Burna Boy’s ‘I Told Them’ Tour Becomes Highest-Grossing by an African Artist
Nigerian music star Burna Boy has set a new global benchmark after his I Told Them tour emerged as the highest-grossing tour ever recorded by an African artist.
Data from a tour monitoring platform shows that the tour generated $30.5 million from 302,801 tickets sold across 22 shows held in Europe and North America. The achievement places Burna Boy at the top of the list of African artists in terms of touring revenue.
The platform confirmed the milestone in a statement, noting that the I Told Them tour now holds the record as the most commercially successful Afrobeat tour in history.
In addition to the overall tour record, Burna Boy also broke another major milestone during the run. His concert at the London Stadium on June 29, 2024, grossed $6.147 million from 58,973 tickets sold, making it the highest-grossing single concert by any African artist to date.
A breakdown of the figures shows that the North American leg of the tour accounted for $15.19 million in revenue from 152,378 tickets sold across 16 shows, while the European leg generated $15.27 million from 150,423 tickets sold in six shows.
Despite Burna Boy’s historic achievement, the overall record for the highest-grossing music tour of all time remains with American pop star Taylor Swift, whose Eras tour reportedly generated $2 billion from 149 shows over a 21-month period. The tour surpassed the previous record held by Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
Burna Boy’s latest milestone further underscores the growing global influence and commercial power of African music on the world stage.
