Star-Packed RnB Fridays Live Festival Earns $10M-Plus Gross on Hot Tours Recap
Touring Australian festival RnB Fridays Live earned over $11 million in 2019, impacting the Dec. 21-dated Hot Tours recap.
In its fourth year, touring festival RnB Fridays Live swept through Australia throughout November, impacting the Dec. 21-dated Hot Tours recap at No. 4. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the Aussie festival grossed $11.3 million and sold 110,440 tickets over five shows.
RnB Fridays Live premiered in 2016, featuring Nelly and TLC hitting Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. The first year of shows amounted to a $3.3 million gross and attendance of 48,820. The festival expanded in 2017, adding a show in Auckland, New Zealand, as well as additional dates in Melbourne and Sydney. And in 2018 and 2019, venues grew from Melbourne’s Hisense Arena and Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena to the Marvel Stadium and Spotless Stadium, maximizing the show’s potential attendance from 13-15,000 per show to 50,000-plus.
The 2019 earnings bring RnB Fridays Live to a cumulative $39 million and 416,128 tickets sold, a towering figure for four years of a festival, particularly one that limits itself to one genre. This year’s edition was headlined by Janet Jackson, the Black Eyed Peas, and 50 Cent, and featured Brandy, Jason Derulo, and more further down the billing.
The five markets of the 2016 routing have remained the backbone for the traveling festival each year. Sydney has been the most lucrative city in terms of total gross, with $10.1 million earned over its five shows. But while it takes a 4% lead in gross revenue, Melbourne is the top-attended city since 2016, at 105,638 tickets (Sydney’s shows combined to 105,567 tickets, 0.1% behind Melbourne’s sales).
It’s to be expected that Sydney and Melbourne would lead in overall sales, but it’s Brisbane that has offered the biggest bang for its buck. At four total shows, compared to five in Sydney and Melbourne, Brisbane’s shows boast the strongest average gross ($2.3 million), attendance (23,146 tickets), and ticket price ($98.38), on a per-show level.
See below for the full Hot Tours tally, featuring Little Mix, Ariana Grande, and a photo finish at the top between the Jonas Brothers and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
| HOT TOURS – DEC. 21, 2019 | |
| Ranked by Gross, Compiled from Boxscores reported Dec. 9 – 16 | |
| ACT | |
| Total Gross | |
| Show Date Range | |
| Venue, City (Shows/Sellouts) | |
| Total Attendance (Capacity) | |
| RANK | |
| 1 | Jonas Brothers |
| $23,096,174 | |
| Oct. 30 – Nov. 30 | |
| Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico City, Mexico (2/2) | |
| Auditorio Telmex, Guadalajara, Mexico (1/1) | |
| Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, La. (1/1) | |
| Legacy Arena at the BBJC, Birmingham, Ala. (1/1) | |
| BB&T Center, Sunrise, Fla. (1/1) | |
| Amway Center, Orlando, Fla. (1/1) | |
| Veteran Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Fla. (1/1) | |
| Infinite Energy Center, Duluth, Ga. (1/1) | |
| Spectrum Center, Charlotte, N.C. (1/1) | |
| Prudential Center, Newark, N.J. (1/1) | |
| Barclays Center, Brooklyn (1/1) | |
| TD Garden, Boston, Mass. (0/1) | |
| Scotiabank Arena, Toronto (1/1) | |
| Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec (1/1) | |
| Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, N.J. (1/1) | |
| Royal Farms Arena, Baltimore, Md. (1/1) | |
| 227,177 (228,319) | |
| 2 | Trans-Siberian Orchestra |
| $23,066,524 | |
| Nov. 13 – Dec. 5 | |
| Mid-America Center, Council Bluffs, Iowa (1/1) | |
| Denny Sanford Premier Center, Sioux Falls, S.D. (0/1) | |
| Covelli Centre, Youngstown, Ohio (0/2) | |
| PPL Center, Allentown, Pa. (0/2) | |
| Pepsi Center, Denver, Colo. (0/2) | |
| DCU Center, Worcester, Mass. (0/2) | |
| Broadmoor World Arena, Colorado Springs, Colo. (0/2) | |
| PNC Arena, Raleigh, N.C. (0/1) | |
| Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah (0/2) | |
| Royal Farms Arena, Baltimore, Md. (0/1) | |
| ExtraMile Arena, Boise, Idaho (0/1) | |
| Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (0/2) | |
| Spokane Arena, Wash. (0/1) | |
| SNHU Arena, Manchester, N.H. (0/2) | |
| Moda Center, Portland, Ore. (0/2) | |
| XL Center, Hartford, Conn. (0/2) | |
| Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Wash. (0/1) | |
| Huntington Center, Toledo, Ohio (0/2) | |
| Heritage Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio (0/2) | |
| Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, Calif. (0/2) | |
| Ervin J. Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio (0/2) | |
| Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Mich. (0/2) | |
| Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, Ariz. (0/2) | |
| Bridgestone Arena, Nashville (1/1) | |
| Don Haskins Center, El Paso, Texas (0/2) | |
| Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky. (0/1) | |
| United Supermarkets Arena, Lubbock, Texas (0/1) | |
| 208,903 (234,744) | |
| 3 | Ariana Grande |
| $11,446,275 | |
| Nov. 9 – 27 | |
| NYCB Live, Home of Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, N.Y. (1/1) | |
| Barclays Center, Brooklyn (1/1) | |
| John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville, Va. (1/1) | |
| State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Ga. (1/1) | |
| PNC Arena, Raleigh, N.C. (1/1) | |
| Amalie Arena, Tampa, Fla. (1/1) | |
| Amway Center, Orlando, Fla. (1/1) | |
| American Airlines Arena, Miami, Fla. (1/1) | |
| 98,474 (98,474) | |
| 4 | RnB Fridays Live |
| $11,290,090 | |
| Nov. 8 – 16 | |
| HBF Stadium, Perth, Australia (0/1) | |
| Marvel Stadium, Melbourne, Australia (0/1) | |
| Crown Casino, Melbourme, Austrlaia (0/1) | |
| Royal Adelaide Showgrounds, Adelaide, Australia (0/1) | |
| Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane, Australia (0/1) | |
| Spotless Stadium, Sydney, Australia (0/1) | |
| 111,338 (159,158) | |
| 5 | Aerosmith |
| $9,414,916 | |
| Nov. 14 – Dec. 4 | |
| Park Theater, Las Vegas (0/9) | |
| 43,992 (44,500) | |
| 6 | Andre Rieu |
| $8,806,050 | |
| Nov. 13 – 28 | |
| WiZink Center, Madrid, Spain (1/1) | |
| Bilbao Arena, Bilbao, Spain | |
| Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, Spain (1/1) | |
| Altice Arena, Lisbon, Portugal (6/6) | |
| 108,534 (109,710) | |
| 7 | Tool |
| $7,119,742 | |
| Nov. 8 – 25 | |
| PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pa. (0/1) | |
| Barclays Center, Brooklyn (1/1) | |
| Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Conn. (1/1) | |
| Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, N.J. (1/1) | |
| Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C. (0/1) | |
| 62,523 (63,441) | |
| 8 | Little Mix |
| $6,339,040 | |
| Nov. 14 – 22 | |
| Manchester Arena, Manchester, England (3/3) | |
| First Direct Arena, Leeds, England (0/2) | |
| O2 Arena, London (0/2) | |
| 90,119 (94,093) | |
| 9 | George Strait |
| $5,794,152 | |
| Nov. 22 – 23 | |
| Dickies Arena, Dallas, Texas (2/2) | |
| 10 | Luke Combs |
| $5,212,253 | |
| Nov. 1 – 23 | |
| Spokane Arena, Spokane, Wash. (1/1) | |
| Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Wash. (1/1) | |
| SAP Center, San Jose, Calif. (1/1) | |
| Pechanga Arena, San Diego, Calif. (1/1) | |
| Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, Ariz. (1/1) | |
| Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Ind. (1/1) | |
| Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, Ohio (1/1) | |
| Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pa. (1/1) | |
| Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Conn. (1/1) | |
| PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pa. (1/1) | |
| 126,059 (126,059) |
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