2023 Concert Market Rankings: No. 1 New York City

No. 1 NEW YORK CITY
From Harry Styles To Billy Joel, New York City Ranks No. 1

Reported Market Gross | $796,613,879
Reported Ticket Sales | 7,568,956
Average Ticket Price | $105.25

New York City’s No. 1 spot in this year’s concert market rankings should come as no surprise. Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and The Paramount were the No. 1 arena, theater and club worldwide, respectively. Then, having Harry Styles perform 15 nights at Madison Square Garden, 2022’s top concert gross,  certainly doesn’t hurt.

The city came out in full force this year, bouncing back after being one of the places hit hardest during the COVID-19 pandemic. But people leaving New York in droves was never something expected to last forever. Once its doors were reopened and venues up and running again, everyone came flocking back.

“New York is the city that never sleeps, it’s the global cultural headquarters for America and the world,” says Peter Shapiro, Dayglo Presents and Brooklyn Bowl co-founder. “So it feels fitting. Definitely, at my venues, we feel like we’re back… We felt the energy of people who since March 2020 hadn’t had that amazing New York City nightlife and electricity flowing. We felt it come back and we’re seeing, even though there’s a little bit of a COVID elevation recently, holiday parties are back, dance parties, all that is back at the pre-COVID level.”

Worldwide, 2022 not only saw the industry return to pre-COVID levels, but surpass 2019 as the live industry’s highest-grossing year in Pollstar history.

The majority of Pollstar’s Year-End Worldwide top venues were in the city, the Paramount named Top club worldwide with a total gross of $10.5 million, Radio City Music Hall top theatre worldwide, grossing $67.6 million and Madison Square Garden topped its chart with $241 million.

“It’s very rewarding to see both The Garden and Radio City Music Hall top the charts this year,” says Josephine Vaccarello, senior vice president of Live Business Operations at MSG Entertainment. “It demonstrates the power of live, in-person events and is a testament to how MSG Entertainment continues to raise the bar with our unique bookings and with the unparalleled level of artist support we provide.” 

Harry Styles’ shows at Madison Square Garden had the city’s highest gross. His “traveling residency” landed in New York from Aug. 20 to Sept. 21, and sold a whopping 276,852 tickets, grossing more than $63.1 million. The 15 record-breaking shows saw total sellouts each night, and Styles was honored with a banner to live above the rafters in Madison Square Garden for the rest of time. His first nine nights landed him at No. 1 on Pollstar’s Year-End Top 300 Concerts Grosses chart, bringing in $41.4 million for the first half of his residency. 

“It’s been an incredible year across our portfolio of venues,” Vaccarello says. “At Madison Square Garden, we had Harry Styles’ record-breaking 15-show residency, the continuation of Billy Joel’s monthly franchise run and Rage Against the Machine’s five-night stand, among many more memorable multi-night runs and headlining debuts. Playing The Garden continues to be the pinnacle of an artist’s career.” 

Yankee Stadium saw Bad Bunny taking the stage on his aptly named “World’s Hottest Tour” (which saw Bad Bunny named the highest-grossing artist of 2022), selling out the venue for two nights and grossing $22.7 million. The Radio City Rockettes’ 100 dates at Radio City Music Hall throughout the year brought in the highest gross at an auditorium or theatre with $44.3 million. Jim Gaffigan ranked as the highest-grossing club act in the city, bringing in $679,379 for six nights at The Paramount in Huntington, Long Island. 

Brooklyn’s Barclays Center also had a massive year, the venue returning in March with two nights of Tame Impala. That first month saw Bad Bunny (which was the arena’s highest gross from a musical act, bringing in $7.2 million), Elton John ($4.7 million) and more take the stage, proving to Laurie Jacoby, EVP and chief entertainment officer at Barclays Center, that after all the lockdowns and stops and starts, live music had finally returned to the city.

“Once the restrictions lessened for New York City, the floodgates opened,” Jacoby tells Pollstar. “One of my favorite moments was in March when we had two nights of Tame Impala. It felt like we were back to a pre-pandemic celebration of being together. Those nights were so magical for me because there were all these people just being themselves and not worrying. Those two nights really kicked off the rest of the phenomenal year.” 

Newcomer UBS Arena, the $1.5 billion NHL venue that sits next to Belmont Park race track, opened Nov. 20, 2021, with a New York Islanders home game and played host to its first concert Nov. 28 with Harry Styles. All told, the 18,500-capacity arena has had more than 100 events over the first 12 months, with more than 1.4 million guests and 10,000 concert T-shirts sold, according to information provided to Pollstar. Reported events have grossed $710,000 on average, with 7,623 tickets sold on average.

New York City is back and better than ever. Those who left came back, and even more moved in. The city got back into the swing of things, providing a plethora of entertainment across hundreds of venues each night. So much goes on there’s no way for a single person to even scratch the surface of it all. 

Shapiro believes part of the reason this year has proven so successful for New York is the pandemic. For two years, the world collectively lost the ability to go out on the town and catch a show. Now knowing what there is to lose, people might reconsider staying in on a Friday or Saturday night. Instead of spending a night in, they’ll go out to a show.

“We just felt that pre-pandemic energy and love of live music come back fully, maybe even more than it was,” Shapiro says. “I’m hopeful that not only did we get the regulars back – they were the first to come back – but some of the people who used to like to stay home and watch Netflix pre-pandemic. I’m hoping some of those people who are not the concert alphas, but the B-level concertgoers, maybe now choose on a night they might stay in or do something else to go to a show.” 

New York City isn’t planning to rest on its laurels next year.  Jacoby is already looking ahead to what Barclays has planned for 2023. “I’m very optimistic that it’s going to be a great year,” she says. “There’s a lot more talk about people touring. I am hearing about some great things coming down the pipe.”

While 2022 saw Pollstar’s predicted “Great Return” exceed everyone’s expectations, the New York City market is feeling confident about what’s to come. While Harry Styles may not come back to take over The Garden for another 15 nights, fans can still bet on the market to provide them with more than 40 shows to choose from each Saturday night.