Madonna's 'Celebration Tour' is 2024's highest-grossing so far: Report
Madonna's Celebration Tour has been declared the highest-grossing worldwide tour of 2024, according to Pollstar's mid-year report. The tour reportedly saw an average ticket price of $208.85, resulting in an average gross of $2,794,007 from over 13K tickets sold per show. This led to a total sale of over 8.56 lakh tickets across the reported 34 shows out of a total of 65 dates. The tour began in October 2023 and ended on May 4.
Why does this story matter?
The live music industry has seen a stabilization in the first half of 2024, following years of record-setting ticket sales after the post-pandemic touring boom. Meanwhile, when considering Pollstar's results, it's important to note the absence of Taylor Swift's Eras tour, which does not disclose its financial figures. However, in December, Pollstar announced that the Eras tour had become the highest-grossing tour of all time and the first to surpass the $1B mark.
Top-grossing tours of 2024: Madonna, Bad Bunny, and more
Following closely behind Madonna in gross earnings is Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny with his Most Wanted Tour earning $174.6M. Luis Miguel secured $169.4M, U2 garnered $135M from their Sphere residency, and Karol G made a whopping $111M. The top ten list also includes Bruno Mars ($102M), Coldplay ($100M), K-pop group SEVENTEEN ($74M), Eagles ($69M) and sensational rapper Nicki Minaj ($66M).
Global and North American live music grosses in 2024
In 2024, the overall global gross surpassed $3B for the first time, up from $2.83B in 2023. The average gross was slightly down from last year at $1.37M versus $1.47M, while ticket sales remained nearly the same (24.1M in 2024 versus 24.3M in 2023). In North America, Bad Bunny topped the total gross tally with $174.6M, followed by Madonna with $148M and U2 with $135M.
Tour cancellations amid strong ticket sales in 2024
Despite strong ticket sales, 2024 has seen major artists canceling their tours. The Black Keys called off their international arena tour in recent months. Jennifer Lopez also made a significant change to her tour, shifting the focus from her new album to a greatest hits show. She canceled her This Is Me... Now: The Tour earlier in June to focus on her personal life instead.
