Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter tour is apparently the highest-earning solo tour of the year, according to Billboard’s annual year-end live report.
The tour in support of her 2024 album earned $407.6 million, which is all the more impressive considering that figure was from just 32 shows.
Rather than play shows in a number of cities in each country, the singer elected a residency approach. By concentrating her energies in just a few key markets, she was able to cut down on logistical complications and managed to maximise revenue potential.
This was never better demonstrated than at the California stop on the tour at the SoFi stadium in Inglewood. Beyonce played five nights there in late April and early May, a run that generated a whopping $50 million, or an average of $11.1 million each night. It was the highest single venue engagement of the year and the fifth highest in history, beaten only by U2 at the Sphere in 2023/24, Take That’s Wembley run in 2011 and Harry Styles at Madison Square Garden in 2022.
The idea of residencies then IS something other A-list artists are likely to explore in the years ahead. Good news if you live and work in a major city, less so if you are a major provincial venue, you’d think.
Whilst Beyonce took the honours when it comes to solo artists, the highest earning tour overall was Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres jaunt, which started more than three whole years ago. Chris Martin and co played everywhere in 2025, including ten nights at Wembley and brought in $464.9 million. A distant third behind those two was The Weeknd, whose After Hours Til Dawn tour accumulated $336.7 million.
