Styles has beaten fellow British artist Sir Elton John to the number one spot on Billboard’s Top Tours chart. In 2021, he placed third in the abridged year-end ranking, number 21 on 2022’s mid-year list and finished at number four overall last year.
The singer has now placed first in the mid-year chart, with Billboard Boxscore figures showing that his Love on Tour string of performances has grossed $138.6m and sold 1.2 million tickets across 38 shows between November 1, 2022 and April 30, 2023. This is the first time he has been number one on both the Top Tours and Top Ticket Sales charts as a solo artist, but he has been at the top previously as a member of One Direction. The band topped the 2014 year-end list and the 2015 mid-year chart.
The Love on Tour run has seen shows take place across California, Central and South America, Australia and Asia during Billboard’s chart time period. Styles began the tracking period with the back half of 12 shows at the Kia Forum in California, with the first half held in October and counting towards his end-of-year 2022 rankings.
Styles then returned with three additional dates at the Kia Forum in January, which were rescheduled from November. The 15 concerts at the arena grossed $47.8m, with $28.9m contributing to the 2023 charts.
From mid-November to mid-December, Styles played 14 shows in Mexico and South America, adding a further $40.4m to his total and sold another 546,000 tickets. After his return to California to play the three last Kia Forum shows, along with the two shows at Acrisure Arena, the singer then took on Australia earning $47.6m from 373,000 tickets sold.
Styles then played six shows in Asia, adding another $16.1m and 122,000 tickets sold to his totals.
Coldplay also joined Harry Styles as the only other act to sell over a million tickets during the Top Ticket Sales tracking period. Coldplay’s 1.11 million tickets sold fell 9% short of Styles’ 1.22 million.
Meanwhile, the Top Tours chart was much closer with Styles’ $138.6m only slightly higher than Sir Elton’s $138.2m for his long-running Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour. Previously, the singer’s farewell tour had placed him at number one on the mid-year rankings for 2019 and 2020.
Coldplay and fellow British artist Ed Sheeran sit at number three and four, respectively, on the mid-year list, behind Sir Elton John at number two. Coldplay and Sheeran ended last year’s list at number five and three. The only other act in last year’s top five was Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, who is currently number six on the mid-year chart.
Despite the Brits holding the fort in the mid-year chart, Billboard predicted that Taylor Swift’s The Ears Tour will crash the year-end rankings. The tour is covering the American singer’s entire discography and launched in mid-March. Billboard also predicted that Styles’ Love on Tour trek will stay close to the top with his European shows still remaining before the tour finishes in Italy at the end of July.