The Weeknd Topples R&B Touring Records Previously Set by Beyoncé & Bruno Mars

The Weeknd is on the road, playing shows in Nashville on Tuesday (Aug. 12) and Miami Friday and Saturday (Aug. 15-16). But as he nears the end of the ongoing After Hours Til Dawn Tour, he sets a Boxscore record. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the global trek has grossed $635.5 million and sold 5.1 million tickets since launching in 2022, becoming the biggest R&B tour in history.

In doing so, The Weeknd overtakes Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour, which brought in $579.8 million over 56 shows in 2023. This swap comes just weeks after Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour became the country record holder. In pure ticket sales, he has long passed Bruno Mars’ 3.6 million on 2017-18’s 24K Magic World Tour.

The Weeknd crossed the $600 million threshold with his two performances at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on July 30-31, bringing the tour full circle after launching at the same stadium on July 14, 2022. The After Hours Til Dawn Tour is the ninth tour to hit this benchmark, and the only one by an R&B artist or a Black artist. The other eight all trade in pop and rock, from Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour to Harry Styles’ Love on Tour.

The same goes for The Weeknd’s R&B attendance record, making him the only genre act and only Black artist to sell more than five million tickets on a single tour. It is one of 11 tours to sell more than five million, and one of just eight to sell more than five million and gross more than $600 million.

The After Hours Til Dawn Tour has sprawled worldwide, first in North America in 2022, then Europe and South America in 2023, Australia in 2024 and back to the United States and Canada in 2025. The current leg is the tour’s biggest, at $243.3 million and 1.5 million tickets through Aug. 12. That marks a 64% increase over the previous North American leg and a 54% jump over the European leg, which was the tour’s previous highlight ($158.1 million).

By the tour’s final show on Sept. 3 on San Antonio, this leg’s earnings could surpass $300 million. The total tour take will approach $700 million, with ticket sales circling 5.5 million.

The initial iteration of this tour may not have hit such hallowed ground. It was first announced in February 2020 in arenas in North America and Europe. But delayed by COVID-19 and then expanded far beyond, the After Hours Til Dawn Tour supports 2020’s After Hours, 2022’s Dawn FM and this year’s Hurry Up Tomorrow. Since the launch of this extended tour era, The Weeknd notched four No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Blinding Lights,” which was named the chart’s biggest hit ever by the end of its 90-week run in 2021. Two of those No. 1s were alongside Ariana Grande, including “Die for You,” which reached the top seven years after its 2016 release via Starboy. Hurry Up Tomorrow debuted atop the Billboard 200 in February with 490,000 equivalent album units, scoring the biggest week of his career with his third album to surpass 400,000.

The After Hours Til Dawn Tour is The Weeknd’s longest trek, at 102 shows through Aug. 12, up from 63 reported dates on Starboy: Legend of the Fall Tour in 2017. That 62% increase in the number of shows is significant, but it does not fully explain the 785% scale in total earnings, or the 508% leap in attendance. His jump from arenas to stadiums has nearly quadrupled his per-show ticket sales, compounded with a natural rise in ticket sales.

Dating back to his first reported show at Montreal’s Metropolis on March 23, 2012, The Weeknd has grossed $734 million and sold 6.3 million tickets from more than 200 reported concerts.