Concert Market Rankings: No. 9 Nashville

Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic Bonnaroo Arts & Music Festival / Getty Images – Phish
grossed $961,568 over two nights at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater Aug. 3-4, 2021. The band is pictured at 2019’s Bonnaroo Arts and Music Festival.

Concert Market Rankings

No. 9 Nashville

Far More Than Country

REPORTED MARKET GROSS | $48,115,489

Nashville and country music have proven to be synonymous throughout the history of the city. Home to Ryman Auditorium and the Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville’s music history dates back to the 1700s, when settlers celebrated with fiddle tunes as they arrived on the shores of the Cumberland River. Today, the city remains the hub of country music, with the Nashville Sound well-known and broadcast across the radio.

Yet the market manages to be more than just country, with the genre representing only one of its five highest-grossing events of 2021. Like many markets, pop and rock were Nashville’s highest-grossing genre. 

Much of that can be attributed to The Rolling Stones’ Oct. 9 show at Nissan Stadium, where the band sold 42,964 tickets and grossed a whopping $8.95 million.

Harry Styles had the second highest-grossing box office report in the market, and its strongest arena-level showing, with 32,627 tickets sold and $4.5 million grossed across two nights at Bridgestone Arena. 

Country music still made a splash, with top earners – all playing at Bridgestone Arena – being Alabama ($1.77 million grossed from 21,066 tickets sold over two shows), Luke Bryan (one show, $1.28 million grossed, 13,984 tickets sold) and Blake Shelton ($1.22 million grossed, 13,055 tickets sold).

In fact, Bridgestone Arena hosted eight of the market’s 10 top-grossing events, contributing to the venue’s gross of nearly $25 million for the year. Another key Bridgestone moment was Dave Chappelle and Joe Rogan’s comedy show, which grossed $2.20 million from 18,063 tickets, making it the market’s third highest-grossing event of the year.

At the theater level, Nashville’s top-grossing event was Steve Martin and Martin Short with bluegrass outfit Steep Canyon Rangers at Grand Ole Opry on Oct. 24, which sold 4,294 tickets and grossed $535,510. 

With professional bull riders, WWE, Monster Jam, Disney On Ice, and Cinch World’s Toughest Rodeo, Nashville has much more to offer than the country music for which it’s best known.

Check out Pollstar’s inaugural Concert Market Rankings chart at the link below:
https://www.pollstar.com/Chart/2022/01/First%20CMR%20Jan%202022_997.pdf