Boxoffice Insider: Women Set To Shine Among 2023’s Top Touring Heavyweights

Last year as tour announcements began for 2023, it soon became obvious that some of the biggest draws this year were going to be women. And, while SZA and Lizzo are currently selling out arena dates and a host of other contemporary female headliners are carving out their own niche as live performers, Madonna, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, P!NK, Shania Twain and Janet Jackson are among the veteran road warriors heading back on the road in 2023.

Among all women, none have impacted the live industry like Madonna who first appeared on a Pollstar chart in 1985. She holds the record for the highest-grossing tour ever by a woman with her “Sticky & Sweet” trek (2008-2009) that grossed $419 million, and she has the fifth-highest overall career gross among all artists (since 1980) with $1.39 billion – the highest for any woman. She is one of only three – along with Celine Dion and Beyoncé – to cross the billion-dollar threshold.

Her last tour, “Madame X” (2019-2020), was booked in theaters in North America and Europe but cut short by the pandemic. It grossed $51 million from 75 performances. This year, her “Celebration” tour, set to kick off on July 15 in Vancouver, will open and close with arena treks through North America and also include an eight-week European run in the fall.

In February, Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” world tour was announced with 57 shows booked in North America and Europe beginning May 10 and continuing through the end of September. It will be her second all-stadium tour as a solo headliner and first solo trek since 2016’s “Formation” that grossed $256 million from over 2.2 million sold seats at 49 stadium performances.

Her most recent tour, however, was 2018’s 48-show “On the Run II” stadium jaunt with Jay-Z that racked up $254 million at the box office. That year, they ranked third overall on the Top 100 Worldwide Tours chart behind Ed Sheeran’s massive “Divide” tour, No. 1 with $432 million and Swift’s “Reputation” trek that earned $345 million.

“Reputation” was Swift’s first tour set exclusively in stadiums, and “The Eras” tour will again be booked at stadiums – specifically, NFL football venues – launching on March 17 with 52 concerts planned through Aug. 9. An early highlight of the tour will be when she tops the $1 billion mark in career grosses – probably during the first few weeks on the road, as she is only $83 million shy of it now. Her all-time gross currently totals $917 million from 9.5 million tickets through 2018.

P!NK will begin her “Summer Carnival” stadium tour in Europe on June 7 with a slate of headlining dates planned through mid-July. Then, after only a one-week break, she will begin her North American stadium run that stretches to October. A series of arena dates in U.S. and Canadian cities will follow through Nov. 19.

The “Beautiful Trauma” world tour was her most recent trek and ran from March 2018 until November of 2019. Overall, it grossed $384 million from 3.1 million sold tickets, but the $215 million earned from just the 2019 performances alone landed her at No. 1 among the top worldwide tours that year.

Twain’s upcoming tour supports her new album, Queen of Me, released on Feb. 3 and is booked in North American arenas and amphitheaters from April through July and again beginning in October. She will also perform in September at seven arenas in the U.K. and Ireland. Her last tour, 2018’s “Now,” topped $65 million in worldwide ticket sales from 65 reported concerts, but in 2019 she began her Las Vegas residency at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood that grossed $15 million at 29 shows.

Jackson had her own 2019 residency in Las Vegas at the Park Theater (now Dolby Theater) at Park MGM, grossing $13 million from 18 performances that year. “State of the World,” her last major North American tour, grossed over $36 million in 2017-2018 at arenas and sheds. She will play both again this year with her “Together Again” tour, booked through June.