Kenny Chesney Moves 1 Million Tickets Again With ‘Trip Around The Sun’ Tour (And 1 Million At Gillette Stadium Lifetime)

Allister Ann – Kenny Chesney
performs at Gillette on Aug. 24, 2018.

Kenny Chesney served up another blockbuster finale for the No Shoes Nation as his “Trip Around the Sun” tour wrapped with a record-breaking, two-show engagement at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., the traditional site of his tours’ last concerts. 

He hit a new milestone at the stadium by selling enough tickets from shows on Aug. 24-25 to kick his overall attendance count beyond the 1 million mark. From all 19 of his headlining performances at the venue, the country star’s total number of sold tickets reached 1,090,326 since his first concert there during 2005’s Somewhere in the Sun tour.

Chesney also smashed his own attendance record at the stadium with this summer’s concerts. With a sold-ticket count of 121,714, the Tennessee native beat his own previous record – set last year – by 72 seats. However, his two-night stint in 2017 earned just over $12 million and holds on to the record as his best gross at Gillette, but this year’s trek is his second-highest earner on record with $11.6 million.

“It was quite emotional watching the reaction on the fan who purchased the 1 millionth ticket in Foxboro,” manager/agent Clint Higham of Dale Morris & Associates told Pollstar. “Everyone in the room was overwhelmed with emotion. The relationship, passion and love that Kenny has with his fans is unique and rare.  And they have been doing this together for a long time.” 

“The Trip Around the Sun” tour drew more than 1.2 million fans in 39 North American cities making it Chesney’s 12th tour since 2003 to top 1 million in ticket sales. Actually, only one of his tours failed to hit the 1 million mark. His Spread the Love trek in 2016 logged 910,330 sold seats, but he only played 30 dates that year – less than the 55-show average of his other jaunts. Revenue from this year’s run totaled $113 million, marking the second time Chesney has topped $100 million in sales.  The Big Revival tour in 2015 maintains the record as his highest-grossing touring effort of all time with $116 million.

In 2018 Chesney played 18 stadiums and 21 amphitheaters during an 18-week stretch, beginning with a kick-off event on April 21 at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium. As the only venue on the schedule with two performances, Gillette is the top grosser, but the stadium with the most boxoffice success among the single-show stops is MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The metropolitan New York-area venue grossed $6.8 million from 58,642 total tickets at a sold-out concert on Aug. 18. 

“When we hear that he’s set all-time attendance records at Met Life stadium, it’s mind blowing,” Higham added. “Having worked with him for 25 years, going back to the days of not being able to afford a bus, borrowing the money to play but we did it anyway.  And playing venues where no one showed up or cared. But brick by brick, Kenny defied logic and honed his craft while the business was not paying attention.   Then, one day, you look up and you are headlining arenas, amphitheaters and then stadiums.

 “This year just felt extra special, extra exhilarating and he rocked them every night and gave him them his absolute last ounce of energy possible.”