Mid-Year Numbers Grow Among Highest-Ranked Events

SPHERE YEAR: U2’s “UV Achtung Baby Live” at Sphere in Las Vegas was enough to land the No. 1 spot on the Mid-Year Top Shows chart at the 15,001-30,000 Capacity level.  (Getty Images)

The annual recap of box-office success in the live entertainment industry during the first half of the year highlights the best-attended tours and events that have occurred so far in 2024.

Reported ticket sales figures from the most popular live events also enable comparisons to the results from previous years.

During the mid-year eligibility time period (Nov. 16-May 15), the four largest venue groups all saw a bump in reported ticket sales compared to totals from 2023.

The top 10 events in the More Than 30,000-capacity category, consisting of stadiums and outdoor venues, sold a combined total of 2,225,274 tickets, a 3% increase over the cumulative total from last year’s top 10.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE 2024 MID-YEAR CHARTS

“Tecate Pa’L Norte,” Monterrey, Mexico’s annual music festival, is the only event that charted in both years, and attendance at the three-day event also rose by 3% this year.

Four other music festivals in Mexico appear in the top 10, along with Mexican pop group RBD’s massive six-night run at Foro Sol in Mexico City. The group’s concerts at the stadium racked up a ticket count of 345,621 to rank No. 1.

Also, with six shows at one venue is Coldplay, who ranks second on the More Than 30,000 chart with 321,113 tickets sold at Singapore’s National Stadium. Karol G and Paul McCartney also land on the stadium chart with performances at Latin American venues.

In the category with 15,001-30,000-seat capacities, the 10 highest-ranked events moved 1,380,096 tickets, which is 281,402 more than the top 10 sold last year.

This year’s top draw was U2 with 381,815 tickets sold during the mid-year timeframe at Sphere in Las Vegas. Billy Joel ranks second with a ticket count of 129,772 at seven performances as part of his monthly residency at Madison Square Garden in New York.

At the same arena, Big East Men’s Basketball earns the 10th ranking on the chart, while the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament at Washington’s Capital One Arena ranks eighth.

Two basketball events also land on the 10,001-15,000 chart along with eight other engagements. The top 10 sold 691,786 tickets collectively, topping the 2023 ticket count in this category by 57,358 tickets. “Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo” has a solid hold on No. 1 with a ticket count of 226,001 from 25 performances at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, followed at No. 2 by a 79,128-ticket total for “Paddy Power World Darts Championship” at London’s Alexandra Palace.

Blink-182 is the top concert draw on the chart with 71,758 tickets sold for five shows at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia.

The “Radio City Christmas Spectacular” sold 1,026,461 tickets during its winter run at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, the largest ticket count of any single event during the first two quarters of the year. It heads up the 5,001-10,000-capacity group which recorded 1,507,329 sold tickets by the top 10 events, surpassing the 2023 total by 5%. Las Vegas residencies by Bruno Mars and Mariah Carey at Dolby Live at Park MGM and Scorpions at Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood all land in the top 10 on the chart.

The 2,001-5,000 and 2,000 Or Less categories both saw a drop in ticket sales compared to one year ago — the first group by less than 1%, while the smallest category dropped 19%. Both charts feature multiple-show events ranging from 13 performances to 78.

A NEW LOOK FOR THE CHARTS

This month we introduce a new era for VenuesNow charts with a redesigned presentation of the best-attended venues and events that will accompany quarterly recaps and appear in each upcoming issue.

Formerly dubbed “Hot Tickets,” the new ranking of individual live events is now known as “Top Shows.” Likewise, “Top Venues” is the new moniker for the ranking of venues, previously called “Top Stops.”

The Top 10 Venues and Top 10 Shows will appear together on one page for all six venue size categories.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE 2024 MID-YEAR CHARTS