Rieu crosses the $50 million mark in career grosses in his hometown of Maastricht, Netherlands.
Dutch violinist and conductor Andre Rieu blasts onto the Hot Tours list (see below) dated Sept. 1, 2018, at No. 2 thanks to 17 shows from his 2018 world tour. The reported gigs grossed $13.3 million (from 142,361 fans in attendance), according to Billboard Boxscore. The majority of his newly reported grosses come from a 13-night engagement at Vrijthof in Rieu’s hometown of Maastricht, the Netherlands. This brings his career total at Vrijthof to $54.1 million across 76 shows dating back to July 10, 2009.
With his latest totals reported, Rieu extends his record as the highest grossing classical artist in Billboard's Boxscore history. His total gross from all shows reported to Billboard Boxscore now stands at $550.1 million. Further, he continues to be the classical act with the highest attendance, with 5.97 million.
The only artist to eclipse Rieu on the latest Hot Tours tally is Ed Sheeran, at No. 1, with $15.4 million grossed, according to Billboard Boxscore. These fresh grosses come from Sheeran’s return to the U.S. after touring Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand for nine months. Billboard’s reigning Artist of the Year played sold out shows in Seattle and San Francisco but got his biggest gross at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., bringing in $6.3 million from 62,000 tickets sold.