Beyoncé claims the year’s top-grossing tour, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. Between May 10 and Oct. 1, the Renaissance World Tour grossed $579.8 million and sold 2.8 million tickets. With a tracking period of Nov. 1, 2022 – Sept. 30, all but one of those shows powers her record-breaking finish at No. 1 on Billboard’s year-end Top Tours chart.
Last year marked the first full year-end tracking period after the pandemic forced venues to close. In 2022, Bad Bunny ruled the annual recap with $373 million, on his way to a record-breaking $434 million during the ’22 calendar year. This year, that record washes away, as Queen Bey returns with her first solo headline tour in seven years.
The Renaissance World Tour earned $570.5 million and sold 2.7 million tickets during the 2023 tracking period, plus another $9.3 million and 53,200 tickets in Kansas City on Oct. 1. That makes it the biggest one-year sum for an artist in Boxscore history, dating back to the mid-1980s. Both Bad Bunny and Ed Sheeran grossed more than $434 million in 2022 and 2018, respectively.
The tour’s $580 million is a towering total, but even more impressive when achieved in less than five months. Beyoncé topped four of Boxscore’s monthly recaps this year, including a record-setting three-peat where she grossed more than $100 million in July, August and September. Her August haul of $179 million is the largest reported monthly gross since the charts launched in February 2019.
The Renaissance World Tour is the seventh highest grossing tour in the Boxscore archives. Based on Billboard’s projections, official reports for The Eras Tour would give Beyoncé some company, with Swift joining her as the only two women and only American soloists in the top 10. Beyoncé is also the only Black artist on the all-time ranking.
The well-documented combined domination of Beyoncé and Swift breaks up the boy’s club that has ruled the last handful of year-end Boxscore recaps. Bad Bunny, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Ed Sheeran (twice) and U2 have topped the last six annual Top Tours charts. The last times that women presided were in 2015 and 2016, topped by – who else – Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, respectively. Before that, women only led the year-end list three times: Tina Turner in 2000, and Madonna in 2004 and 2012.
The year-end Top Tours chart breaks ground even beyond Queen Bey’s contributions, and without the official help of Swift. There have never been as many tours above $300 million (three), $200 million (seven) or $100 million (17). Harry Styles, Morgan Wallen, BLACKPINK help lead one of the youngest and most genre-diverse annual recaps, while being the highest-grossing year ever for Billboard Boxscore. Despite the 11-month tracking period marking the shortest year-end window ever, 2023’s top 100 tours grossed a combined $7.5 billion, up 17% from last year, and up 53% from the pre-pandemic total in 2019.
Dating back almost 40 years, all Boxscore rankings are based on figures reported to Billboard. Data is reported from a variety of official industry sources, from artist managers and agents to promoters and venue executives.
Reporting is and has always been voluntary, and some artists, venues, and promoters opt to withhold data from representation on our charts. Notably, figures for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour have not yet been reported to Boxscore. While that disqualifies her from appearing on year-end charts, the tour’s widely recognized ubiquity is acknowledged throughout Billboard’s year-in-touring coverage. Click here to read more.
All reported shows, worldwide, between Nov. 1, 2022 – Sept. 30, 2023 are eligible for year-end 2023 consideration.
