Year In Country: Stadium-Size It! Country Melts Boundaries, Goes Big

What George Strait started with his Country Festival tours as the 20th Century turned into the 21st – with “support acts” including behemoths Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, even The Chicks – and Kenny Chesney perfected as the 2000s turned into the 2010s, often with 20+ stadiums anchoring a tour, seemed singular. Many artists tried to mount stadium level shows, but couldn’t maintain the ticket thresholds.

All that changed this year as Morgan Wallen and George Strait have done massive business in the largest venues possible, as Luke Combs moves solidly into stadiums and Kane Brown became the first Black headliner at Fenway Park in Boston. Strait’s brand is strong, he needed just 14 shows – the fewest reported in the Top 20 – to land at No. 12 on Pollstar’s Year End Worldwide Tours list with 515,299 tickets sold; Wallen’s No. 6 ranking saw him play to almost 1.5 million fans.

Equally powerful, Shania Twain joins Strait and Combs (1.3 million tickets sold) in the Top 20 at No. 19 with more than 1 million fans played to. She proves the power of ’90s country, as well as the massive reach of inclusive country that encourages more than merely welcomes LGBTQ+ people into her fold.

That blurring of what is country – or the country audience – may be the biggest reality in the genre. Zach Bryan, who’s lined up a handful of stadiums in 2024, came from out of nowhere (seemingly) with a porous, ardent song-forward attack, and ended up in the Top 200 (199). Staunch Kentucky fireball Tyler Childers – moving to arenas – landed at 169, with red dirt sensation Koe Wetzel right behind him at 172.

If those rankings feel a little light, Nashville remains a very festival-forward genre. Beyond Stagecoach and the Country Music Association’s Music Fest, as well as old guarders including Cheyenne Frontier Days, the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo and Ft. Laramie, Ohio’s Country Concert, things like Tortuga, Faster Horses, Watershed, and six Country Thunders have established the concert-as-destination domination of the genre. Chicago’s epic Windy City Smokeout, which was headlined this year by Zach Bryan, Luke Bryan, Darius Rucker and Zac Brown, broke records as it celebrated a decade.

Of course, the festivals – and smart packages – eat into some of the genre’s bigger names ultimate year-end rankings. Chris Stapleton is a prime example. The man who brought a musicianship-forward approach to the intersection between the Allman Brothers and Willie Nelson lands at 197 with a mere 112,177 tickets; what the number fails to represent are those stadiums he’s playing with George Strait and Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival Tour.

Indeed, CMA Entertainer of the Year Lainey Wilson has spent the last year in support slots, so she doesn’t even show on the list, even though she’s been one of the genre’s hardest touring acts.

It’s a basic question: Is it about rocking the fans? Or bragging rights? Maybe both, but ultimately, it’s about connecting with the audience. In Nashville, that can mean Vegas residencies (Carrie Underwood at No. 90, Miranda Lambert and Keith Urban, who didn’t report / aren’t ranked) and old-fashioned touring (Eric Church at No. 56, Jason Aldean at No. 72 and Old Dominion at No. 98), plus Kenny Chesney opting for the intimacy of small arenas (at No. 104).

With stadium traffic next year being profound, domestic play is as interesting as the global charts. Weighing just North America, Wallen moves to No. 3, Strait to No. 8 and Dierks Bentley, Jelly Roll and Reba all make the list. 

Factoring artist development, almost every Music City act has palpably grown their audience on the road. The War And Treaty, Jelly Roll, HARDY, Riley Green, Ernest, Ashley McBride and Parker McCollum are poised for solid hard ticket, major venue headliner status.

With boundary breakdown in play. Willie Nelson, arguably country’s king, had room on his tour for Bob Weir, bluegrasser Molly Tuttle, rockers including icons Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, John Fogerty and Mike Campbell’s Dirty Knobs alongside upstarts Whiskey Myers, Avett Brothers and Tedeschi Trucks Band as well as progressives Brittney Spencer, Trampled by Turtles, Particle Kid and Margo Price.