Pollstar Mid-Year Charts:  Live Concert Business Is Back On The Upswing

Bad Bunny: #1 Tour In U.S. & World (Photo: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com)

POLLSTAR released its 2022 Mid-Year Special, with key metrics on the Top 100 NORTH AMERICAN Tour Chart up significantly, including average concert grosses increasing 24.4%, average ticket prices up 17.8%, and average tickets sold rising 5.6%. Capacity sell-through for the Top 100 NORTH AMERICAN TOURS returned to 2019 levels at 92.7%. This year's mid-year NORTH AMERICAN TOP 100 Tours is now at all-time records in four key metrics: total gross, average gross, average tickets sold and ticket price. 

BAD BUNNY's “El Último Tour Del Mundo 2022” tour was #1 on the MID-YEAR TOP 100 WORLDWIDE TOURS with $120.1 million grossed between NOVEMBER 18th, 2021 and MAY 18th, 2022. Rounding out the top 10 worldwide are GENESIS, ELTON JOHN, BTS, MORGAN WALLEN, ERIC CHURCH, EAGLES, JOHN MAYER, COLDPLAY and GARTH BROOKS. On the MID-YEAR TOP 100 NORTH AMERICAN TOURS, BAD BUNNY earned the top slot again, followed by ELTON JOHN, BTS, WALLEN, CHURCH, EAGLES, MAYER, GENESIS, BROOKS and DUA LIIPA.  

In another indicator of the health of the touring industry, the total grosses tracked on 2022’s MID-YEAR NORTH AMERICAN TICKET SALES TOP 100 TOURS chart hit $1.69B, which exceeded 2019’s mid-year grosses by $140 million. 2022’s mid-year gross is even more striking viewed against both 2020 and 2021’s numbers. In 2020, the NORTH AMERICAN mid-year gross was $795.32m, with 2021’s mid-year returning an anemic $25.65m, for a total of $821m – less than half of 2022’s mid-year gross. 

Outside of the Top 100 NORTH AMERICAN tours, the business is, to some degree, still ramping up. Globally, average mid-year grosses for the TOP 100 WORLDWIDE tours are down 2.2%, from $915K in 2019 to $894.6K in 2022; and average tickets sold is also down 14.4%, from 9,901 in 2019 to 8,475 this year. Average ticket prices worldwide, however, increased 14.2%, from $92.42 in 2019 to $105.55.

Commented OAK VIEW GROUP MEDIA & CONFERENCES DIVISION President RAY WADDELL, "The good news is fans very much are still enamored with the live experience, whether it is for next-gen headlining artists, large stadium extravaganzas, or multi-act festivals. Anecdotally, what we are hearing from the industry is arena/stadium level superstars and newer acts are performing well at the box office, while some perennial touring artists and mid-level acts, as well as some of the smaller venues and longstanding events, are experiencing sporadic softness. Overall, the industry remains very healthy, smart scaling and prudent capacity are critical, and the name at the top of the marquee still matters more than anything else."

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