Music lovers know there’s truly nothing like seeing an album you love or a performer you’ve been a fan of for years live. It can inspire you, create new core memories and make you fall in an even deeper love with a body of work. With superstar acts like Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj making the most of summer 2024 with their own respective worldwide tours, Black women have been in the spotlight when it comes to selling out arenas and making musical history.
Here’s a brief look at the Black female entertainers who did it best, sold out worldwide and earned a whole lot of money in the process.
Beyoncé – Renaissance World Tour
While this was most certainly not her first time touring the globe, Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour raked up over $579 million, making it the highest-grossing tour by a Black artist in history. The spectacle gathered 2.7 million concertgoers over the course of its five-month run and earned accolades upon accolades. Her five-night residency in London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium marked the most times an artist has performed at the venue and the tour’s accompanying film, “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé,” grossed over $44 million at the global box office.
Tina Turner – Break Every Rule World Tour
The highest-grossing female tour of the 1980s, Tina Turner’s Break Every Rule World Tour was originally billed as her “last tour,” which incentivized a major turnout across the globe. She shared, “It is my last tour for now. There probably won’t be a tour with the next album because I want to devote some time to my movie career.” With that, she broke box office records in 13 different countries and earned a total $60 million. The tour’s show in Rio de Janeiro remains the largest paying concert audience by a female artist, with over 180,000 spectators. However, she annihilated her own record with her final tour in 2008, the Tina! 50th Anniversary Tour, earning a whopping $132 million.
Rihanna – Anti World Tour
Grossing more than $110 million, Rihanna’s ultra-successful Anti World Tour supported her eighth studio album (and to this day, her most recent body of work.) Selling roughly 1.2 million tickets, surprises like bringing Drake out made this tour monumental, performing career-defining hits like “Umbrella” and “Rude Boy” alongside “Anti” standouts like “Needed Me” and “Sex With Me.” The critical reception was overwhelmingly positive, praising her superstar stage presence and perfected pop voice.
SZA – SOS Tour
SZA’s very first arena tour was nothing short of historical. She earned $95.5 million while touring internationally, playing a 90-minute setlist for over 63 shows. Being that the album earned her a Grammy, she wanted to bring the audience through an interactive journey that embodied the project’s themes of sinking, using Broadway-inspired motifs to create a cinematic experience. Every show began and ended with SZA on a diving board, recreating the album’s cover art.
Janet Jackson – Together Again Tour
While Janet Jackson’s All For You Tour and Velvet Rope Tour were both significant in their own right, they still didn’t amount to her tenth concert tour in 2023, theTogether Again Tour. The highest-earning tour of her entire career, she grossed $51 million while performing timeless hits like “Rhythm Nation” and “All for You.” With extensive choreography and support from acts like Ludacris and Nelly, she’s only continued to add more dates due to popular demand. The tour is still ongoing, set to end in Amsterdam on October 10th, 2024.
Whitney Houston – Moment of Truth Tour
Whitney Houston’s Moment of Truth Tour was one of the highest-grossing concert tours of 1987, garnering $20 million (a monumental number for the time.) With a seven-piece band and three backup dancers, most critics noted “Greatest Love of All” and “You Give Good Love” to be performance highlights. She also played nine consecutive nights at the Wembley Arena, with every date of the European leg of the tour being completely sold out. Her second worldwide tour, Houston walked away from the Moment of Truth Tour as the second highest-earning female entertainer of the year.
Mariah Carey – The Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour
Mariah Carey’s The Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour served as her highest-grossing concert tour, earning $30.3 million. Carey made it a point to perform singles she hadn’t usually included on setlists, including songs like “Loverboy”, “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” and “When You Believe.” Funny enough, she spent the most amount of time outside of North America, with 22 shows in Europe, four in Africa and five in North America. The tour was featured prominently in the singer’s docu-series “Mariah’s World.”