Harry Styles has been a constant presence on Billboard’s Top Tours chart, especially since the post-pandemic return of live music. He was No. 3 on 2021’s abridged year-end ranking, No. 21 on 2022’s midyear list and finished at No. 4 on that year’s overall tally. In between and since then, he has appeared on 13 monthly charts, including 10 top five appearances and three at No. 2. Now, finally, he takes his place atop the heap, dominating the 2023 midyear chart.
According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Styles’ Love on Tour trek grossed $138.6 million and sold 1.2 million tickets across 38 shows between Nov. 1, 2022, and April 30, 2023. That puts him at No. 1 on both Top Tours (ranked by gross revenue) and Top Ticket Sales (ranked by paid attendance).
Though this is Styles’ first solo appearance at No. 1 on Top Tours, he has reached the summit before as a member of One Direction. The five-member global sensation topped the 2014 year-end list and the 2015 midyear chart.
As Styles’ consistent chart presence indicates, his midyear triumph is the result of a constant grind, with the pop star road warrior making his way to the top at a pivotal moment in the two-year tour. The Love on Tour run was long delayed (pandemic-affected tours continue to appear on the Boxscore charts) but built upon the successful tours behind both 2019’s Fine Line and 2022’s Harry’s House.
Styles’ win is also an example of Boxscore’s global reach, as the artist’s chart totals include shows in California, Central and South America, Australia and Asia.
Styles began the tracking period with the back half of 12 shows at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif. (The first half were in October, which counted toward the 2022 year-end rankings.) He returned for three additional dates at the venue in January that were rescheduled from November, completing a $47.8 million haul over 15 concerts at the Los Angeles-area arena. Of that total, $28.9 million goes toward the 2023 charts, placing Styles at No. 3 on Top Boxscores.
From mid-November to mid-December, Styles played 14 shows in Mexico and South America, adding $40.4 million and 546,000 tickets. Then, following his final return to California (the three last Kia Forum shows, as well as two at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Calif.), he swept through Australian stadiums, earning $47.6 million from 373,000 tickets sold.
Those legs include three appearances on Top Boxscores, at Nos. 15 ($16.4 million; Accor Stadium, Sydney; March 3-4), 20 ($15 million; Marvel Stadium, Melbourne; Feb. 24-25) and 27 ($11.1 million; Allianz Parque, São Paulo; Dec. 6, 13-14).
Finally, Styles played six shows in Asia, adding $16.1 million and 122,000 tickets to his totals.
On Top Ticket Sales, Coldplay joins Styles as the only other act to sell over a million tickets during the tracking period. Coldplay’s 1.11 million tickets fall 9% short of Styles’ 1.22 million.
But on Top Tours, the margins are even thinner. Styles’ $138.6 million barely defends his title against Elton John’s late-surging total of $138.2 million, maintaining a lead of just 0.3% over his fellow Brit. Like Styles, John has been a consistent player on Billboard’s monthly, midyear and year-end Boxscore charts since the launch of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour. Notably, he was No. 1 on the midyear rankings for 2019 and 2020 and has topped seven monthly listings, which is more than any other act.
The presence of pop/rock British acts from last year’s Boxscore charts doesn’t end with Styles and John. Coldplay and Ed Sheeran, who come in at Nos. 3 and 4, respectively, on the midyear list, were Nos. 5 and 3, respectively, on last year’s recap. The only other act in last year’s top five was Bad Bunny, who winds up at No. 6 on the midyear chart, bumped by fellow Cárdenas Marketing Network artist Daddy Yankee.
Carryover from one year-end chart to the next is common, as major tours often continue beyond Billboard’s cutoff date of Oct. 31/Nov. 1. Further, tours are also blurring the lines of traditional album cycles, carrying on beyond a typical one-year span. Styles’ Love on Tour run has spanned the release of two albums, while Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour began as support for 2021’s = (Equals) and continues following the release of – (Subtract) in May.
Those blurred lines disappear, however, for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, which is celebrating her entire discography rather than focusing on last year’s chart-topping Midnights. Launching in mid-March and continuing through the summer, the trek will likely crash the year-end rankings with other summer tentpole tours. But Styles won’t fade away. While Love on Tour became one of Boxscore’s highest grossing treks of all time in May, 30 shows still remain — and he’ll play stadiums in Europe before wrapping July 22 in Italy, perhaps on his way to a $500 million finish.
