BETA
THIS IS A BETA EXPERIENCE. OPT-OUT HERE

Breaking

Edit Story

Madonna's World Tour Is 2024's Highest-Grossing On Record (But Taylor Swift Will Probably Win Out)

Following

Topline

A Madonna tour that has faced criticism for late starts and a missing spark of "razzle-dazzle" is still the highest-grossing of the year so far, according to data from Pollstar, though Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour, making its way across Europe, is likely to eclipse it once box office data become available.

Key Facts

Madonna’s Celebration Tour, which started last year, grossed $178.1 million so far with a $208.85 average ticket price and average attendance of 13,378 people per show, the live music trade publication said in its mid-year report.

Bad Bunny, who held the record for most-streamed artist in a single day in Spotify history before Taylor Swift broke it this April, is in a close second place with his 48-stop Most Wanted Tour, which grossed $174.5 million.

Mexican singer Luis Miguel is in third place with a $169.4 million gross over the course of his self-named tour, which has wrapped up its Latin American, United States and Canadian legs so far this year and started its European shows on June 28.

U2’s residency in Las Vegas, the first at the now-iconic Sphere venue, grossed $134.7 million over just 15 tour dates in 2024 (plus 25 in 2023) to become the fourth highest-grossing tour of the year and the one with the highest average ticket price at $352.86 each.

Karol G’s came in at No. 5 with her Mañana Será Bonito Tour, which has grossed more than $110 million so far this year and will continue across Europe and end in Brazil in September.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour didn’t make this year’s list because she has not allowed her official box office totals for The Eras Tour to be reported by trade publications, according to Pollstar, though the group used stadium capacities and potential gross estimates to name The Eras Tour as the first tour to cross the billion-dollar mark in its 2023 year-end charts.

Pollstar did not do a mid-year estimate for The Era’s Tour in 2024, but has projected it will gross another $1 billion on the tour as it continues this year, meaning it is likely to have grossed over $2 billion by the time it ends in December.

Top 10 Tours Of 2024 According To Pollstar

  1. Madonna — $178,816,424
  2. Bad Bunny — $174,574,606
  3. Luis Miguel — $169,452,777
  4. U2 — $134,727,198
  5. Karol G — $111,296,660
  6. Bruno Mars — $102,177,957
  7. Coldplay — $100,459,853
  8. SEVENTEEN — $74,590,596
  9. Eagles — $69,407,908
  10. Nicki Minaj — $66,215,800

Key Background

Three separate lawsuits were filed against the pop star for false advertising, unfair and deceptive trade practices and other claims after she allegedly started her concerts in Los Angeles, Brooklyn and Washington D.C. hours after they were scheduled to begin.

Big Number

1.6 million. That's how many people attended a free Madonna concert in Rio de Janeiro in May to conclude the Celebration Tour. Promoter Live Nation called it the “largest ever standalone concert for any artist."

Chief Critic

A pop concert is a theater of personality and craft, not one of plot or character development. But a narrative this messy needed more razzle-dazzle,” pop music critic Mikael Wood wrote for the Los Angeles Times.

Further Reading

Madonna Sued Again For Late Concert Start—And ‘Pornography’ (Forbes)

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Is First In History To Gross Over $1 Billion, Report Says (Forbes)

One Of Madonna’s Biggest Hits Is Surging–And There Are Several Reasons Why (Forbes)

Madonna Reaches A Special Landmark With Her Latest Album (Forbes)

Follow me on TwitterSend me a secure tip

Join The Conversation

Comments 

One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. 

Read our community guidelines .

Forbes Community Guidelines

Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.

In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site's Terms of Service.  We've summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.

Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:

  • False or intentionally out-of-context or misleading information
  • Spam
  • Insults, profanity, incoherent, obscene or inflammatory language or threats of any kind
  • Attacks on the identity of other commenters or the article's author
  • Content that otherwise violates our site's terms.

User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:

  • Continuous attempts to re-post comments that have been previously moderated/rejected
  • Racist, sexist, homophobic or other discriminatory comments
  • Attempts or tactics that put the site security at risk
  • Actions that otherwise violate our site's terms.

So, how can you be a power user?

  • Stay on topic and share your insights
  • Feel free to be clear and thoughtful to get your point across
  • ‘Like’ or ‘Dislike’ to show your point of view.
  • Protect your community.
  • Use the report tool to alert us when someone breaks the rules.

Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site's Terms of Service.