Metallica's 'WorldWired' Tour Leads Latest Hot Tours Tally

Metallica tops the most recent tally of Hot Tours (see list below) based on box office counts reported by Live Nation, promoter of the heavy metal band’s WorldWired Tour that played stadiums in 21 North American cities this summer. The promoter’s report includes sales from the first 10 shows of the trek that occurred during May and June.

Beginning with the May 10 opener at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium through the June 18 event at Chicago’s Soldier Field, the combined gross from all 10 stadiums reached $49.5 million from 464,988 sold seats. (Note: Sales from July and August concerts during the second half of the summer jaunt will be reported at a later date.)

The North American leg stretched a total of 14 weeks - from the May debut through a final stadium date on Aug. 16. With both Avenged Sevenfold and Volbeat onboard as show openers on select dates, the tour also included a handful of festival appearances in addition to the stadium concerts.

Scoring the highest counts in both gross and attendance during the first two months of the run was Denver’s NFL stadium, Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The venue hosted a June 7 performance that stretched a bit longer than planned due to a lightning storm that interrupted the show for about an hour. A crowd of 51,955 fans attended the event that racked up $5.8 million in sales.

Along with the Denver venue, four other NFL stadiums during the first half of the summertime trek also topped the $5 million mark in sales for a single performance. Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field logged $5.4 million in revenue at its May 12 concert, and two days later MetLife Stadium - the only stadium date in the New York City market - grossed $5.1 million. On May 19 in the Boston area Gillette Stadium scored $5.7 million in sales, and the Soldier Field concert a month later took in $5.3 million.

Touring in support of its latest album Hardwired… to Self-Destruct that bowed in November, Metallica launched the world tour in Latin America last October ahead of the new album’s release. Earlier this year, prior to the North American leg, the band made festival appearances and headlined concerts at venues in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Next up is a stretch through European cities that is set to launch in early September.