Last December, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour became the first concert tour to gross $1 billion USD. As much as that remains a ludicrous amount of money, the pop star is no longer alone in her billion-dollar tour status: Coldplay’s worldwide trek behind Music of the Spheres has now eclipsed $1 billion in revenue, selling almost 9.3 million tickets since its 2022 launch, according to Billboard’s monthly Boxscore Report.
Having now spanned 156 concerts across four continents over the last two and a half years, the Music of the Spheres tour’s latest accolade follows it recently being named the biggest rock tour of all time, in addition to the band successfully beating their eco-touring emissions goals back in June.
The stint on the road hasn’t been without its issues, though: Coldplay had to countersue their former manager Dave Holmes in October 2023 after he sued them for unpaid commission. In their countersuit, they alleged that Holmes had let the tour fall into a financial hole, claiming he had borrowed $20 million from Live Nation to develop property in Canada, in addition to spending $10 million on “bespoke stage pylons.” The band recently settled the ordeal out of court, paying Holmes an undisclosed seven-figure amount.
We still aren’t clear on what stage pylons are, exactly, let alone what makes these ones bespoke — but they certainly continue to prove themselves to be a worthwhile investment. It also probably says something that someone is trying to make a Music of the Spheres tour LEGO set happen.
Coldplay also recently paid homage to their fellow billion-dollar performer, covering Swift’s “Love Story” (and later “the 1”) with Maggie Rogers when the tour came through Vienna, Austria, after the city’s Eras Tour dates were cancelled in light of a thwarted terrorist threat.
