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According to Pollstar's interim report, the success of Madonna's Celebration Tour has made her the highest grossing world tour so far in 2024. With an average ticket price of $208.85, the pop icon sold an average of 13,378 tickets, generating average revenue of $2,794,007, and selling a total of 856,247 tickets across 34 shows over 65 dates.
Pollstar's mid-year report looked at the industry more broadly and found that after several years of record ticket sales during the post-pandemic touring boom, live music growth slowed in the first half of 2024. There were no significant spikes or declines in percentage differences compared to past years. Total revenue in 2023 is up 51.1% over 2022, and average revenue per show is up 64.7%. But there were no spikes of more than 17% or declines of more than 15% in 2024.
Of course, there are a few things to note when examining Pollstar's findings. Most notably, Taylor Swift is absent. Tour earnings for her smash hit “Eras” tour have not been released. Nevertheless, in December, Pollstar reported that her “Eras” tour was the highest-grossing tour of all time and the first to cross the $1 billion mark. Swift, who kicked off the European leg of her “Eras” tour on May 9, is likely to top the list again this year.
While not all promoters or tours report the figures, or even all of the numbers, to Pollstar, which was acquired by Irving Azoff and Tim Lieweke's Oak View Group in 2017, the statistics certainly reveal a number of trends.
Bad Bunny comes in just behind Madonna with $174.6 million from his Most Wanted tour. Luis Miguel follows Madonna with $169.4 million, U2 comes in fourth with $135 million from the band's Sphere residency, and Karol G rounds out the top five with $111 million. Rounding out the top ten are Bruno Mars ($102 million), Coldplay ($100 million), Seventeen ($74 million), The Eagles ($69 million) and Nicki Minaj ($66 million).
From a macro perspective, 2024's global box office revenue will exceed $3 billion for the first time, up from $2.83 billion in 2023. This represents a jump in growth from 2022, when global box office revenue was estimated at $1.87 billion last year. Average box office revenue in 2024 was slightly down from last year, $1.37 million vs. $1.47 million, but ticket sales were roughly the same (2024 24.1 million vs. 2023 24.3 million). Average ticket price increased from $116 to $127 year-over-year, but average ticket sales per show decreased from 12,655 to 10,767.
In North America, Bad Bunny led the way with $174.6 million. Madonna followed with $148 million, followed by U2 ($135 million), Luis Miguel ($100 million) and the Eagles ($69 million). Overall gross revenue for the region was $2.33 billion, up 18.7% from last year's $1.96 billion. Total tickets sold increased by 17.6 million from 16.32 million in 2023, but the average number sold decreased to 8,252 from 9,071 in 2023.
The announcement comes amid a flurry of reports of big-name artists canceling tours in contrast to a year of strong ticket sales. In the past few months, The Black Keys called off their international arena tour, and Jennifer Lopez did the same after pivoting from a tour focused on her new album to a greatest-hits show.