2025 Concert Market Rankings: Big Jumps For New Orleans, Charleston As Stadiums Hit Secondary Markets

Looking at the 2026 Concert Market Rankings, one must scroll down to No. 26 to find a metropolitan area that moved more than five positions, either up or down, compared with its 2025 ranking. And that market, Hartford-New Haven, Connecticut, moved up just six spots. Then, to find one that moved over 10 positions, No. 38, Birmingham (Anniston and Tuscaloosa), Alabama and No. 43, Tulsa, Oklahoma, both increased by 11 positions compared to the previous year.

What stands out regarding the top half of the 100-position chart is that stability appears to be the norm. While there are certainly position changes, hardly any drastic or dramatic movement is visible in either direction compared to the previous year. Six markets do not move at all, including the top three, New York City, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, which remain at Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively.

Only two of the top 50 change more than 11 positions, and both of those are an upward jump. Among the other 48 markets, none drop more than nine positions.
The first of two markets among the top 50 that reflect an increase of more than 11 positions is Charleston, South Carolina, ranked No. 45. It leaps 24 positions on the chart this year, while New Orleans ranks No. 50 after moving up 22 positions from its 2025 ranking.

Like all of Pollstar’s charts, rankings for concert markets are created based on box-office data reported by either concert promoters, venue personnel, booking agents, management or other artist representatives. But, unlike the artist, venue or promoter charts, the concert market rankings are based on sales figures from all the shows that occur at all the venues on record in a single U.S. market.

Dramatic jumps or drops in ranking can be a result of far more – or less – live entertainment activity occurring in a given year, and bigger grosses for specific touring artists may also affect the overall box-office results. Who is on the road from one year to the next makes a difference. And sometimes changes in the regularity of box-office reporting can have an effect. If less is reported, the annual overall numbers will reflect that.

Some of this is evident in a closer look at Charleston and New Orleans. The number of shows were up a bit this year for Charleston with 226 shows reported in 2025 compared to 211 in 2024, but more telling is that the 10 highest grossing concert events – eight at Credit One Stadium and two at North Charleston Coliseum – all topped $1 million in ticket revenue, including Phish with $3.1 million from three shows and Dave Matthews Band with $2.8 million from two.

In 2024, Post Malone’s $2.2 million gross from his concert at the stadium was the only event topping the $1 million mark, although Jelly Roll and Brooks & Dunn landed just under that threshold. More higher grossing shows will affect the overall.

Then in New Orleans, 64 shows were reported in 2025, up 16 compared to 2024’s show count of 48. That’s 33% more, which certainly contributed to a 22-position upward move, but also making an impact was Chris Brown with his October concert at Caesars Superdome last year and its $7 million gross. His concert was the only one reported at the stadium in either 2025 or 2024.

Arena activity also affected totals in 2025 as Smoothie King Center hosted 10 headliners with grosses topping $1 million, including NBA YoungBoy with $4.5 million from two shows and Paul McCartney with $4.3 million from one.

The arena also hosted major artists in 2024, but rather than 10, eight headliners had grosses over $1 million. That year’s top totals came from Eagles with $3.3 million and Bad Bunny with $2.5 million, both from single performances. It appears that the difference in grosses for those earning over $1 million had an impact. In 2024, the million-dollar club brought in $15.8 million; in 2025, that figure jumped to $27.6 million.

Now, on the other end of the spectrum, the markets ranked 51 through 100 present considerably more movement up or down in rankings, and more anomalies are part of the equation. Only one market retains the same ranking as in the previous year, as Fort Wayne, Indiana, had the 94th spot in both 2024 and 2025. Charlottesville, Virginia, had the greatest move up, jumping 68 positions to No. 89, while Palm Springs, California, had the largest decrease of 37 positions to No. 82.

Charlottesville did not land in the top 100 in 2024 with only nine shows reported in the market that year, although among them were Jelly Roll, Kane Brown and Dan + Shay concerts with a combined gross of $1.9 million at John Paul Jones Arena. In 2025, though, the show count almost doubled with 16 reported. Among them were seven events at the same arena, including Chris Stapleton with two concerts and a gross of $3.6 million. Tyler Childers also topped $1 million at the venue, and Cody Johnson, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, MercyMe and TobyMac, Mt. Joy and a production of “Disney Descendants/Zombies” also added to the venue’s $8.3 million gross for the year.

The difference for Palm Springs appears to fall in the category of less reporting from one year to the next. It ranked No. 45 last year with 137 reported shows in 2024, but in 2025, only 22 were reported, contributing to this year’s placement at No. 82. Palm Desert’s Acrisure Arena has 46 shows in the archives for 2024 and $40.5 million, but only 10 shows in 2025 with a $9 million gross. The difference was more pronounced at McCallum Theatre with 74 shows reported in 2024 and only one last year. And at The Show at Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, eight shows were reported in 2025, but 17 were a year earlier.