Coldplay ’s sprawling Music of the Spheres World Tour – 156 shows on four continents over two and a half years so far – continues, taking the No. 1 spot on Billboard ’s monthly Top Tours chart. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the Brits brought in $72.2 million and sold 575,000 tickets over 11 shows in July.
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It’s the fourth time that Coldplay has led the monthly review, all of which happened during its current tour (the monthly Boxscore charts launched in February 2019), following victories in July 2022, March 2023 and January of this year. The first of those was while the band played in Europe. The second was for shows in South America, and the third in Asia.
The Music of the Spheres World Tour clinches its most recent monthly victory with a return to Europe, marking the third continental leg of the tour. Stops in Rome, Dusseldorf and Helsinki packed the July calendar, peaking in the former with $29.4 million and 252,000 tickets at Stadio Olimpico July 12-13 and 15-16. That’s enough to take the No. 1 spot on Top Boxscores as well.
Beyond the chart triumph on July’s Boxscore report, Coldplay’s tour has now reached record-breaking heights. Since its kick-off in March 2022, it has eclipsed $1 billion in concert grosses and sold almost 9.3 million tickets through Aug. 25. That makes it the highest grossing and bestselling rock tour in Boxscore history, surpassing Elton John in the former metric and U2 in the latter.
Four dates remain to be reported in Dublin, plus 11 in Oceania later this fall. Having averaged more than 50,000 tickets on all nine legs of the world tour so far, it’s likely that the Music of the Spheres World Tour will surpass 10 million tickets.
The $1 billion gross and 10 million ticket thresholds are both unprecedented in Boxscore’s almost 40-year history. The obvious asterisk is unreported figures for Taylor Swift ’s ongoing The Eras Tour, likely closer to $2 billion than one now that its own 48-date European leg has wrapped, and approaching 10 million tickets itself.
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band are No. 2 on July’s Top Tours ranking, pulling in $65.4 million from 500,000 tickets over nine shows. The Boss also earns his chart rank from shows in Europe, specifically playing in Belgium, Denmark, Germany and others, before closing out the run with two shows at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Springsteen’s London dates grossed $25.2 million and sold 154,000 tickets, mirroring his No. 2 rank over on Top Boxscores. A double header at Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden followed with $9.7 million and 108,000 tickets, landing further down the list at No. 23.
Since kicking off in May, the ’24 European leg of Springsteen’s tour brought in $158.5 million and sold more than 1.2 million tickets over 22 concerts. Though he has wrapped overseas, The Boss made his way over the pond, launching another leg of U.S. shows last week and ensuring a return on the August recap.
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Europe fills out the top four spots, with Travis Scott and P!nk at Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. It was the first extended European tour for Scott, who was met with a well of pent-up demand. From June 28 through Aug. 4, he grossed $58.9 million and sold 520,000 tickets in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Portugal, and more. It’s the most that a solo rapper has earned on tour outside of the United States.
Combined with the North American shows from autumn 2023 and winter 2024, the Utopia Circus Maximus Tour has brought in $154.7 million and sold 1.2 million tickets over 63 shows. Scott has a slate of shows in Latin America and Oceania before closing for good on Halloween in Auckland, New Zealand.
For P!nk’s part, the Summer Carnival Tour continued with a second leg of European stadiums. Reaching a monthly high at Amsterdam’s Johan Cruyff Arena, she totaled $46.8 million and 377,000 tickets during July. Since its launch last June, the entire tour has grossed $469.3 million and sold 3.6 million tickets – not including the Trustfall Tour, which interrupted the stadium run with a swing of North American arenas, adding $60.8 million and 257,000 tickets to Pink’s enormous post-pandemic return to the stage.
On Top Boxscores, Europe takes up the top six spots with engagements from Karol G and Metallica in addition to Coldplay and Springsteen. There’s two more in the top 10 ( Luis Miguel and P!nk), and eight more on the chart, including The Killers with six shows at London’s O2 Arena and Ed Sheeran at Polsat Plus Arena in Gdansk, Poland.
On Top Stadiums, European venues make up seven of the 10 spots, including the entire top five. Madrid’s Estadio Santiago Bernabeu rules with $37.2 million and 309,000 tickets, thanks to two shows from Luis Miguel ($13.6 million on July 6-7) and four from Karol G ($23.6 million on July 20-23). The latter closed out her yearlong world tour at the chart-topping stadium, re-setting her own records among women in Latin music.
Stateside, Las Vegas dominates the biggest and smallest venue charts. Sphere is No. 1 among rooms with a capacity of 15,001 or more (excluding stadiums), while the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas is tops among venues with a cap of 2,500 or less.
A version of this story appears in the Aug. 31, 2024, issue of Billboard.
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