BTS Beats The Rolling Stones’ Seven-Year Boxscore Record

In April, BTS returned to the Boxscore charts with a vengeance, leading the Top Tours chart for the first time in four years with monthly earnings of more than $75 million. In May, they maintain their crown while leveling up.

According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, BTS grossed $127.8 million and sold 641,000 tickets over 12 shows between May 2-28, repeating as the month’s highest-grossing and best-selling touring act. Further, the group achieves the biggest monthly gross by a group since the chart began in 2019, surpassing The Rolling Stones’ $95 million from August 2019 by 35%.

This marks BTS’ fourth month at No. 1 on Top Tours, after leading in May 2019 and April 2022, in addition to April of this year. Only five acts have spent more time on top since the chart’s launch in 2019: Bad Bunny, with nine months; Beyoncé, Coldplay, and Elton John, each with seven; and Trans-Siberian Orchestra with five.

Of BTS’ four chart-toppers, this is its biggest yet. At $127.8, the group’s May is the fifth biggest monthly gross in the chart’s history, ranked behind three months by Beyoncé and one by Kendrick Lamar & SZA.

After opening the Arirang World Tour on top, BTS’ monthly gross increased by 68% from April to May, while attendance surged by 54%. The group’s April schedule mixed three shows in Tampa with stadium dates in Japan and South Korea, but May’s slate was exclusively in North America: nine shows in the United States, plus three in Mexico.

Ticket prices are higher across the board in the U.S., and despite South Korea’s hometown advantage, BTS sold more tickets per market in the U.S., with more shows in bigger stadiums. The tour hit a peak in Las Vegas, with 246,000 tickets and $49.5 million at Allegiant Stadium on May 23-24 and 27-28. With ease, those four shows land at No. 1 on Top Boxscores.

It’s not the first time that BTS rules the monthly Boxscore recap powered by shows at the Vegas stadium. In April 2022, they made $35 million and sold 200,000 tickets from four shows there, earning the top spot on Top Boxscores, and solely powering a No. 1 finish on Top Tours. Four years later, they increased revenue by 38% and attendance by 23% with the same number of shows at the same stadium.

Three shows at Stanford Stadium (Stanford, Calif.), three at Estadio GNP Seguros (Mexico City), and two at Sun Bowl (El Paso, Texas) padded BTS’ May routing. They follow on Top Boxscores at Nos. 2, 3, and 4, respectively.

Since Arirang World Tour’s April 9 kickoff, the trek has grossed $204 million and sold 1.1 million tickets. With more than 50 shows left to play in 2026, it will soon be the group’s biggest tour yet, within striking distance of the Love Yourself World Tour’s $213.9 million (2018-19).

BTS’ May shows sends the group’s career Boxscore earnings passed the half-billion mark, up to $503.1 million from 3.3 million tickets sold from 87 reported shows.

When BTS first led the Top Tours chart, exactly seven years ago, Metallica was in the runner-up position for the last leg of the WorldWired Tour. Now three years deep into the M72 World Tour, the metal legends return to No. 2, again seated behind the K-pop superstars.

Metallica grossed $72.6 million from 506,000 tickets sold in May. The band’s seven shows were across Europe, including bookending Olympic Stadiums in Athens (May 9) and Berlin (May 30), sandwiching shows in Bucharest, Chorzow, Frankfurt, and Zurich. The May 19 performance in Chorzow, Poland was the biggest one-night engagement, driving 90,500 tickets and $14.4 million, while the double-header at Frankfurt’s Deutsche Bank Park (May 22 and 24) ultimately was the biggest stop, at 125,000 tickets and $15.5 million.

Dating back to the M72 World Tour’s launch in April 2023, the global trek has brought in $564.5 million and sold over 4.7 million tickets. By the end of the entire run, scheduled through July 5 at London’s Wembley Stadium, it will likely be among the 10 highest-grossing tours in Boxscore history.

With three entries within the top 10 of Top Boxscores, Bad Bunny follows with the third highest grossing tour of May. After dominating its first few monthly reports with shows in Latin America, he resumed the Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour in Europe on May 22. Before the end of the month, he played two shows in Barcelona, two in Lisbon, and another pair in Madrid.

Each of the three double-headers earned upwards of $15 million and sold more than 100,000 tickets, though that is where the level comparison ends. Bad Bunny’s run in Madrid extended into June with eight additional dates, ultimately grossing $96.1 million from 623,000 tickets between May 30-June 15. The stint’s remaining shows will be represented on the forthcoming June report.

Current through the end of the Madrid dates, the Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour has grossed $360 million and sold 2.4 million tickets, becoming the highest-grossing and best-selling tour in history that did not play any shows in the United States. Further, Bad Bunny’s career Boxscore grosses have hit $1.1 billion, making him the first Latin artist in the billion-dollar club.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band is next at No. 4 with $50.8 million in 10 shows. That’s half of the Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour’s overall haul of 20 dates. Between its Minneapolis kickoff on March 31 and Philadelphia closing on May 30, the entire tour grossed $92.1 million and sold 355,000 tickets.

From Metallica, Bad Bunny, and Springsteen – acts who have been constant presences on the monthly Top Tours chart over the last several years – to a monthly Boxscore debut: No Doubt rounds out the top five with 12 shows at Las Vegas’ Sphere. They mark the band’s first concerts in 14 years, dating to a 2012 residency at Los Angeles’ Gibson Amphitheatre. The shows grossed $41.9 million and sold 192,000 tickets.