For nearly four decades, Billboard Boxscore has tracked the top tours, and touring artists, in the music industry, across various musical genres.
The 2023 Billboard Boxscore Mid-Year report, which was led by pop star Harry Styles, whose 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. But the mid-year report also included top tours from country artists Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen and Carrie Underwood.
Here, we look into the 20 top-grossing country touring artists of all time, according to Billboard Boxscore. The rankings are based on figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, dating back to 1985 and running through Aug. 16, 2023. An artist’s gross reflects all headline shows plus 50% of any co-headline grosses.
The list includes touring juggernauts ranging from George Strait and Garth Brooks to Shania Twain and Taylor Swift.
One key thing to note is that Garth Brooks’s most recent tours were not reported to Boxscore, including The Garth Brooks World Tour (2014-2017) and The Garth Brooks Stadium Tour (2018-2022). Billboard estimates Brooks would likely be within the top three top-grossing country artists of all time if those tour numbers were included; as it stands without those tour numbers, he ranks at No. 13 on the list.
Also, Taylor Swift’s ranking includes all of Swift’s touring from her 2009-2010 The Fearless Tour, through the 2013-2014 The Red Tour, but not tours after she officially announced her transition to pop in 2014 (including 2015’s The 1989 World Tour, 2018’s Reputation Stadium Tour and her current The Eras Tour).
According to Billboard Boxscore, all of these artists have grossed $100 million or more.
