Deep Data Cuts: Highlighting 2025’s Best-Selling Black Touring Artists In Multiple Genres

In celebration of Black History Month, Deep Data Cuts focuses on ticket sales in 2025 by concert performers around the world who were the most popular at the box office in musical genres beyond R&B and soul or rap and hip-hop, historically the most prominent genres for Black musicians in popular music.

Certainly R&B and hip-hop’s impact on the live entertainment scene last year was massive as Beyoncé had the highest grossing tour worldwide with over $407 million at the box office from her “Cowboy Carter Tour.” Likewise, Chris Brown performed for more fans than any other Black artist with 2,058,812 tickets sold during Pollstar’s 2025 chart year, Nov. 14, 2024-Nov. 12, 2025. Those two superstars, along with The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Tyler, The Creator and other Black headliners among 2025’s top 100 touring artists, mounted some of the year’s most successful tours.

But along with those genres, there are others that also have a rich tradition among Black musicians. One of those is gospel music, represented by 18-time Grammy Award winner CeCe Winans who sold more tickets than any other Black artist in the genre last year. The Detroit native and member of the famed Winans family of gospel music singers sold 99,318 tickets at 37 concerts in 2025.

She appeared primarily at churches on her 2025 tour, although she also sold out shows in theaters. One of them was Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium where she drew a capacity crowd of 2,287 on April 14, the last night of her 27-show “More Than This Tour” that ran early in the year. It began Feb. 12 at Canton Memorial Civic Center in Ohio with 4,563 tickets sold, but her best attended show on the tour occurred on March 28 at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia with 4,655 in attendance.

Other Christian music artists with reported ticket sales were Houston pastor and singer Tauren Wells with 9,146 tickets sold at 11 concerts, followed by the Harlem Gospel Choir with an 8,708-ticket total from nine performances. Then, Lecrae sold 3,873 tickets at nine concerts, while the London Community Gospel Choir and Tye Tribbett both had one concert reported with ticket totals of 3,721 and 2,464, respectively.

While the world music genre is quite diverse and expansive, Afrobeats artist Burna Boy tops the list of most popular concert performers in the category based on reported ticket sales in 2025. The Nigerian singer-songwriter sold 97,971 tickets at eight concerts last year, including a string of Australian dates in October. The first was an outdoor performance at Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne with 8,237 sold tickets, followed by arena shows in three markets. He played for 10,401 fans at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena, 5,458 at Brisbane Entertainment Centre and 6,835 at RAC Arena in Perth.

His biggest event in 2025, though, was his concert on April 18 at Stade de France in Paris with 43,881 tickets sold. He welcomed various other musicians to the stage during the event including fellow Nigerian Afrobeats artist Fireboy DML and his sister Nissi, both who performed opening sets. Burna Boy is the only African artist to ever headline a show at the stadium.

Among the Black artists in the blues genre, Buddy Guy had the largest ticket total in 2025 with nine shows reported and 13,152 in attendance. His concerts were primarily held in theaters, but his top ticket count was recorded at Meadow Brook Amphitheatre in the Detroit market with 2,278 tickets sold last July. Among the theater dates on his schedule, his best attendance was 1,911 at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre in August.

Two other blues artists selling tickets in the 10,000 range were Robert Cray who played 18 shows with his band and moved 11,842 tickets. Gary Clark Jr. follows closely with a ticket total of 11,625 at seven performances. Among his dates were back-to-back shows at the Ryman, attended by 3,738 fans, while The Robert Cray Band’s best attendance was recorded in the Netherlands at TivoliVredenburg’s Grote Zaal in Utrecht. He sold 2,336 tickets over two nights in June.

Among country singers, Kane Brown’s ticket count of 146,532 was the largest in the genre based on box-office reports from 20 of the concerts on his “The High Road” tour in 2025. The RCA Nashville recording artist launched the tour at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California in March of last year and remained in North America, playing arenas and amphitheaters, but he also took the tour to Europe in the fall. During the North American leg, his top attendance was recorded at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, with 13,221 tickets sold over two nights in May, while his best ticket total for a single performance was 12,928 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta in March.

Other country artists with sales reported in 2025 were Darius Rucker, also with concerts in both North America and Europe. With 43,004 tickets sold at 11 reported concerts during the year, his top total was 5,973 at The OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland on Sep. 30, while his best attendance stateside was 5,411 at Lake Tahoe Amphitheatre at Caesars Republic in Stateline, Nevada, Sep. 13. Then, Shaboozey had 38,007 sold tickets reported at 13 concerts with Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth reporting his highest ticket sales figure. He performed there for 5,089 fans at a sold-out show on Oct. 9.

In the dance/electronic music genre, Canadian DJ Kaytranada had the largest number of sold tickets on record in 2025 with a 24-show total of 175,330 from shows at venues on three continents. He began the year with a stretch of Australian dates in four cities, beginning in Sydney where he played two nights at Hordern Pavilion and sold 11,357 tickets. A European leg followed in March and April which included a three-night stint at London’s Alexandra Palace that drew just under 30,000 fans. Then in October, he began an arena co-headlining tour with French EDM duo Justice booked in North American cities. Among those arena dates was a two-night event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York that drew 25,628 attendees, Nov. 8-9.

Then, South African DJ and record producer Black Coffee also appeared on the Pollstar charts in 2025 with seven performances and a sold-ticket total of 31,769. His largest crowd was 12,012 at Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam where he appeared as part of the ADE Festival last fall. The Amsterdam Dance Event spanned five days and featured headliners at multiple venues, Oct. 22-26.

No musical celebration of Black History Month would be complete without jazz, and one of the genre’s most awarded artists is Jon Batiste with an Oscar for his score written with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for the animated film Soul, along with multiple Grammy Awards including 2021’s Album of the Year for We Are. He appeared on Pollstar charts with 34,384 tickets sold at 13 events including concerts at the Fox Theatres in Detroit and Atlanta and ticket totals of 3,755 and 4,454, respectively. His best attendance, though, was at an outdoor event at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in the Denver market with 7,163 sold tickets, Sep. 4.

Other artists with 2025 shows in the archives are Kamasi Washington who sold 27,205 tickets at eight shows, primarily outside of North America. Among his performances was a headlining stint at the Greenroom Festival in Yokohama, Japan on May 24 with 12,000 fans in attendance. He had one North American event reported last year, a Sep. 10 appearance at Pepsi Center WTC in Mexico City with 4,112 tickets sold.

2023 Best New Artist Grammy winner Samara Joy also earns a mention with 11 concerts reported during 2025 and a total of 16,928 tickets sold. In May of last year, she played a string of dates in U.S. theaters including Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center where she performed for 1,580 fans and Orlando’s Steinmetz Hall with 1,544 in attendance.

Finally, although rock ‘n’ roll has impacted the music of many Black artists, few have excelled as rock stars more than Lenny Kravitz, the winner of four consecutive Best Male Rock Vocal Performance Grammys (1998-2001). The 2025 charts reflect a total of 336,459 tickets sold at 29 of his concerts, including 36,137 at his best attended show at Paris La Défense Arena on March 29. The event was part of his “Blue Electric Light” European tour, February through April of last year. Then, in August he returned to Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas with five shows, extending his concert residency that began in October 2024.