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour so far. Shakira reported 21 concerts for the midyear touring period, which runs from Oct. 31, 2024, to March 31, 2025, landing her the number two slot overall on the […]
After six years of working at famed Minneapolis venue First Avenue, Sonia Grover, Nate Kranz and the rest of the staff got phone calls one November morning in 2004 telling them to come get their stuff — the nightclub was closing. The legendary venue, best known as Prince’s stomping grounds and the site of his 1984 Purple Rain film, would be shuttering its doors for good.
“We were just kind of told the doors are going to lock, so if you have anything in the building, get your s— and get it out of here,” says Kranz, who serves as First Avenue’s GM.
Just five months earlier, the venue’s original founder, Alan Fingerhut, had fired the club’s longtime management team of Steve McClellan and Jack Meyers, as well as financial advisor Byron Frank, and decided to run First Avenue himself, which ultimately led the club into bankruptcy.
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Kranz and Grover, who is First Avenue’s current talent buyer, got a friend to pick them up in a station wagon and immediately went down to the iconic venue, which was built inside an old Greyhound bus depot, to get their band folders and, most importantly, their “huge OfficeMax style paper calendars,” says Kranz. “We’re like, ‘Look, we have no idea what the hell is going on if we lose that calendar.’”
As Kranz and Grover were scrambling to move the many shows they’d booked to other Twin City venues, other staff were grabbing bits of memorabilia that have not made their way back to First Avenue since. At the same time, the local population went into fight mode.
“It can’t be overstated how much love there is for First Avenue from the local community,” says Kranz, “and that includes our government officials.”
The staff quickly started communicating with Byron Frank, who had made the wise financial decision to purchase the building only four years earlier and stepped up to prevent the venue’s imminent closure. To help in this effort, then-mayor R.T. Rybak (a frequent First Avenue visitor) moved the bureaucracy along at lightning speed — making calls to federal judges, getting the bankruptcy proceedings to move at a record pace, securing a new liquor license and anything else the club needed.
“The mayor was invaluable in being able to tell the city staff, ‘This is not the normal course of business. This is important to the city. This is the heartbeat of our city. You need to move this to the top of the docket,’” says Kranz.
Within two weeks, First Avenue and its attached 250-capacity venue 7th Street Entry were hosting shows again, and the city has remained protective of the cultural institution that Grover calls “a truly special, magical place” and which has hosted such legendary artists as Frank Zappa, Tina Turner, The Kinks, B.B. King, U2 and Run-DMC.
To commemorate First Avenue’s 40th anniversary in 2010, the staff decided to add the now-iconic white stars to the formerly all-black building. The stars — introduced in honor of one of the venue’s former names, Uncle Sam’s — feature the names of bands and artists who have played First Avenue, with some stars left blank for those to come. Grover explains that the staff knew the paint job would be relatively quick and decided not to make a public announcement about the process.
“For a day or so, the building was white or cream colored and, oh, boy, did we learn the hard way that we should have made an announcement beforehand,” says Grover. The paint job was in the local news and all over social media, with community members calling the venue in a panic. “The community feels like…Byron owned First Avenue at the time, but this belongs to all of us, so everyone should have known what was going on.”
The stars are now a tourist attraction for a building whose reputation precedes itself. The distinctly curved building was originally the Northland-Greyhound Bus Depot. The space was designed at the height of luxury travel in 1937, with public phones, shower rooms, air conditioning and checkered terrazzo floors (which remain to this day) in stunning art deco style. Just over 30 years later, the bus depot relocated, and Minneapolis native Fingerhut had the vision to turn the space into a rock club called The Depot in 1970. Later in the decade, it took on the name Uncle Sam’s, but by 1981, it became First Avenue and 7th Street Entry and was led by the partnership of McClellan and Meyers.
Nathan Kranz, musician Bob Mould, Sonia Grover and Dayna Frank.
First Avenue
The 1980s also saw the emergence of one of Minneapolis’ greatest sons, Prince, and in a sense, First Avenue became his venue. Anyone who worked at or frequented the venue has a story of seeing Prince there, says Grover, but “I don’t think people ever took it for granted.”
“The vibe was always different if Prince was in the room,” says Kranz. “It gave [people] the feeling of, ‘Well, s—. I’m definitely in the right f—ing spot right now.’ ”
First Avenue’s current stage is one custom-designed by Prince for the filming of Purple Rain, and Frank added the only VIP space in the venue, the Owner’s Box, to give the superstar a space to watch any shows he attended, with or without notice.
“Every year we go down the list of, ‘What can we do to get better, to improve?’ We’re like, ‘What about a new stage?’ But how do you tear up the stage that Prince personally designed? You don’t,” says Dayna Frank, First Avenue’s current owner. She adds that what makes First Avenue “so special is that mix of authenticity and legacy while still having the highest-class modern amenities, best sound system and best traffic flow in one location.”
Dayna Frank became the steward of First Avenue in 2009 after her father, Byron Frank, had a stroke. More than a decade before her father got sick, Dayna — who had grown up at First Avenue and attended Sunday night dance parties with other Minneapolis and St. Paul teens — moved away. But once he fell ill, “I stepped in and realized how special and irreplaceable it was,” she says. “I wanted to help maintain it and do what I could to keep it active and keep it independent. My dad thankfully recovered, but I had fallen in love with working there and the people there and stayed on after he got better.”
With 16 years under her belt, Dayna still considers herself “a newbie” on the staff. Both Grover and Kranz have more than 25 years at First Avenue, and the venue’s website boasts an entire page dedicated to employees who have worked there for more than a decade.
“We love live music. It’s so fun to be part of it in a behind-the-scenes way,” says Grover when asked about her longevity at the club. When she started in 1998 as an assistant to the booker, the company only ran First Avenue and 7th St. Entry. Now, First Avenue Productions books more than 1,000 shows annually at the additional venues it owns: the 350-cap Turf Club, the 650-cap Fine Line, the 1,000-cap Fitzgerald Theater and the 2,500-cap Palace Theatre, which it co-operates with Jam Productions.
In 2020, as the live music business shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dayna doubled down on her commitment to remaining an independent venue when she became the catalyst for the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA). Prior to the pandemic, many indie venues were siloed and viewed each other as competitors in an already thin-margin business. But she had visited indie venues in other cities and gotten to know owners in a non-competitive manner, which led to her reaching out once the pandemic started to create the trade organization.
“If 10 years ago, I had said, ‘Let’s start a trade association,’ there would have been a lot of ‘Why? What’s your angle? Why are you asking me for my economic data?’” says Dayna. “But it was this moment where either we were all gonna survive or none of us were gonna survive.”
Dayna subsequently became the founding president of NIVA, which successfully lobbied for the 2021 Shuttered Venue Operators Grant that provided more than $16 billion in funds to help independent live event venues survive through the pandemic.
“There is something unique about having the ability to control a room or make decisions based solely on what is right for the local community and the local artists and the folks on the ground,” says Dayna of keeping the legendary venue independent. “I’m the only owner. There’s not private equity. There’s no investors. Nate, Sonia and I can do what we feel is right with no outside influences and no ulterior motives. That’s a really wonderful and powerful position to be in.”
Lee Anderson‘s wife tells him he’s a hoarder, but he prefers to see himself as a Renaissance man of many interests — pop art, ’80s movie posters, ’90s TV action figures, baseball cards and a closet filled with more than 600 pairs of sneakers.
“I love having people over because I love showing off all the s— I have,” says Anderson, who is a year into his new role as president of Wasserman Music — a job that places him at the intersection of commerce and the biggest names in pop culture. He says his zeal for finding, signing and developing talented artists is no different from his passion for adding a rare or sought-after find to his various collections and is part of the skill set that makes him exceptional at his job.
Known for his unmistakable phone voice and large-frame glasses, the Bridgeport, Conn., native cut his teeth in live music working at Burlington, Vt., venues like Nectar’s and Metrodome. Eventually, he joined Paul Morris to work on the agency side of the business, which brought him to Paradigm and then Wasserman Music in 2021, where, in addition to overseeing Team Wass, he works with a client list that includes Skrillex, Zedd, Swedish House Mafia, Charlotte de Witte and Disclosure.
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How has your day-to-day changed now that you are president?
I have more responsibility for the business and everybody there, and I’m carving out extra time to make sure I allocate the right amount of time to each client [that I represent]. The net result is that I’m working significantly more hours. It’s looking at how to actualize and optimize all the opportunities that we have across our company with what’s already there. That doesn’t require a larger head count. It requires figuring out how to work better together and how we look at the whole business.
What’s a recent accomplishment under your leadership?
The hiring of Kevin Shivers, James Rubin and Cristina Baxter from WME. Having senior agents of their caliber, at the top of their game, join Wasserman was a milestone for our company, and I’m proud that we’ve been able to build a place that those three would want to join. Our culture of transparency played a role.
What kind of clients are you looking for?
We want to work with clients that we’re aligned with in terms of vision and approach. We’re known for discovering talent early and growing them into stars. But we try to be very thoughtful and honest and make sure that each agent who’s assigned a client has the bandwidth to give them what they deserve to get there. We really believe that everything starts with strategy — short and long term. It builds accountability for us as a business to do what we say we’re going to do. If we don’t, you should fire us.
Let’s talk about breaking your client, DJ-producer Yousuke Yukimatsu. He has landed some big U.S. bookings, including top billing at Portola Festival. How did you connect?
I saw him on the internet, and a manager that I have a relationship with called me and said, “Have you seen this?” I was like, “Yeah, I’ve been obsessed with it for like the last three days.” He said, “Look, we’re in touch with him, there’s a manager in place, and we’re talking about potentially working with her. Would you be interested?” I said, “Absolutely.” I got on the phone with them and laid out the way I would approach it. And I did what I said I was going to do.Wasserman Music President Lee Anderson on the Festival Headliner Shortage & Why Fyre Fest Isn’t an Anomaly
What’s your strategy for him?
Generally, when you’re coming in, there are metrics of ticket sales or streams or social media engagement. But he’s unique. This wasn’t a producer with a bunch of his own records. He’s very much a Laurent Garnier-style selector and very respected DJ and technician. There was a huge swell of excitement around him. Danny Bell at Portola Festival saw that right away. Huston Powell with C3 saw that right away. We began to put some headline shows up, selling out 3,000 and 5,000 tickets instantly. He had goals, and I understood the aesthetic and types of events and artists he wanted to play around and the types of rooms that he wanted to be in. And we were able to put that plan together.
Are festivals still a good outlet for breaking artists?
Yes, but it has to make sense. There were times when we’d envision our artist playing in front of 15,000 people, and they’d actually be performing for closer to 400 because they’re on at 2 o’clock. So now I ask a number of questions: Is this going to be an impactful moment? Who else is playing at that time? I usually start with that before I even start with the fee. I don’t think I’ve ever had a deal die over the money.
Is there a headliner shortage in the festival space?
It’s hard to get a headliner these days, and that has hurt the festival ecosystem to a degree. I don’t want one client playing 40 festivals in a summer. I want my clients playing the right moments, with different cultural ecosystems that appeal to different audiences.
What makes a good festival talent buyer?
The best talent buyers are the ones that are calling me and chasing me about an act that I haven’t even pitched. Buyers who like to put cool packages together.
Do you want your agents pitching all the big festival buyers?
If an agent sends a list of hundreds of acts to a festival buyer, they’re not doing their job. If an agent’s doing a good job, they should have a plan and targets for their clients. They should be inviting buyers to a show or sending music or doing all the things it takes to get those bookings.
Billy McFarland flamed out trying to revive Fyre Festival. Could another disastrous event like that happen again?
As long as there are ambitious, naive people all over the world who do not recognize their blind spots or realize they’re capable of failure, there will be festivals that crash and burn. I just don’t want to work at the agency that’s got half the lineup on the next one that goes down. It’s very important for agencies to be diligent about what they’re looking at in terms of live opportunities for their clients — and not just look at an offer with a big guaranteed number. Fyre is not the only time we’ve seen things like that.
Tell me about some of the things you collect.
I love Danny Clinch photography. My two favorite artists of all time are Jay-Z and Phish, and I have Clinch prints of both. And for my birthday like eight years ago, Clinch printed and framed a photo that he had taken of me and Skrillex together at Bonnaroo and signed it for me. That is one of my most prized possessions. I collect a lot of toys and pop culture items from the ’80s and ’90s like Miami Vice action figures still in the packaging or like Cheech and Chong or Jay and Silent Bob. I have all the McDonald’s cups from the Dream Team, and I collect sports cards and baseball cards. I’m into sneakers and have over 600 pairs, mostly Nikes, as well as the old Charles Barkley and Deion Sanders sneakers and stuff that I probably will never wear. But I have to have them because I had them when I was in sixth grade or something.
What’s the most you’ve spent on an item for your collection?
I spent seven years collecting all of the original Hasbro World Wrestling Federation action figures from the late ’80s and ’90s. Some of those in the newer, limited series are hard to get, and I paid between like $300 and $400 per figure.
Benson Boone has announced a run of arena dates in the U.K. and Ireland later this fall. The U.S. star’s run will kick off at Belfast’s SSE Arena on Oct. 23, before heading to Dublin’s 3Arena, the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, Glasgow’s OVO Hydro, the Utilita Arena in Birmingham and closing with a two-night […]
The last time SB19 headed out on an international trek was for the Pagtatag! World Tour in 2023, where the Filipino-pop group played 18 shows throughout four countries across the Philippines, United States, Canada, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. Following the release of the group’s Simula at Wakas EP, which saw lead single “DAM” score them their first No. 1 on a U.S. Billboard chart earlier this year, the quintet is gearing up for an even bigger worldwide tour.
As Billboard exclusively revealed in February, SB19 set 19 dates on the Simula at Wakas World Tour, spanning cities in the Philippines, Taiwan, the U.S., Singapore, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE this year. In addition to playing some of the biggest venues of the group’s career, SB19 teased more cities and shows to be announced soon, with visits to Australia, Japan, and Hong Kong on the horizon.
Pablo, Josh, Ken, Stell and Justin previously told Billboard that their fans, known as A’TIN, should “stay tuned for new genres and performances, plus fresh arrangements of our older tracks,” adding how that “from our last tour they have seen more of our individuality but this time, we will be coming stronger.”
A stronger, bigger tour naturally requires a stronger, bigger setlist. So, before the group plays the first dates across Asia this spring, and returns to the U.S. in July, here is Billboard’s dream setlist for the upcoming Simula at Wakas World Tour, which will hopefully include most, if not all, of these global hits.
“DAM (Extended Ver.)”
Image Credit: 1Z Entertainment / Sony Music Philippines
Shakira‘s show scheduled for Thursday night (May 29) at Boston’s Fenway Park was canceled just hours before it started “due to unforeseen circumstances,” the stadium announced on social media. Jason Aldean and Brooks & Dunn’s concert set for Friday night at the ballpark has also been called off. “The Shakira and Jason Aldean and Brooks […]
Growing up in rural Minnesota, Stacy Vee didn’t have particularly lofty ambitions. While attending St. Cloud State University, she says, “my dream job was maybe I could be a special events planner at this hotel on the freeway one day and do weddings and conferences.”
Vee did end up planning events — just on a far larger scale than that highway-adjacent hotel. Now she’s executive vp of Goldenvoice/AEG, where she has been in charge of the world’s largest country music festival, Stagecoach, since 2015, greatly expanding the three-day, Indio, Calif.-based event that launched in 2007 — and altering perceptions of country music in the process. Attendance at the late-April festival, capped at 85,000 per day, rivals its eclectic cousin, Coachella, which Goldenvoice holds on the same grounds the previous two weekends each year (and which Vee is also involved in booking).
On the day Billboard meets with her, Vee is sentimental, sad, elated and tired. It’s the last day of Stagecoach and she’s sitting in her trailer in the artist compound, which she has made cozy with a bowl of fresh nectarines, macrame pillows strewn on the sofa, vintage lamps, Christmas lights and cowboy boots and hats.
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After all these years, she still gets pre-festival jitters. “On the night before day one of Stagecoach, I woke up at one and I just couldn’t get back to sleep,” she says. “It’s excitement and nerves and we’ve been working on the show for so long.” In fact, she adds, “I’ve been working on 2026 for a year already. It’s 80% booked.”
Vee, who is 48, has her hand in every facet of the festival. She smiles as the clock strikes 1 p.m. and Quiet Riot’s “Cum on Feel the Noize” blasts through the loudspeakers, signaling that the grounds are open for another day. “Heck, yes. I pick the song that plays when gates open for Stagecoach!” she says. The first day’s choice was AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” and day two was Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid,” but high winds delayed the opening, so no song was played. “I was feeling a little metal this year,” Vee says. “I very seriously don’t take myself and Stagecoach too seriously.”
When Goldenvoice president Paul Tollett started Stagecoach eight years after he had co-founded Coachella with the late Rick Van Santen in 1999, Vee would’ve seemed an unlikely choice to be his successor to helm the festival, given how little she followed country music.
“I listened to a little Mavericks, a little Dwight Yoakam, a little Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks in high school,” she says. “But then after that, I was really into indie and alternative and college rock.”
Stacy Vee
Ashley Osborn
So much so that after graduation, Vee worked as promotion director at a Minneapolis alternative radio station for two years before moving to Los Angeles in 2000. She became an agent’s assistant at WME before shifting in 2002 to Goldenvoice (which AEG had acquired the previous year), where she started as former Concerts West co-CEO Paul Gongaware’s assistant and quickly joined Tollett’s team as well.
“I had noticed [Tollett] didn’t have an assistant and Coachella was coming up, so I asked if I could also assist him. Paul Gongaware’s response was, ‘Well, if you want to work twice as hard for the same money… go for it!’ I said, ‘Thank you!,’ thinking it was the coolest thing that had ever happened to me, professionally,” she says.
That willingness to step in wherever needed made Vee stand out, says Tollett, to whom she still reports. “She was organized from the beginning and could always follow the conversation. That’s what I love about Stacy,” he says.
The two worked hand in hand on Coachella and then Stagecoach. Though her indie and alternative rock tastes were more aligned with Coachella, she learned country through osmosis. “Over the years, I began anticipating needs, studying and putting ideas in front of him,” she says. “Paul graciously allowed me the opportunity to run with the ball, make decisions and get my feet wet booking.”
Vee took on increasing responsibility until, in 2015, Tollett told her, “You’re ready,” and handed her the Stagecoach reins.
“You could turn over anything to Stacy. That’s the key,” he says. “It turned out to be Stagecoach, but it could have been anything. When you’re someone like her, where success is where you just want to be, she’s going to work toward it, no matter the challenge or the hurdle.”
Plus, by then, country was shifting; edgy country-rock artists like Nikki Lane and Sturgill Simpson had come onto the scene. “The first time I heard those two, it was a switch that kicked on for me,” Vee says. “I was like, ‘OK, this s–t is cool.’ It always was, but I just really identified with it.”
From left: Nikki Lane, Stacy Vee, Diplo, and Sierra Ferrell backstage at Stagecoach Festival on April 25, 2025 in Indio, Calif.
Julian Bajsel
Just as Coachella’s aesthetic reflects Tollett, Stagecoach’s now reflects Vee. She has made country cool again by, paradoxically, expanding Stagecoach’s purview beyond the genre’s strict musical parameters. That’s especially evident on the Palomino Stage, a tent that has far less capacity than the Mane Stage but is viewed as the hippest spot to play. At Palomino, Vee books acts that, if not country, are compatible and share fans with core country artists; legends like Tom Jones, Smokey Robinson and, this year, Lana Del Rey have appeared there.
Regardless of the stage, Vee says, “I think my stamp on Stagecoach is looking just outside of country and bringing these artists in. Nelly toured with Florida Georgia Line, so he belongs at Stagecoach. Post [Malone], he’s Texan. During the pandemic, he was doing at-home performances, and I saw him cover a Sturgill Simpson song. I was like, ‘That man has to come play Stagecoach.’ ” In 2024, Post Malone performed a full set of country covers on the Mane Stage months before the release of his star-studded country album, F-1 Trillion. “I keep my eyes and ears peeled for people who just belong in the space,” she says. This year, that also included rapper BigXthaPlug, who has a collection of country collaborations coming out.
She has learned that veteran acts of all genres — in addition to Nelly, this year’s Palomino roster included Backstreet Boys, Goo Goo Dolls, Creed, Crystal Gayle, Sammy Hagar and Tommy James & The Shondells — pack the tent. “All bets are off in there, and I can get as creative as any person ever could at a festival,” she says. “People just love to sing some of these iconic anthems and songs where everyone just puts their arms around each other.”
Still, Vee knows she can impose her personal tastes only so far: “I still have to sell 85,000 tickets, so I have to get the biggest headliners. I have a job to do, but I can put some of myself in there, too.”
Vee is always looking for ways to enhance the experience for festivalgoers, such as Stageshop Marketplace, a vintage clothing store run for several years by Lane that also included its own performance space. That’s also how both Diplo and Guy Fieri ended up as cornerstones of the festival. Fieri’s Stagecoach Smokehouse, which serves barbecue and holds cooking demonstrations with music guests, debuted in 2018 and has become a popular hangout. “This was Stacy’s idea,” Fieri says. “If you’re going to bring people here and you’re going to set this environment around country music, you have to give them all the senses. Stagecoach is Stagecoach because of Stacy Vee.”
Even before Diplo put out his first country album in 2020, he wanted a platform at Stagecoach, but Vee, protective of her patrons, had to be convinced he was coming for the right reasons. “Diplo’s managers really wanted him to come and play Stagecoach,” she says. “I was like, ‘I don’t think so. He can’t come here and make fun of people.’ They said, ‘He wants to respectfully come into this space. He wants to collaborate with these artists. He wants to write.’ His managers came to Stagecoach [in 2018], and each of them were wearing T-shirts that had Diplo wearing a cowboy hat.”
Diplo played a late-night set in 2019 and now curates the Honky Tonk Tent, which programs during the day as well. The tent has become so popular that even members of the Backstreet Boys were left waiting in line late one afternoon this year when Paris Hilton’s DJ set, with special guest Lizzo, packed the tent so tightly that security quit letting people in.
“Stacy is a superstar. She took a random idea me and my managers cooked up in a trailer backstage at Coachella and turned it into a full-blown tent at Stagecoach with my name on it,” Diplo says. “She saw the trend of country taking over pop light-years before anyone else and has built such an amazing festival with something for everyone — old school, new school, outlaw and pop. Stagecoach is my favorite show every single year… Stacy truly is the queen of Stagecoach, and I always look forward to seeing her, even though, somehow, she always manages to have better outfits than me.”
Stacy Vee
Miranda McDonald
Vee considers Fieri and Diplo part of her brain trust. “I find it fascinating — other people’s interpretation of Stagecoach, other people’s interpretation of country music,” she says. “I want to know what draws Guy in. I want what Diplo is excited about. A way for me to keep learning and to keep expanding is to have this trusted posse of people that we work with and see what ideas they bring in.”
In addition to Stagecoach, Vee is in charge of Morgan Wallen’s new festival, Sand in My Boots, which took over the Gulf Shores, Ala., grounds and mid-May calendar slot of former all-genre Goldenvoice fest Hangout. She also runs June’s Buckeye Country Superfest in Columbus, Ohio, and is on AEG’s touring team for Zach Bryan, who this year headlined Stagecoach alongside Jelly Roll and Luke Combs. “Anything high level for country music domestically, or even internationally, I have my hand in,” she says.
Beyond country, she runs Goldenvoice’s Just Like Heaven, a May indie-rock festival in Pasadena, Calif., and is on Coachella’s five-person booking committee. “We lock ourselves in a conference room a lot and just discuss ideas,” she says of the Coachella booking process. “We throw up a lot of grids, throw up a lot of stats. Take a look at playlists. Just all the things.”
Her future seems limitless, bolstered by a team, including Tollett and AEG Presents chairman/CEO Jay Marciano, that supports and empowers her. And unlike the college kid whose goal was to work at the local hotel, her aspirations have greatly expanded, especially when it comes to her role in building country music.
“[I want to] pull people into our community because it is such a loving, vibrant, supportive, artistic, fulfilling community,” Vee says. “I want to not let people underestimate the genre or the fans. I want to grow the genre. I want to change country music. That’s my dream.”
This story appears in the May 31, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Coldplay was back on the road in April, extending the group’s reach to Hong Kong and Goyang, South Korea (14 miles from Seoul). According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the British band is No. 1 on the monthly Top Tours chart, with $67.4 million in the bank and 502,000 tickets sold.
Coldplay has been one of the most dominant acts on the Boxscore charts since the 2022 kickoff of the Music of the Spheres World Tour, reigning over seven Top Tours charts. The band’s touring calendar has become an accurate predictor of chart results: Its last batch of shows was in January, which matches its sixth monthly victory. Before that, Coldplay had dates in November, aligning with its fifth monthly win. Coldplay has only one show scheduled in May, but a busier calendar throughout the summer immediately makes the band prohibitive competition for the top spot over the next several months.
With its April triumph, Chris Martin & Co. tie Bad Bunny and Elton John for the most months at No. 1 (seven). Trans-Siberian Orchestra follows with five (December of every year since the chart premiered).
Beyoncé and P!nk have each led four times. The latter did it twice on the Beautiful Trauma World Tour in 2019 and twice more with dates from Summer Carnival and Trustfall Tour in 2023-24. Beyoncé dominated the summer of 2023 with the Renaissance World Tour and played the first show on Cowboy Carter Tour on April 28, squeaking onto the month’s list with one date.
Coldplay’s April boils down to four shows at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Stadium and six at Goyang Stadium in South Korea. The first set of dates grossed $32.9 million and sold 184,000 tickets. The second set moved $34.4 million from 318,000 tickets. That’s enough to secure the top two positions on the Top Boxscores chart.
The grosses of Coldplay’s two stops are close, separated by just 4%. But the longer stay in Goyang sold 73% more tickets, which means that the ticket price in Hong Kong had to be much higher. At Kai Tak Stadium, Coldplay averaged $179 per seat, while the Korean shows paced $108.22.
Added to Coldplay’s January run in the United Arab Emirates and India, the 2025 Asian leg wrapped with $124 million and 1.1 million tickets. Combined with the 2023-24 leg in Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and more, Asia accounts for $253.4 million on the Music of the Spheres World Tour. Worldwide, the trek has brought in $1.3 billion and sold 11.4 million tickets, extending its lead as the bestselling tour in history.
Coldplay picks back up on May 31 in Stanford, Calif., kicking off a 17-show run in the U.S. and Canada. Finally, there are 12 dates scheduled in the U.K., closing out the three-and-a-half-year tour with 10 shows at London’s Wembley Stadium. By closing night, the trek will be approaching $1.5 billion and 13 million tickets sold.
From one of the biggest tours of all time nearing its close to the opening shows of one of 2025’s hottest tickets, Kendrick Lamar and SZA are No. 2 on April’s tally. The first four shows of the Grand National Tour brought in $43.2 million and sold 180,000 tickets.
Lamar and SZA premiered their co-headline trek on April 19 at Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium, before hitting Houston, Dallas and Atlanta. These are the first stadium shows for each artist, having previously conquered arenas in 2022 (Lamar’s The Steppers Tour) and 2023 (SZA’s SOS Tour).
Already, the Grand National Tour is the biggest tour of either artist’s career, and they are only 10 shows deep. Including six reported shows in May, which will count toward next month’s charts, the trek has earned $115.7 million and sold 508,000 tickets through the May 17 show at Seattle’s Lumen Field.
Thirteen shows remain on the pair’s schedule in North America, before traveling to Europe for 16 dates. Before its close on Aug. 9 in Stockholm, the Grand National Tour will be one of the biggest co-headline treks in history.
April was not just the stadium launchpad for Lamar and SZA. In the closing days of the month, Lady Gaga played her first two ticketed shows of the year at Mexico City’s Estadio GNP Seguros (April 26-27), hitting No. 6 on Top Boxscores and No. 10 on Top Tours. Beyoncé opened Cowboy Carter Tour in Los Angeles (April 28), reaching Nos. 14 and 15, respectively. And Post Malone unleashed the Big Ass Stadium Tour with assistance from Jelly Roll in Salt Lake City (April 29).
Beyoncé, Gaga and SZA help to make April a banner month for women on tour. They are three of 10 women on the Top Tours chart, up from seven in March, six in February, and just one in January. Still less than half, the 33% representation in April represents the most women on a Top Tours chart in its 58 editions, surpassing nine, or 30%, in December 2019 and January 2022.
In between SZA and Gaga, Shakira is No. 7 after leading the list in February and March. The first Latin American leg of her 2025 tour ended mid-month, handicapping her potential rank. Elsewhere, Charli xcx and Olivia Rodrigo carry over tours that began in 2024. Kelsea Ballerini, Mary J. Blige and Kylie Minogue wrapped up spring runs, while Katy Perry began The Lifetimes Tour with five shows in Mexico.
Rezz is the latest artist to relocate a show from the Brooklyn Mirage, the New York venue that was meant to reopen earlier this month but remains closed amid ongoing permitting issues. On Wednesday (May 28), the producer announced on social media that her May 30 performance will now take place at SummerStage in Central […]
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.