Paul McCartney Enters All-Time Top 10 With Freshen Up Tour Grosses
Paul McCartney wraps the Freshen Up Tour with $129 million in grosses, pushing the lengendary Beatle into Billboard Boxscore's all-time top 10 touring artists.
After 37 concerts over 299 days, Paul McCartney wrapped the Freshen Up Tour, impacting the Hot Tours recap dated Aug. 10, 2019 at No. 5. All told, the worldwide trek grossed $129.2 million and sold 928,252 tickets, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore.
The tour began and ended in North America, from four shows in Canada in Sept. 2018 to a 16-show run across the continent from May 23 – July 13, 2019. In between, McCartney played four shows in Japan ($21.2 million), eight concerts in Europe ($17.6 million), and five in South America ($22 million).
The trek’s remaining earnings of $68.3 million came from the U.S. and Canada, peaking with a recent two-night play at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 28-29. There, McCartney grossed $7.2 million, helped along by a $500 premium ticket (tickets scaled down to $49.50 on the low end).
The best-selling show of the jaunt was the June 8 performance at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., selling 49,416 tickets. That show’s tickets topped out at $301.95, more in line with the rest of the North American leg. Green Bay’s strength in numbers may have been due to bottled-up anticipation, as it was McCartney’s first solo performance in Green Bay, though he has similarly strong history in nearby Milwaukee.
Globally, Macca’s high points came overseas, earning $12.7 from an Oct. 31-Nov. 1 stint at Japan’s Tokyo Dome and $8.7 million on March 26-27 at Sao Paulo’s Allianz Parque.
McCartney’s 37-show sprint around the globe falls short of the 57 shows from 2016-17’s One on One Tour and the 60 shows of 2013-15’s Out There Tour. Accordingly, his recent $129 million gross trails the $199 million and $196 million of his previous tours.
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But show for show and ticket for ticket, the Freshen Up Tour proves the infinite strength and stability of McCartney’s prowess as a global touring force. The 2018-19 tour averaged $3.491 million per concert, up just .06% from the One On One Tour’s average of $3.488 million. On the Out There Tour, he averaged $3.271 million each night. Similarly, his average tickets-per-night has increased from 23,927 in 2013-15 to 24,734 in 2016-17, and again to 25,087 on his latest tour.
Theses added grosses push McCartney’s solo career gross to $944.3 million from 8,241,521 tickets sold, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. This places him among the top 10 artists in Billboard Boxscore’s history, narrowly passing Dave Matthews Band ($935.9 million), Taylor Swift ($935.4 million), and Coldplay ($902.1 million). These rankings, of course, are fluid as artists go on and off touring cycles. Among solo artists, Macca ranks sixth.
See below for the full Hot Tours tally, featuring North American dates for Robyn, an extensive European run by Metallica, and a run of shows in Las Vegas by Gwen Stefani.
| HOT TOURS – AUG. 10, 2019 | |
| Ranked by Gross, Compiled from Boxscores reported July 30 – Aug. 5 | |
| ACT | |
| Total Gross | |
| Show Date Range | |
| Venue, City (Shows/Sellouts) | |
| Total Attendance (Capacity) | |
| RANK | |
| 1 | Metallica |
| $70,215,503 | |
| June 8 – July 21 | |
| Slane Castle, Slane, Ireland (0/1) | |
| Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands (1/1) | |
| RheinEnergieStadion, Koln, Germany (0/1) | |
| King Baudoin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium (1/1) | |
| Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England (0/1) | |
| Twickenham Stadium, London (0/1) | |
| Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany (1/1) | |
| Ullevi Stadion, Gothenburg, Sweden (1/1) | |
| Tell Parken, Copenhagen, Denmark (0/1) | |
| Granasen Arena, Trondheim, Norway (1/1) | |
| Festival Park, Hameenlinna, Finland (1/1) | |
| Raadi Airfield, Tartu, Estonia (1/1) | |
| Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia (0/1) | |
| 696,191 (709,273) | |
| 2 | Ed Sheeran |
| $25,710,766 | |
| July 12 – 28 | |
| Lucasvala Park, Riga, Latvia (1/1) | |
| Otkrytiye Arena, Moscow, Russia (1/1) | |
| Malmi Airport, Helsinki, Finland (1/2) | |
| Tusindarsskoven, Odense, Denmark (2/2) | |
| 278,128 (298,046) | |
| 3 | John Mayer |
| $11,267,594 | |
| July 19 – 28 | |
| Times Union Center, Albany, N.Y. (0/1) | |
| Dunkin’ Donuts Center, Providence, R.I. (1/1) | |
| Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pa. (0/1) | |
| Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C. (1/1) | |
| Madison Square Garden, New York (2/2) | |
| PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pa. (0/1) | |
| 96,219 (99,338) | |
| 4 | Andre Rieu |
| $10,763,416 | |
| July 4 – 21 | |
| Vrijthof, Maastricht, Netherlands (12/12) | |
| 105,417 (105,417) | |
| 5 | Paul McCartney |
| $9,672,272 | |
| May 27 – July 6 | |
| PNC Arena, Raleigh, N.C. (1/1) | |
| Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, S.C. (1/1) | |
| BC Place Stadium, Vancouver, British Columbia (1/1) | |
| 67,901 (67,901) | |
| 6 | Train & Goo Goo Dolls |
| $6,415,870 | |
| June 21 – July 28 | |
| Starlight Theatre, Kansas City, Mo. (0/1) | |
| Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Fla. (0/1) | |
| Ameris Bank Amphitheatre, Alpharetta, Ga. (0/1) | |
| PNC Music Pavilion, Charlotte, N.C. (0/1) | |
| Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek, Raleigh, N.C. (0/1) | |
| Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach, Virginia Beach, Va. (0/1) | |
| Ascend Amphitheater, Nashville (1/1) | |
| Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, Tinley Park, Ill. (0/1) | |
| Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center, Noblesville, Ind. (0/1) | |
| DTE Energy Music Theatre, Clarkston, Mich. (1/1) | |
| Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, Ohio (0/1) | |
| Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (0/1) | |
| Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, N.Y. (0/1) | |
| Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion, Gilford, N.H. (0/1) | |
| 169,793 (227,456) | |
| 7 | Gwen Stefani |
| $3,111,133 | |
| July 5 – 26 | |
| Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas (1/9) | |
| 27,672 (35,176) | |
| 8 | Queen + Adam Lambert |
| $1,780,047 | |
| July 23 | |
| American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas (1/1) | |
| 13,800 (13,800) | |
| 9 | Backstreet Boys |
| $1,399,194 | |
| Aug. 3 | |
| Staples Center, Los Angeles (1/1) | |
| 10 | Robyn |
| $876,828 | |
| July 25 – 27 | |
| Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco (1/1) | |
| The Forum, Inglewood, Calif. (1/1) | |
| 12,240 (12,240) |
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