Following a four-month hiatus, Coldplay returned to the stage in March to extremely efficient effect. Despite playing just three Brazilian markets, the band still compiled numbers large enough to secure honors as the top-grossing live act of the month. According to figures reported to Blilboard Boxscore, the British act earned $65.4 million and sold 736,000 tickets between March 10 and March 28.
That eye-popping total was amassed from $40.1 million over six shows in Sao Paulo, $8.1 million from two shows in Curitiba and $17.2 million across three dates in Rio de Janeiro.
The slate of stadium concerts in Sao Paulo marks the seventh-largest engagement in Boxscore history, both in terms of gross and paid attendance. Further, that run helps Coldplay become the third consecutive act to simultaneously lead Top Tours and Top Boxscores, following fellow Brits Elton John in January and Ed Sheeran in February.
The Brazil shows averaged $5.9 million and 67,000 tickets per show, in step with previous legs in the U.S. ($5.7 million; 53,200 tickets) and Europe ($6.4 million; 66,400 tickets). But it’s a boost from previous plays in Latin America.
Coldplay opened the tour with shows March and April 2022 in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, pacing $4.1 million and 52,600 tickets. The band returned last September for concerts in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru, running $4.6 million and 58,900 tickets per show. The Brazil run marks a 30% bump from the previous South American lap.
March is Coldplay’s second month at No. 1 on Top Tours. The band’s first trip to the top was last July with almost identical totals, when they grossed $66.7 million and sold 730,000 tickets. The 736,000 haul this month is the second-biggest monthly attendance count, only behind Sheeran’s 750,000 in June 2022.
In total, the Music of the Spheres Tour has grossed $407.7 million and sold more than 4.5 million tickets since launching in March 2022, approaching the all-time top 10 in both metrics. The band’s previous tour, the A Head Full of Dreams Tour (2016-17), sits at No. 7 on the historical ranking, with $523.3 million and sold 5.4 million tickets.
The Music of the Spheres Tour resumes in May in Europe before returning to North America in September. With close to 40 scheduled shows left to play, the entire run could be heading toward the all-time top five with more than $600 million in the bank and six million tickets sold.
Sheeran backs off from No. 1 in February to No. 2 in March, adding $43.1 million and 409,000 tickets for The Mathematics Tour. He is followed by Harry Styles at No. 3, enjoying his seventh consecutive month in the top five.
It’s the fifth month with an all-British top three since Billboard launched the monthly rankings in February 2019. All five of those occurrences have featured at least one of this month’s leaders, with Sheeran participating in four of those sweeps.
SZA is No. 4 with $23.2 million and more than 150,000 tickets on the SOS Tour. Matching Carrie Underwood last month and Karol G in October, it’s the highest rank for a female artist in more than a year based on reported figures. The only women to reach higher since returning from the pandemic were Billie Eilish, Reba McEntire and Alanis Morissette, each hitting No. 3 in February 2022, January 2022, and September 2021, respectively.
Much ado was made of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ double-duty in February, appearing twice in Top Tours’ top 10 – once by themselves and once with co-headliner Post Malone. A version of that phenomenon happens on March’s Top Boxscores ranking, as Billy Joel hits No. 27 on Top Boxscores with his latest Madison Square Garden concert, but also No. 6 with co-headliner Stevie Nicks. The first date of their brief collaborative tour earned $10.9 million at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. Both acts have further scheduled dates separately and together.
Coldplay’s dominance extends to the venue charts. Sao Paulo’s Estadio do Morumbi, home of their mammoth six-show run, is the top-grossing venue of the month, No. 1 on the ranking for venues with a capacity of 15,001 or more, but out-grossing every venue on the other capacity-specific charts as well. Estadio Nilton Santos, the band’s Rio de Janeiro stadium, follows on the 15,001+ ranking at No. 7.
T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas) and Madison Square Garden (New York) follow at Nos. 2-3, leading the month for arenas. Las Vegas scores No. 1 rankings on the 10,001-15k chart with MGM Grand Garden ($6.8 million) and 5,001-10k list with Dolby Live ($13.5 million).
The tally for venues with a capacity of 5,000 or less is led by Morsani Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, Fla., earning $6.7 million from 26 shows during March. Vegas’ Resorts World Theatre follows at No. 2 ($5.2 million), giving Sin City a top two rank on all four venue charts.
