Billboard revealed its year-end Boxscore charts, ranking the top tours, venues, and promoters of 2023. That coverage included analysis of the new wave of genre diverse artists crashing stadium stages, and in turn, our charts. This week, we are breaking down the year’s biggest tours, genre by genre. Today, we continue with country.
Country music has been a reliable pillar of the touring industry for several decades. Tradition states that Nashville singer-songwriters take to American arenas and amphitheaters each weekend, often returning home for the week to write and prepare new material. This established model continues to work for artists across the genre, with its share of the top 100 tours oscillating between 12-15% for much of the last decade.
In 2017, however, country’s share dipped below 10% and stayed in the single digits through the pandemic. But after a small boost back to 10% last year, it’s up to 12.7% in 2023. Not only does it bounce back with a slew of amphitheater artists, but newer headliners such as Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs ascend to stadiums, while extending their schedules to Australia and Europe.
With their tours continuing into the 2024 tracking period, and Zach Bryan joining them in U.S. stadiums, the genre’s restored strength is likely to hold steady in the year to come.
Scroll to check out the top 10 highest grossing tours by country artists, with such acts qualifying due to recent performance on Billboard’s Top Country Albums and/or Hot Country Songs charts. Rankings are determined according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. All reported shows worldwide between Nov. 1, 2022 – Sept. 30, 2023, are eligible.
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Kane Brown
Image Credit: Rich Polk for PMC $34.3M / 461K tickets / 50 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: 77
At No. 10 on the country breakdown for the second consecutive year, Brown increases his earnings by 30%. Mostly promoted by AEG Presents, business peaked with more than $3 million at Boston’s Fenway Park.
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Carrie Underwood
Image Credit: Maggie Friedman for Variety $35.3M / 324K tickets / 37 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: 71
Underwood mixed arenas around the U.S. with a Vegas residency at Resorts World Theatre. The Vegas shows sold 36,000 tickets and grossed about $5.7 million across 11 shows in June and September.
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Jelly Roll
Image Credit: John Shearer/Getty Images $36.2M / 629K tickets / 50 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: 70
Jelly Roll is a newcomer to the year-end Boxscore recap. While his opening stints on some summer Eric Church dates don’t contribute to his gross, the exposure and reach of those big amphitheater shows surely spurred his own momentum.
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Luke Bryan
Image Credit: Christopher Polk for Variety $40.1M / 488K tickets / 49 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: 63
Like Underwood, Bryan continued his residency at Resorts World Theatre in Vegas, while carrying on his own U.S. headline tour. He played 24 shows in Vegas during the tracking period, accounting for almost 30% of his year-end earnings.
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Zach Bryan
Image Credit: Rich Fury/GI for Stagecoach $45M / 492K tickets / 34 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: No. 56
Bryan leveled up in major arenas and amphitheaters, on his way to U.S. stadiums in 2024. All but two of his summer ’23 shows grossed more than $1 million, but both of those played before he debuted atop the Billboard 200 albums chart with his self-titled effort and atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Remember Everything” with Kacey Musgraves.
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Eric Church
Image Credit: Christopher Polk for Billboard $50.5M / 587K tickets / 36 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: No. 44
Church is a reliable Boxscore veteran, as 2023 marks the seventh year among the last 10 where he has grossed more than $20 million (one of the three where he didn’t was 2020). While he often tours in January and February, he mounted a traditional summer amphitheater tour, hitting almost 30 cities between June 22 and Sept. 30.
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Shania Twain
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images $85M / 788K tickets / 52 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: No. 22
Groundbreaking for her crossover success in the ‘90s and ‘00s, Twain remains a sell-out star in 2023. The Queen of Me Tour earns its Boxscore bonafides via one leg in North America and more shows in Europe. She returned to the U.S. and Canada for more shows after the year-end clock stopped ticking, push the tour’s total gross to $110 million as of Nov. 14.
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George Strait
Image Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images $107.5M / 412K tickets / 11 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: No. 17
Strait has the smallest show count among the top 10 country acts, with just 17 concerts in the reporting period. On the all-genre list, only one act in the top 40 played fewer – Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks, with five. Six of Strait’s shows were in stadiums, pushing more than $10 million per show, topping out at Denver’s Mile High Stadium with $16.7 million on June 24.
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Luke Combs
Image Credit: Monica Murray $133.5M / 1.4M tickets / 42 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: No. 13
Country is famously strongest in the U.S., but Luke Combs defies these geographic borders. He played multiple shows in several Australian markets and began a European leg on the last day of the tracking period. Still, he earned more than $120 million in the U.S. and Canada through the end of July.
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Morgan Wallen
Image Credit: Astrida Valigorsky/WireImage $260.4M / 1.3M tickets / 44 shows
All-Genre Top 100 Rank: No. 4
Wallen made his year-end Boxscore debut last year at No. 2 on the country list (behind Kenny Chesney) and at No. 11 on the all-genre chart. Now, after the release and success of One Thing at a Time, and particularly its track-two, “Last Night,” he has achieved the highest grossing country tour in Boxscore history. With more dates after the tracking period ended, he’s earned more than $300 million since the beginning of the year.