Pollstar’s 2025 Concert Market Rankings: New York! New York! The Big Apple Takes The Top Ranking Once Again

King of the hill! Top of the heap! Sinatra aside, and for the third year in a row, New York City tops Pollstar’s Concert Market Rankings chart. Yes, it’s unsurprising considering its the largest Designated Market Area and comprises 32 counties, 7.3 million people and a median income of $73,376. Plus, the city literally never sleeps, though technically bar time is 4 a.m. when it’s legally required that venues stop serving alcohol. Still, at venues like Bushwick Brooklyn’s Avant Gardner, fans will stay until sunrise, sometimes even later. At Basement, underneath Knockdown Center in Queens, people sometimes won’t arrive until 4 a.m., stumbling out long after the sun has risen. Here, hitting three shows in a single night is an easy feat, and not altogether uncommon.

In addition to that, the city is home to some of the most iconic and top earning venues in the country. Madison Square Garden remains the world’s top arena, landing at No. 1 on Pollstar’s Top 200 Arenas Chart Worldwide in ticket sales, and No. 2 in gross (following another MSG venture, Sphere) in the annual year-end issue, published last week. Radio City Music Hall, another MSG property, was at No. 1 on the Top 200 Theaters chart in both gross and ticket sales.

Brooklyn’s Barclays Center was the No. 6 highest-grossing arena with $142.3 million in 2024 and No. 8 in ticket sales with 1,148,438. Prudential Center, in Newark, New Jersey, and also part of the DMA, landed at No. 10 with $112.6 million gross and No. 18 in ticket sales with 951,162. Bad Bunny had the highest-grossing dates at the venue (and the ninth and 10th highest-grossing shows in the market overall) with $6.3 million on April 13 and $5.8 million on April 12.

“New York’s music scene is a powerful, cultural force that brings people together, drives creativity and represents the diverse energy of the city” Laurie Jacoby, Executive Vice President and Chief Entertainment Officer at BSE Global, parent company of Barclays Center, tells Pollstar. “Barclays Center is proud to be a part of that legacy, based in Brooklyn – a hotbed of cultural eccentricity – and hosting thousands of events that entertain millions of guests each year. We have been intentional to ensure our programming reflects the cultural diversity found throughout the borough and New York overall, and also contributes to the dynamic pulse of our city to create moments that resonate far beyond the stage.”

UBS Arena, a newcomer in the market opening in late 2021, also had a busy year, with 673,360 tickets reported sold and $78 million grossed at the home of the New York Islanders, good for No. 30 on the year end charts.

The highest-ranking club in New York City was Pier 17, which overlooks the Brooklyn Bridge, landed at No. 6 on Pollstar’s year-end chart for grosses and at No. 9 on ticket sales (The Paramount in Huntington, New York, reached No. 6 in tickets). Three theaters in New York were in the Top 20 in grosses, including Radio City Music Hall (No. 1), Beacon Theatre (No. 7) and the Theater at Madison Square Garden (No. 12), with all three also appearing within the Top 20 of ticket sales.

MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, landed at No. 4 on the highest-grossing stadiums at $101.3 million, and ranked No. 11 in ticket sales with 485,918. The venue hosted the majority of the city’s highest-grossing concerts with shows from “Soccer Champions Tour” ($25.5 million on Aug. 3), The Rolling Stones ($14.5 million) on May 23 and George Strait ($11.1 million).

Once again, Billy Joel remained King at Madison Square Garden with the venue’s highest-grosses, where he averaged $5 million per night of his monthly residency, which ended this summer.

On top of traditional venues, the city has also been hungry for something new. Bowery Presents held shows at Under The K Bridge (the Kosciuszko) in Brooklyn throughout the summer. ISOKnock4 Under the K Bridge on May 18 (promoted by Bowery Presents) sold 7,500 tickets and grossed $542,250, according to reports submitted to Pollstar’s Boxoffice.