The time has come: Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road played its final show on Saturday, July 8. Almost five years after launching, the tour grossed $939.1 million and sold 6 million tickets according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore.
John announced his impending retirement from touring with the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour back in January 2018, ultimately kicking off the jaunt in September of that year. He presented it as a three-year goodbye, and other than extending the timeline by two years due to COVID-19’s global shutdown, he stuck to his promise. John maintains that he does not want to tour again, but noted he might play sporadic shows in the future.
After claiming the title of the highest-grossing tour in Boxscore history earlier this year, John extended his lead with 49 arena dates in Europe, following an arena run in the Spring of 2019 and a sweep of stadiums last year. There were four North American stints, also volleying between arenas and stadiums, plus two blocks of shows in Oceania.
After all of those shows, all around the world, John made it to the top of the heap. Watch below as, from September 2018 to July 2023, the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour surpassed the biggest tours ever on its way to No. 1.
John has been patient, ranking among the biggest acts on various Boxscore charts since 2018. Starting that year, he was No. 22 on the year-end Top Tours chart, then No. 4 in 2019, No. 1 in 2020, and returned in 2022 at No. 2. In between, he was No. 1 on midyear charts for 2019 and 2020, and then No. 2 in 2022 and 2023.
John has also been the king of Billboard’s monthly Top Tours chart. He crowned the inaugural list for February 2019 and returned to the top six more times, each time extending his lead for the most months on top. He was No. 2 another eight times, plus five months between Nos. 3-5.
In all, that’s 20 months in the top five of 27 total appearances. Charts for June and July haven’t yet been published, though John will likely score his 28th and 29th appearances when they do.
John’s world tour divides its 330 shows (one of those, his set at Glastonbury Festival, does not factor into his gross or attendance since it’s a multi-artist festival) into 183 in North America, 101 in Europe and 46 in Oceania. See below for how his grosses in each continent stacked on top of one another, combining to more than $930 million.
North America – specifically mainland U.S. and Canada – was the most fruitful region for John’s farewell tour, amounting to $567.7 million and 3.5 million tickets. That’s 61% of the world tour’s total gross. Europe comes next with $218 million and 1.5 million tickets, followed by Australia and New Zealand, combining for $134 million and 889,000 tickets.
When Ed Sheeran set his record and wrapped The Divide Tour in August 2019, John’s tour had only grossed $217.8 million from its first 108 shows. With less than a third of Sheeran’s gross, the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour was too young to be among predictions for all-time challengers. Plus, the tour had stuck to arenas, limiting its potential ceiling. It wasn’t until May 2022 that John stretched to stadiums.
The arena portion of John’s tour ended last spring, when it had already grossed $488.7 million from 219 shows. In the 61 stadium dates that followed, he added $341.5 million. All said, the stadium portion amounts to just 19% of all Farewell shows, but 36% of its earnings.
After breaking Sheeran’s record, the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour became the first concert tour to gross $800 million and then $900 million.
Further, John’s final shows further extend his lead as the highest-grossing and best-selling soloist in Boxscore history. Over 1,623 reported shows, he’s grossed $1.98 billion and sold 20.6 million tickets. Farewell tours haven’t always actually been a final farewell, but if this is it, John is ending his historic touring career comfortably on top.
