Rock Isn’t Dead — But Younger Competition Is Closing In On Tour

In 2024, the top 10 of Billboard’s year-end Top Tours chart included a group of familiar names, with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, The Rolling Stones and U2 lining up at Nos. 5-7, plus Metallica at No. 10. Familiar, as in 51 combined year-end top 10 appearances dating back to the inaugural list in 1991. This year, none of them appear, coinciding with rock’s worst overall showing in Boxscore history, dating to the first year-end list in 1991.

Among this year’s top 100 tours, 30 are by rock artists. Of the top 100 tours’ combined $9.1 billion gross, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, $2.7 billion, or 30.2% comes from rock acts. That share is down from 36% last year and slips behind the genre’s previous low of 31.8% in 2018.

The figures above show that rock was stronger in 2024 than in 2018, not to mention a post-COVID high of 42.5% in 2022. These numbers ebb and flow from year to year, often impacted by quirks of scheduling as much as industry trends. Still, rock’s loosened grip over the Boxscore charts is a continuation of decades-long decay. On average, the genre represented 65% of the top 100 gross during the 1990s, before dipping to 57% in the 2000s, 43% in the 2010s, and 35% for the 2020s so far.

While rock’s dominance wanes, it isn’t over yet. At 30.2%, it’s still close to double pop’s share and more than double that of country and R&B. In fact, the year’s biggest tour is by a rock band. But even 25 years removed from that band’s debut album, it represents a shift away from classic rock.

Coldplay is No. 1 on the year-end charts for Top Tours (ranked by gross revenue), Top Ticket Sales (ranked by attendance), Top Boxscores (noting individual concert engagements), and by default, Top Rock Tours. Imagine Dragons follows at No. 4 on Top Ticket Sales and No. 7 on Top Tours with 2.1 million tickets sold and $241.6 million. Neither band is brand new, but they are relatively young to be leading their genre, which has long relied on classic rock acts – artists from the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s – to rule the Boxscore charts. Coldplay and Imagine Dragons are firmly 21st-century hitmakers, having made their first Billboard chart appearances in 2000 and 2012, respectively.

Since rock has historically loomed so large over the Top Tours tally, it makes sense that as it skews younger, so does the entire chart. On average, this year’s top 100 touring acts are 45.8 years old. That is younger than it’s been in over a decade, but by a narrow margin. Dating back to 2012, the average age has fluctuated between 45 and 50.

Zeroing in on the top 10, the average age plunges to 37.8 years old, down 31% from last year, below 40 for the first time since 2001, and lower than it’s been in more than 30 years. Coldplay and Shakira are the oldest acts in the top 10, both at 48. Stray Kids bookends the top 10, averaging 26 years among its eight members. Beyoncé and the members of Imagine Dragons are in their 40s, while Chris Brown, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, Ed Sheeran, and SZA are in their 30s.

When the top 10 was last this young in 1991-92, the list was stacked with classic rock acts. To state the obvious, 30 years ago, those artists were 30 years younger. The entire industry of contemporary popular music was itself, much younger. But even as these acts have aged and continued to produce chart-topping tours, the average age on Boxscore charts has declined because the slate of arena and stadium acts has diversified, with new stars of pop, hip-hop, K-pop, Latin, and more matching the biggest rock headliners.

Only three of rock’s 30 artists in the top 100 are younger than Imagine Dragons (average age 40): The Lumineers (39), Hozier (35), and Sam Fender (31). On the other hand, the second most prominent genre on the year-end chart – pop, 16.9% of the top 100 grosses – boasts some of the chart’s youngest artists: Benson Boone is 23, and Tate McRae and Olivia Rodrigo are both 22.

With 100 open positions, the year-end Top Tours chart has more than enough room to encompass an expansive group of artists, with rock playing a massive part. Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, and The Who continue to rack up sold-out grosses into their 80s. Metallica and Springsteen sported lighter touring schedules than in 2024 but still finish the year at Nos. 20 and 22, respectively, with Iron Maiden and Eagles both above $150 million. Deftones and System of a Down hit new career highs, 30 years into their careers. 21st century standouts Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance displayed sustained momentum from comebacks earlier this decade. Notably, despite not reporting to Billboard Boxscore, Brit-pop icons Oasis created hysteria in stadiums and breathless buzz online for their long-awaited reunion tour.

The decline of rock music on the charts has been well documented, but it’s been a slower and more stable drop-off when it comes to Boxscore because the Stones, Springsteen, and many more have deep discographies and fan bases with disposable income, able to continue selling out stadiums decades after their last top 40 hits. But as the genre fails to generate new stars at the rate of pop, Latin, and more, where does that leave it?

Rock is not dead. It’s still responsible for more top-100 tours than any other genre, and for the second consecutive year, has the highest-grossing and best-selling tour. But instead of having the entire pie – rock represented the top nine tours in 1992 – it has a reasonable, still huge, piece of it with two of this year’s top 10 acts and 30 of the top 100. It’s encouraging for the entire touring industry that a wide swath of other genres has competitively scaled to stadiums, but rock bands continue to pack the world’s biggest venues in the lineage of the last century’s biggest headliners.