Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour ended with $2.1 billion in sales, shattering previous records by a comfortable margin

Now that Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has wrapped, the concert industry seems to be entering a new era of its own — one where it’s pop stars who are now filling stadiums and breaking sales records rather than the handful of rock acts that have dominated the box office for decades. Over the course of nearly two years and hundreds of sold-out shows, Swift’s

Eras Tour sold a record-shattering $2,077,618,725 in tickets, nearly doubling the record set by Coldplay last year. While Swift has long been one of the most recognizable pop stars of the 21st century, her Eras Tour was an ambitious endeavor even for her. The global go-round was not only her longest tour to date, but its astonishing gross makes for a nearly 400% increase in box office compared with the previous tour for her 2018 album,

“Reputation.” But Swift’s success doesn’t just draw attention to the industry’s monetary success, it also highlights a trend that most covering Eras Tour news have missed: The top tours of the 2020s thus far have been led by pop acts, while the past four decades of highest-grossing tours were ruled by rock bands. In fact, the five top-selling tours from the 1980s to the 2000s have generally followed the same trend: Four spots are filled by rock bands, often the same groups every decade — think Rolling Stones and U2 — and a non-rock artist takes the remaining placement. In fact, all five top tours of the 1990s were by rock acts when adjusted for 2024 inflation. But that pattern was broken in the 2010s when Ed Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour (aka + – = ÷ x) made a then-record $958 million, outpacing veterans like U2 and Coldplay and even the highly anticipated Guns N’ Roses reunion tour. So far this decade, the pattern has fully flipped so that Coldplay (at $1.1 billion) are now the only rocker in the top five, with pop artists Swift, Sheeran ($584.6 million), Harry Styles ($617 million) and Pink ($584.7 million) taking the other spots. While rock certainly isn’t dead, there’s no denying the genre isn’t dominating the airwaves and charts like it once was. And yet the stadium tour (a phenomenon rooted in rock history) was one key stronghold where rock has dominated despite decades of cultural shifts — the birth and ascension of hip-hop, MTV killing the radio star (especially rock radio), the rise of “poptimism” and so on — that chipped away at the genre’s cultural relevance. Today, the 2020s’ touring box office earnings thus far suggest rock’s grip on the stadium tour world might be finally slipping. There are likely several factors behind why rock is only now losing its place in the touring world’s top ranks. For one, emerging acts are now typically independent artists that rarely reach stadium caliber. For another, the combination of a more crowded concert landscape and more expensive ticket prices across the board has made fans more selective, forcing even well-performing legacy acts to scrap or downsize touring plans. Recent data also suggests that Gen Z is starting to outpace Millennials as the primary live music consumer, possibly bringing along less interest in that old-time rock ’n’ roll. Ultimately, the main reason might just be time: The rock bands and artists that entertained millions of fans for decades are simply getting old. Take the Rolling Stones, who staged multiple top-earning tours for three decades straight. Their 2024 tour — sponsored by AARP — was only a 20-show run, a fraction of their usual 100-plus date, globe-spanning tours. Bruce Springsteen, an artist famous for his marathon shows and never-ending tours, had to cancel several dates this year due to health issues. In lieu of a full tour, U2 held a residency at the MSG Sphere, a venue that has seemingly become the spot for aging bands. Granted, it should be made clear that rock tours can still be solid draws even if they aren’t the top earners. Elton John’s recent farewell tour grossed $939.1 million even after pausing during the pandemic (around $471 million was earned in its post-pandemic run, making it the 7th-highest-grossing tour of the 2020s), but a main driver was likely the chance to see him perform for the last time. As the decade continues, we may see older rock acts follow John’s lead and boost sales by staging one last hurrah for fans. Conversely, the promise of a reunion may also help legacy rock acts pack arenas and stadiums. Oasis’ long-thought-impossible reunion tour is expected to do well considering that they were the first act since Swift to break Ticketmaster. Either way, nostalgia may be the strongest tool older rock acts have left if they want to continue playing for the masses at the top of the live music food chain.