How Sombr Went From Small Clubs to Sold-Out Theaters in Just a Year: ‘It Felt Like a Miracle’

Few artists have had as big a year as Sombr. The 20 year old New York native broke out in a big way in 2025, with two top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hits — “Back To Friends,” which peaked this week at No. 12, and “Undressed,” which reached No. 16 in October — and the release of his debut album, I Barely Know Her, which reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200 in September.

This week, things are getting even better: the singer/songwriter is set to make his debut on Saturday Night Live this weekend, and just today (Nov. 7) received a Grammy nomination in the coveted best new artist category. To add on to that, last night he finished the sold out North American leg of his first-ever headlining tour in his hometown, across 31 dates in which every single venue had to be upgraded to accommodate demand, with several cities adding dates as well. All told, according to UTA data, Sombr has sold more than 100,000 tickets across two dozen countries, including his first-ever sold-out arena show at the 3Arena in Dublin, with more shows in Australia and Europe to come later this year into next. And that victory earns UTA agent John “JT” Taylor the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.

Taylor, who is Sombr’s co-agent alongside UTA partner Matt Meyer, also has a long relationship with the Jonas Brothers, for whom he played guitar and served as musical director in their early days, before joining their management team at Philymack from 2014 to 2022. He is now their agent as well, as the group is in the midst of a tour that has sold 442,000 tickets and grossed $42.4 million from shows between Aug. 10 and Sept. 29, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. Here, Taylor discusses Sombr’s remarkable rise, the logistics of having to upgrade so many venues on a tour while an artist is blowing up and more. “I haven’t ever seen it this quickly, personally,” Taylor says of Sombr’s rise. “It’s indicative of the way artists are able to effectively engage and reach audiences far and wide through smart digital strategy and great partnership with DSPs and social media platforms.”

Sombr broke out in a big way this year with two top 10 Hot 100 hits, and this week, he wrapped the North American leg of his Late Nights & Young Romance Tour, having sold out the entire run, according to UTA figures. How did you approach the booking and routing for someone who was actively making a name for themselves at the time, and what key decisions did you make to help make that happen?

To begin with, we are so fortunate to be working with a very special artist who is particularly attuned to his fan base. Shane’s fans are the most important thing in the world to him, so he has been incredibly focused on the fan experience throughout every step of this incredibly rapid growth trajectory. As for the strategy, we have an incredible IQ department at UTA that helped us as we determined our strongest markets and how to best estimate demand as we determined venue size. We worked with individual local promoters, who we are proud to have great relationships with, to ensure we could keep ticket prices accessible, the venues open to all ages, and to make sure we had Shane playing in iconic places that his fans would be excited about. 

As things continued to explode for Shane online, on the airwaves and beyond, it became evident that the rooms we had initially booked, which were the right rooms at the time, were simply too small. With the awareness we might leave too many fans unable to see a show, we pivoted quickly in real time to upgrade wherever we could.

Each venue on the North American tour was upgraded, and multiple dates were added in several cities. How do you make the call to do that and how difficult is it, logistically to pull off the switch, and overall to assess the correct venue size for an artist without much touring history?

Throughout this process, Shane has prioritized the fans and their experience. That mandate definitely brought with it some challenges, but was ultimately rewarding in the end. Shane wanted to upgrade wherever possible, but with the caveat that he didn’t want to change dates, didn’t want to refund tickets or cancel any of the shows. He was admirably adamant that we honor all of the original tickets sold at face value. This meant that our team — Matt Meyer, Jess Braunstein and myself — had to work with the promoters to find what larger rooms were available and able to accommodate those who already purchased tickets in the same seating configuration. We had to navigate this while renegotiating our current deals, all while considering the additional expenses associated with the larger rooms, and continuing to keep ticket prices fair and accessible throughout. We are very proud to say we were able to accomplish this in almost every market, which felt almost like a miracle once we had pulled it off.

He’s also performed in Europe and is about to go to Australia, with more European dates planned for next year, and has sold over 100,000 tickets across more than a dozen countries. How rare is that for an artist so relatively new, and how did you approach each territory? 

Some markets still really depend on the artist showing up and doing the leg work to build the audience, such as Japan, but even there Shane played Summer Sonic in August as his first-ever festival appearances and first time in the country, and already has amassed strong offers to return to a rapidly growing base. In Europe, we played a few headline shows in key markets, where the data was overwhelmingly convincing to test the waters. Shane was quick to alert us to the incredible numbers he was seeing in Ireland, for example. Again, we moved quickly and did everything we could to stay ahead of the explosive growth as we plotted out our 2026 headline run, which sold out clean on the on-sale, including highlights of three nights at Brixton in London and capping off with a show at the legendary 3Arena in Dublin.

How do you continue to grow an artist over the years into a real touring heavyweight?

By always prioritizing and supporting the artist’s vision and always putting the fan experience first. We are so fortunate to have an incredible team to support that vision with care and expert level strategy. We work closely across all departments at UTA to ensure we are not leaving any opportunity overlooked. Beyond the walls of our buildings, we have amazing partners at Warner Records, High Rise PR and of course with Shane’s team at The System — Andy Boose and Ann Perkins.

What’s next for Sombr?

SNL! His first ever Australian shows, the aforementioned headline European/U.K. run and some amazing festival looks in 2026.