From Kendrick To Seinfeld: Pollstar’s Global Concert Pulse by Genre

One of the main ways we help subscribers stay up-to-date on the latest reported tour information here at Pollstar is by sharing our weekly Global Concert Pulse chart. We decided to look at those numbers a bit closer this week and break down the 100 tours on that chart by genre.

Evan Agostini / Invision / AP – Kendrick Lamar
Global Citizen Festival, Great Lawn @ Central Park, New York City

On the chart for the week of Nov. 13 there were 15 country artists, five rap/hip-hop performers, five Latin acts, three comedy shows, three children’s acts, three tribute acts, two dance shows, two R&B performers and single occurrences of blues, classical, Christian, magic and electronic music. Also, there are 57 pop/rock artists.

For the purposes of this analysis we have stuck to the genres determined by Pollstar‘s online routebook. Of course, the chart is based on reports submitted to Pollstar in the last three months.

Obviously the dominance of pop/rock on the chart stands-out. In our database we gather ’70s rock acts, punk, metal and pop idols under one, large unwieldy umbrella, which is not monolithic in any shape or form. The top 25 on the chart includes 15 pop/rock artists, including U2, Celine Dion, Guns N’ Roses, Lady Gaga, Lionel Richie and Iron Maiden which no doubt pains metalheads and pop superfans alike.

Country is the next most-prominent genre, with 15 tours. The top position in the genre was held by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill at number 12. The couple hit 35 cities, beating nearly the entire chart in the number of dates category except John Mayer with 36 cities and matchbox twenty / Counting Crows with 41 cities. Those acts charted at 20 and 43, respectively.

Also rounding out the Top 25 in country are Florida Georgia Line at 14, Zac Brown Band at 15 and Luke Bryan at 19. Jason Aldean and Sam Hunt sit just outside the Top 25, at the 26 and 27 positions, with both averaging reported grosses above $700,000.

The only female country solo artist on the chart is Mary Chapin Carpenter, at number 76.

The Top 50 Concert Pulse chart generally includes all the current arena and stadium tours that report regularly to Pollstar, including the smaller arenas which scale down to shows of around 4,000. The subsequent acts in the bottom half of the survey tend to stage in theatres where attendance figures hover around 1,000-to-3,000 capacities.

This explains why you don’t see children’s acts in the top 50, as many of these productions are held in theaters, though they can have multiple showings. “Kidz Bop Live,” “Peppa Pig Live,” and “Shopkins Live!,” for example, are the three kids’ shows on the chart, at the 63, 75, and 84 positions, respectively.

Five rappers appear on the chart, with Kendrick Lamar leading the pack at number 13. J. Cole follows close behind at 17 and Logic closes out the arena contingent at 53. Post Malone at number 74 and 2 Chainz at number 77 hold down the theatre portion of the chart. Post Malone sits in the number 3 spot on Pollstar‘s Elite 100, thanks to the strength of the singles “Rock Star” and “I Fall Apart.” He will likely play larger venues on his next trek. He currently has several Australian festivals booked for January of 2018.

Latin artists also hold their own in this chart, with Marco Antonio Solis being the highest placed at number 22. He is followed by Ricardo Arjona at the 31 position, Maluma at the 35 spot, Gloria Trevi / Alejandra Guzman at 38, and Miguel Bosé at 47. Notably, these shows are all arena acts

The three comedy acts that made the grade were Jerry Seinfeld, Ron White and Chonda Pierce, at numbers 18, 64, and 93. Two dance shows also showed up, “Dancing With The Stars,” and “Bring It! Live” at the 60 and 66 positions. The placing of these dance shows is particularly notable because it is actually near the top of the theater tours on the chart.

The only magic act was David Blaine at number 61, again, near the top of the theater circuit.

Mary J. Blige and Earth, Wind & Fire/Chic Feat. Nile Rodgers were the two R&B tours on the chart, at the 49 and 51 positions.

The sole ambassadors of their genres on the chart are: Hans Zimmer for classical at number 37; TajMo’: Taj Mahal & Keb Mo’ for blues at number 71; Steve Aoki for electronic at number 79; Big Daddy Weave for Christian at number 97.

Unsurprisingly, the three tribute acts on the chart all play the music of bands who do not currently tour. The Australian Pink Floyd Show, Dark Star Orchestra, and Get The Led Out – American Led Zeppelin appear at the 70, 82, and 83 positions, though Roger Waters, the original Pink Floyd bassist, charted at number 7 and still plays back catalog. Also, Dead & Company still play lots of Grateful Dead tunes, like Dark Star Orchestra.

Finally, we have two artists that are joint-categorized as another genre blended with folk. Steve Earle & The Dukes is classified as country/folk and they charted at 91.

The Avett Brothers are classified in our database as a mixture of pop/rock and Americana, making them our only Americana artist on this week’s chart. They placed at 46.