Coldplay, Shakira & Sphere Lead Midyear Boxscore Report
Most people wouldn't expect to see pillows passed around a Dead & Company concert.
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But for Bernie Cahill of Activist Artists Management — the firm that manages Bobby Weir, a founding member of the Grateful Dead and frontman of Dead & Company (which Cahill co-manages with Irving Azoff and Steve Moir) — the decorative pillows, handed out to fans with floor tickets during the band's nightly performance of 'Drums/Space' at its Sphere residency, serve an important purpose. Those on the floor are encouraged to lie down and gaze up at the cutting-edge venue's towering screen, which during the instrumental segment often displays imagery of the cosmos; at other points during the band's Dead Forever shows, audiences take in visuals from the San Francisco Bay Area to psychedelic animations.
Thanks to its massive video screen, its booking of superstar acts and its aggressively high ticket prices, Las Vegas' Sphere — where Dead & Company alone grossed $21.6 million from six concerts in March, when it resumed shows there following a successful run last year — is again the world's top-grossing building, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. It surpasses the top stadium (Mexico City's Estadio GNP Seguros) and two iconic New York venues (Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall) with a $165.3 million haul at midyear, which spans from Oct. 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.
Sphere's economic power isn't in its show count — at midyear, the venue has hosted only 42 dates, including other residencies by the Eagles and dance artist Anyma — but in its average ticket price, which at $238 is roughly double those of Madison Square Garden ($133) or London's O2 Arena ($105). While much of the music industry debates rising ticket prices, Sphere has shown there's a vibrant market ready to pay a premium for special experiences delivered by top talent.
A DOWNWARD TREND: This year's midyear charts are down significantly compared with 2024: Last year, the top 10 tours at this time had a combined gross of $1.4 billion, while in 2025, the top 10 outings have grossed a combined $1 billion, a drop of more than 28%. Among the top 50 tours, the combined gross disparity was less stark but still notable, going from $3.2 billion in 2024 to $2.5 billion in 2025, a drop of about 21%.
But this shift doesn't necessarily signify weakness in the market. The main reason was show count: There have been fewer concerts in 2025 at the midyear point than there were in 2024. In 2024, the top 10 tours at midyear reported a combined 442 total shows for the period, compared with 245 in 2025, a 45% decline. For the top 50, the 1,425 shows reported in 2024 fell to 1,159 in 2025, a drop of 18.7%. On Billboard's Top Promoters chart, Live Nation's grosses were down to $2.2 billion in 2025 from $2.8 billion in 2024. But because shows are booked months, or sometimes over a year, in advance, changes in the number of total shows don't reveal much about consumer spending or demand in early 2025.
The decline partially stems from timing. During a recent earnings call, Live Nation president/CEO Michael Rapino noted that more artists are waiting until the second and third quarters to launch their tours — and with more acts playing stadiums in 2025, more major tours are on the road in the summer, when the weather is better. The 2025 show count should increase in the next six months, which historically covers the busiest part of the year, especially in North America.
Importantly, last year's touring numbers at midyear were unusually high thanks to U2's venue-opening Sphere residency, which grossed $231.6 million from 38 shows during that time. That tracking period also included dozens of concerts from three major tours (Madonna, P!nk and Luis Miguel) that led to a high show count.
CHART STATS: Three acts in the 2025 midyear top 10 — Coldplay, P!nk and Eagles — also appeared in last year's midyear top 10. And three more among the top 10 — Paul McCartney, Bruno Mars and SEVENTEEN — ranked among the top 20 at midyear in 2024. But there are some notable differences in the music genres atop the chart.
After three Latin tours reached the top 10 at midyear in 2024, only Shakira has done so in 2025. And after Travis Scott ranked No. 9 at midyear in 2024, no hip-hop artists cracked the top 10 in 2025. The highest-ranking hip-hop tour at midyear is Tyler, The Creator, who is No. 16 with $65.3 million grossed.
When it comes to ticket prices, Eagles at Sphere had the highest average price among the top 10 tours of $285 per ticket, followed by Usher, who charged an average of $179, and P!nk, whose tickets averaged $174.
The cheapest tickets among the top 10 tours were for Coldplay ($109), Mars ($118) and McCartney ($129). On average, the ticket price of the top 50 tours was $130, down 10% from 2024. On the Top Tours chart, 10 acts had an average ticket price that was under $100: Aventura ($99), Sebastian Maniscalco ($98), André Rieu ($94), Deftones ($88), Iron Maiden ($85), Trans-Siberian Orchestra ($84), Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds ($84), Cody Johnson ($77), Feid ($77) and Strait ($49).
THE TOP 10: Keep scrolling for details on the top 10 touring artists of Billboard's midyear Boxscore period, tracking all shows worldwide from Oct. 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.Gross: $73.2MTickets: 494KNumber of Shows: 41Where Was He?: North America
Gross: $75.9MTickets: 436KNumber of Shows: 18Where Was She?: The United StatesGross: $76.4MTickets: 536KNumber of Shows: 11Where Was He?: Australia, New Zealand & the United States
Gross: $88.9MTickets: 496KNumber of Shows: 38Where Was He?: Canada, the United States & his first show in LondonGross: $101MTickets: 849KNumber of Shows: 20Where Was He?: Brazil & Las Vegas
Gross: $104.5MTickets: 810KNumber of Shows: 22Where Was He?: Europe & Latin America
Gross: $112.2MTickets: 393KNumber of Shows: 24Where Were They?: Sphere in Las Vegas
Gross: $120.9MTickets: 842KNumber of Shows: 30Where Were They?: Asia & the United StatesGross: $130MTickets: 1MNumber of Shows: 21Where Was She?: Mexico & South AmericaGross: $142.1MTickets: 1.3MNumber of Shows: 20Where Were They?: Australia, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates & India
A version of this story appears in the May 31, 2025, issue of Billboard.
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