A Look Back at the Top Tours of 2024

Metallica’s “M72 World Tour” show at Lumen Field in Seattle, WA. Photo by Ralph Larmann courtesy Meyer Sound

WORLD – There are different ways of tallying the biggest tours of the year. You could go by total tickets sold or total ticket revenues, the latter being the basis for year-end charts by Billboard and Pollstar. But when it comes to ranking tours, other questions arise. Is a residency at Sphere in Las Vegas considered a tour? Live shows by U2, Phish, Dead & Company and the Eagles added up to $420 million in gross revenues reported at Sphere for 2024. No single venue had previously reported annual ticket sales topping $300 million.

Also in 2024, Madonna capped her Celebration tour with a free concert on the beach in Rio de Janeiro. The event drew a reported 1.6 million people, topping the previous record set by the Rolling Stones (1.5 million) for the largest audience ever for a stand-alone concert. But if you are ranking tours by revenues alone, even a concert event that phenomenal might not seem to count for much.

With those caveats in mind, we at FRONT of HOUSE focused on ten big tours, based mostly on the year-end charts, as per our tradition, while also factoring in total attendance. Here’s our Top 10 mega-treks for 2024, with links to additional details on the sound companies, crew and gear supporting these shows.