A concert tour (or simply tour ) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often, concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific tour with a particular album or product. Especially in the popular music world, such tours can become large-scale enterprises that last for several months or even years, are seen by hundreds of thousands or millions of people, and bring in millions of dollars in ticket revenues. A performer who embarks on a concert tour is called a touring artist .
26-473: A reunion tour is a concert tour following the reunion of a band or group. Reunion Tour may also refer to: Concert tour Different segments of longer concert tours are known as "legs". The different legs of a tour are denoted in different ways, dependent on the artist and type of tour, but the most common means of separating legs are dates (especially if there is a long break at some point), countries and/or continents, or different opening acts. In
52-418: A concert tour to celebrate the anniversary of their past albums, such as U2 's 2017 tour to mark the 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree (1987) and Janet Jackson 's 2019 tour to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989). A farewell tour is a concert tour intended to signal the retirement of a singer, the disbanding of a band, or the end of a show's run. Many of
78-449: A lot of costs, time, and energy. It is very common for musicians to not see family members for over a year during their touring. British singer Adele expressed her unhappiness of concert tours, saying "Touring is a peculiar thing, it doesn't suit me particularly well. I'm a real homebody and I get so much joy in the small things." A concert residency concept is offered as an alternative to performers who just need to stay in one venue and
104-416: A profit, in part because of the cash spent signing bands and partly due to ill-made bets on the number of CDs the market requires for particular acts." In 2011, Amazon sold an estimated 440,000 digital copies of Lady Gaga 's Born This Way in its first two days at a price of 99 cents. This promotional campaign caused a loss of over $ 3 million for the company. In 2014, U2 's album Songs of Innocence
130-529: Is hard to determine, it is widely acknowledged that the Beatles have sold more records than any other artist in the history of recorded music. Michael Jackson 's 1982 album Thriller remains the best-selling album in history, with an estimated 70 million copies sold worldwide, recognized by the Guinness World Records . " White Christmas " (1942) performed by Bing Crosby is believed to be
156-435: Is how to move the performance's logistics from one venue to another venue, especially for a transcontinental tour. Tour logistics should be very organized and everything has to happen on time and in the right order as planned. Autoweek magazine estimated 30 to 50 trucks were required by Taylor Swift 's The 1989 World Tour to bring all the stage, sound equipment, instruments, props, and clothes. When Beyoncé visited
182-414: Is one of the most important tools to sell records. A research commissioned by one of major label groups stated that "four out of five music purchases can be traced to radio airplay. In 2007, Record Store Day was inaugurated to bring together fans, artists, and thousands of independent record stores across the world. The 2013 event of Record Store Day was credited with the highest U.S. vinyl sales, and
208-462: The Billboard 200 chart during its corresponding week of each concert. This strategy led Billboard and Nielsen SoundScan tighten up their policy on how tickets bundled with albums would count for charting purposes. Travis Scott bundled his 2018 album Astroworld with his 28-piece merchandise line, which contributed to first-week sales exceeding 270,000 traditional units and a number-one debut on
234-521: The Billboard 200. RIAA summary by format, in million copies per year. At times, labels overshipped records to retailers with too high expectations of commercial response. Records not sold to consumers may be returned to the label. In January 2008, media reported that over one million unsold copies of Robbie Williams 's album Rudebox were sent to China to be crushed. EMI owner Guy Hands said, "Roughly 85% of what EMI does get to release never makes
260-551: The best-selling single , with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide. Before the existence of recording medium and its player, the music industry earned profit through selling musical compositions on sheet music . The very first sales chart published by Billboard magazine in the United States was the Sheet Music Best Sellers chart. Following the invention of the phonograph by Thomas Edison in 1877,
286-452: The 2014 edition resulted in independent retailers recording the highest percentage of physical album sales, since the SoundScan system was introduced in 1991. In 2004, Prince became the first major artist to bundle his album, Musicology , with tour ticket purchases, giving copies of the album to each audience upon entrance to the venue. Those copies were counted as sales for the album on
SECTION 10
#1732848670742312-736: The 2018 European leg of her Joanne World Tour , signed for a Las Vegas residency to help manage her fibromyalgia illness, which can be exacerbated by touring. The 2015 study by charity Help Musicians found that over 60% of musicians suffered from depression or other psychological issues, with touring an issue for 71% of respondents. Record sales Record sales or music sales are activities related to selling music recordings ( albums , singles , or music videos ) through physical record shops or digital music stores . Record sales reached their peak in 1999, when 600 million people spent an average of $ 64 on records, achieving $ 40 billion in sales of recorded music. Sales continued declining in
338-420: The 21st century. The collapse of record sales also made artists rely on touring for most of their income. By 2019, record sales accounted for less than half of global recorded music revenue, overtaken by streaming . Following the inclusion of streaming into record charts in the mid-2010s, record sales are also referred to as traditional sales or pure sales . Although an accurate worldwide sales figure
364-515: The Spheres World Tour became the second tour to gross $ 1 billion in revenue. In third place is Elton John 's Farewell Yellow Brick Road , with a total gross of $ 939 million from 2018–2023. On fourth place is Ed Sheeran 's ÷ Tour , with a gross of $ 776.2 million. On fifth place is U2 's 360° Tour , with $ 736.4 million. Global touring revenue reported to Billboard Boxscore exceeded $ 5.5 billion in 2016. Due to
390-501: The United Kingdom with her 2016 The Formation World Tour , it took seven Boeing 747 air freighters and a fleet of more than 70 trucks to get her stage set and other gear to the venues. The logistics phase of that tour did not include transportation of the backstage staff, musicians, performers, and the singer herself. The majority of concert tours are part of a promotional campaign to support an album release. Hence, new songs from
416-529: The collapse of record sales in the 21st century, concert tours have become a major source of income for recording artists. Besides the tickets, touring also generates money from the sales of merchandise and meet-and-greet packages. However, the touring business suffered in the early 2020s because of the COVID-19 pandemic . Pollstar estimated the total lost revenue for the industry in 2020 at more than $ 30 billion. The mobility of concert tours requires
442-579: The fans come to see them. The concept has been revitalized in the 21st century by Canadian superstar Céline Dion with the success of her A New Day... residency (2003–2007). Her residency introduced a new form of theatrical entertainment, a fusion of song, performance art, innovative stage craft, and state-of-the-art technology. She managed to popularize the Las Vegas residency as a desirable way for top artists to essentially tour in place, letting their fans come to them. American singer Lady Gaga , who cancelled
468-439: The largest concert tours, it has become more common for different legs to employ separate touring production crews and equipment, local to each geographical region. Concert tours are often administered on the local level by concert promoters or by performing arts presenters . Usually, small concert tours are managed by a road manager whereas large concert tours are managed by a tour manager . The main challenge in concert tours
494-591: The mid-1960s to the mid-2000s (known as " album era ") in which the album was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption. From the early 1980s, the CD became the dominant format for both albums and singles, due to factors such as higher audio quality, durability, ease of use, and longer playing time. In 1986, Dire Straits ' Brothers in Arms became the first album in history to sell over one million copies on CD. In October 2005, " Hollaback Girl " by Gwen Stefani
520-520: The music industry began hiring singers to record songs made by composers. Due to the length limit of recording media, singles were the only available commercial releases. In 1900, the US record sales is estimated at 3 million copies. The music industry continued its growth, and by 1921 the value of record sales in the US reached $ 106 million with 140 million records being sold. Album sales were first reported by Billboard magazine on March 24, 1945. An album
546-561: The new longer format. Billboard launched its first regularly published weekly albums chart, Best Selling Popular Albums , on March 24, 1956. During the 1950s and into the 1960s, 45 rpm seven-inch single sales were considered the primary market for the recording industry, while albums were a secondary market. The careers of notable rock and roll performers such as Elvis Presley were driven primarily by single sales. Album sales reached its peak in English-language popular music from
SECTION 20
#1732848670742572-455: The respective album are included on its tour's setlist . Some tours are known as "greatest hits tours" or "reunion tour" without any new material or specific album release, such as Fleetwood Mac 's 2009 Unleashed tour and No Doubt 's 2009 Summer Tour . Taylor Swift 's The Eras Tour (2023–2024) is a retrospective of her career to that point, where each act of the concert represents one of her albums . In another case, artists embark on
598-430: The tours end up not being the last tour, with frequent regroupings, or revivals of shows. Luciano Pavarotti 's 2004 tour and Kenny Rogers 's 2015–2017 tour are examples of farewell tours which were the last to be staged before their deaths. As of October 2024, the highest-grossing concert tour of all time is Taylor Swift 's Eras Tour , with $ 2.089 billion earned from 125 shows. In 2024, Coldplay 's Music of
624-459: Was released for free on iTunes . Apple's deal with U2 and the band's label, Universal Music, which stands to lose more than a million full-price sales because of the free download offer, guarantees $ 100 million worth of high-profile marketing for the album. The sale of second-hand albums and singles continues into the 2020s, with many record stores having a used section, as well as pawn shops such as CeX , Cash Generator , Cash Converters , and
650-462: Was the first single ever to sell one million digital downloads. Downloads have been in decline since 2013 as consumers have moved away from a purchase/ownership model towards a subscription-based model ( streaming ). By 2018, total sales were at their lowest point since the 1970s, and continue to fall. In 2020, major UK retailers such as supermarkets started to stop selling music. Aside of paid advertising in print or broadcast media, radio airplay
676-611: Was then defined as a box containing a set of singles, such as Glenn Miller by Glenn Miller , as well as Selections from Going My Way and Merry Christmas by Bing Crosby . Technological developments in the early 20th century led to the development of the vinyl LP record as an important medium for recorded music. In 1948, Columbia Records began to bring out 33 1 ⁄ 3 rpm twelve-inch extended-play LPs that could play for as long as 52 minutes, or 26 minutes per side. Musical film soundtracks, jazz works, and thematic albums by singers such as Frank Sinatra quickly utilized
#741258