Demand for Live Events Jumps 33% Compared to 2023; Travel to International Events for U.S. Buyers Has Doubled
As another standout year for live events comes to a close, StubHub, the world’s leading marketplace to buy and sell tickets to any live event, has released its annual Year in Live Experiences report, revealing the year’s best-selling live music and sporting experiences across the globe, and highlighting the stories and trends that made 2024 distinct. The annual report recaps an incredible year that saw an increase in travel for live events in the states and abroad, a record-breaking year for artists, and sports fandom reaching global audiences like never before.
As the world’s leading live event marketplace, StubHub provides the most robust look at the consumer trends and behaviors of ticket buyers. The in-depth trend insights stem from our unparalleled global presence, connecting buyers from over 200 countries and territories to a global catalog of more than 100 million event tickets worldwide each year.
“Gig-Tripping” Trend Created Wave of Global Tourism
Live events topped travel itineraries
- U.S. buyers traveled to international events twice as much as last year and international buyers traveling to U.S. events increased by 32%, based on the number of tickets sold, compared to last year.
- Buyers from 210 countries and territories purchased tickets to events on StubHub North America and viagogo this year, up from 195 last year.
- Out of StubHub’s top international cities for U.S. buyers, Montreal is the only one that did not host any Eras Tour shows.
- The city hosts the Canada F1 GP, which is Canada’s #3 event for U.S. buyers, only behind the Eras Tour Toronto and Vancouver shows.
✭ Top Traveling Countries
✭ International Cities That Drove the Most U.S. Buyers
Las Vegas bet big on events and came out on top
- The city leads as the top U.S. destination for out-of-towners, with 92% of total sales for events in the market coming from out-of-state buyers on StubHub.
- The Sphere has fans flocking to Vegas.
- U2 and The Eagles had residencies at The Sphere this year and are both among the best-selling global touring artists this year.
- U2’s shows at The Sphere rank at #2 for the most tickets sold to international buyers for events in the U.S., outpacing #3, Miami F1 GP, by 60%.
- Adele’s final 10 shows in Las Vegas outsold her record-breaking 10 shows in Munich by more than double.
- The final show of her Weekends with Adele residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace was her best-selling show of the year.
- New York had the most international buyers for events in 2024, with 55% more tickets sold to buyers outside of the U.S. than #2 Los Angeles.
- Miami, New Orleans, and Indianapolis, the U.S. cities that hosted the Eras Tour in 2024, take the #3, #4 and #5 spots for top U.S. cities driving the most ticket buyers from out-of-state.
✭ Top U.S. Destinations for Out-of-Towners
When in Rome; U.S. Fans Flock Overseas
- Coldplay’s stop in Rome attracted the most buyers from the States (outside of The Eras Tour).
- Three of the NFL’s international matchups are among the top experiences U.S. buyers traveled abroad for this year – this year’s international games sold more tickets to U.S. buyers than last year.
- U2 at The Sphere and the Eras Tour shows in Miami are the only concerts to make it into the top 10 experiences international buyers traveled to the U.S. to attend.
✭ Top In-Demand Events for U.S. Buyers Traveling Abroad in 2024
✭ Top U.S. Events for International Buyers
Sports United Audiences Worldwide; Everyone Watches Women’s Sports
Global game on! International markets win over new fans
- Super Bowl LVIII (Chiefs-49ers) is the best-selling single-day sporting event of the year on StubHub, outselling Super Bowl LVII (Chiefs-Eagles) by 76%.
- It outsold the total of all five NBA Finals games by 2.2x.
- The Big Game had buyers from all 50 states and 21 countries.
- Americans couldn’t get enough of soccer.
- The Euros and Copa America both debut on StubHub’s top in-demand sporting experiences this year, with U.S. buyers leading demand for the Copa America Final, accounting for 75% of tickets sold.
- Real Madrid vs. Barcelona F.C. is the top La Liga matchup for U.S. buyers, who account for almost half (44%) of the buyers on StubHub for the matchup.
- Cricket bowled over American audiences.
- U.S. buyers account for almost 90% of all tickets sold on StubHub and viagogo across the entire tourney which took place in the U.S., Caribbean, England, India and Australia.
- Buyers from 62 different countries purchased tickets for the US-based matches.
- The match between India vs Pakistan in New York City is the #11 best-selling global sporting event of the year on StubHub, outselling #12, Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul, by 22%.
✭ Top In-Demand Global Sporting Events for 2024
Gamechangers, rookies and record breakers stole the spotlight
- MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani incentivized ticket buyers from Japan.
- The five-game MLB World Series outsold the NBA Finals five-game series by almost 5x.
- Outside of North America, ticket buyers from Japan bought the most tickets to World Series games in Los Angeles on StubHub.
- At the start of the season, international ticket buyers accounted for nearly 30% of all Dodgers ticket sales on StubHub, with buyers from Japan accounting for 22% of all tickets sold for Dodgers games.
- The anticipation of Ohtani joining the 50-50 club drove demand for Dodgers home games, with StubHub selling 65% more tickets to the Sept. 20-22 series against the Rockies in the 24 hours following his 47th home run on Sept. 11.
- WNBA rookies proved to be a slam dunk for league sales.
- Total sales for the 2024 WNBA regular season were up nearly 10x compared to the 2023 season, with every single team seeing an increase in sales.
- The Indiana Fever are the best-selling WNBA team, with total sales nearly 90x on StubHub compared to 2023.
- Sales were nearly double (93%) that of the #2 team, Chicago Sky.
- Total sales for the Chicago Sky increased by almost 28x after drafting Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso.
- The Indiana Fever are the best-selling WNBA team, with total sales nearly 90x on StubHub compared to 2023.
- This year’s NCAA Women’s Final Four and the WNBA Finals were the best-selling in StubHub history.
- The Women’s Final Four outsold last year’s tournament by 13%.
- The Liberty-Lynx WNBA Finals outsold last year’s Finals between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty (StubHub’s previous best-selling WNBA Finals) by nearly 3x.
- The Women’s Final Four outsold last year’s tournament by 13%.
- Total sales for the 2024 WNBA regular season were up nearly 10x compared to the 2023 season, with every single team seeing an increase in sales.
Football Saturdays’ new vibe spurred sales and must-see matchups
- Regular season college football sales increased 56% compared to 2023.
- The College Football Championship is the #6 best-selling sporting experience of the year, outselling last year’s championship by 80% on StubHub.
- Sales were up for all Power Four conferences for the 2024 season.
- Among the Power Four conferences, the SMU Mustangs (15x), Texas Longhorns (3.5x) and Arizona Wildcats (3.4x) saw the biggest jump in sales compared to 2023 final sales.
- Texas was the best-selling college football team of the season on StubHub and their game where they hosted Georgia was the best-selling game of the regular season, outselling #2, Texas-Texas A&M, by 22%.
Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye: Taylor Swift Concludes Biggest Tour in StubHub History, Adele Takes Final Bow in Vegas and Billy Joel Bids Farewell to MSG
Taylor closed out the end of an Eras
- Taylor Swift is StubHub’s #1 global touring act for the second year in a row, with the Eras Tour becoming a global bucket-list phenomenon.
- Her shows in Paris had more U.S. buyers than any other event outside of North America this year.
- Miami is the best-selling stop of the year and had the most international ticket buyers of all U.S. stops.
- She was the most-searched artist on StubHub, with 3x more site traffic than the #2 most-searched artist, Coldplay.
Adele belted out her final note in Sin City
- Buyers from 134 countries bought tickets to see Adele this year at her residencies in Munich and Las Vegas.
- She is the #3 best-selling artist, outselling #4, Olivia Rodrigo, by 5% with a third of the number of shows.
- Adele had the second-highest average price of tickets sold of all artists, only following Taylor Swift.
The Piano Man ended a record-breaking decade at Madison Square Garden
- The final show of his historical 150-show Madison Square Garden residency is his highest-selling show.
- Sales for the show are more than 41% higher than sales for his second-best-selling MSG show on June 8.
- Fans came from 21 countries for his final performance.
- Buyers from 70 countries purchased tickets to see Billy Joel perform this year.
- He outsells #9, U2, by more than 11% despite having only 13 shows compared to their 40.
Coldplay conquered the world
- Coldplay is the #6 best-selling artist of the year, outselling #7, The Eagles, by 15%.
- Buyers from 148 countries purchased tickets to see Coldplay’s tour this year, more than any other artist.
- Germany purchased more tickets than any other country, followed by the U.S.
- Their Rome and Athens shows drove more U.S. buyers than any other stops.
- They were the #2 most-searched artist on StubHub, only behind Taylor Swift.
- Looking ahead, they are the #1 global experience of 2025 in their final year of the Music of the Spheres World Tour, and are outselling the next best-selling experience, Oasis, by nearly 4x.
✭ Top In-Demand Global Artists of 2024
Solo acts had a breakthrough year
- Each of this year’s breakthrough artists are solo acts, with pop artists dominating the list.
- Sabrina Carpenter is the #1 artist on the rise and the #1 pop star looking ahead to 2025.
- Her sales for this year’s Short n’ Sweet tour are up more than 44x compared to her ‘Emails I Can’t Send’ tour stops in 2023.
- She is currently the best-selling female artist globally for events in 2025 on StubHub as she takes her Short n’ Sweet Tour overseas.
- Charli XCX ranks at #4 for artists on the rise, after her 2024 tour dates outsold her 2023 and 2022 Crash: The Live Tour dates by 14x on StubHub.
✭ Top Global Breakthrough Artists of 2024
What’s Next: A Look Ahead to 2025
Legacy acts stage a comeback
- They make up nearly half of the list with Oasis leading sales for iconic legacy acts, outpacing The Eagles by almost 60%.
- Oasis returns to touring for the first time since 2009 in their Live ’25 reunion tour, with Soldier Field in Chicago on August 28 hosting the best-selling show globally, surpassing sales for their #2 show at MetLife Stadium by 25%.
- The Eagles’ January 18 performance at The Sphere is the best-selling show of their residency for 2025 and is outselling their next best-selling show on January 17 by more than 18%.
Fans get ready to rumble as wrestling regains popularity
- WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas is the best-selling sporting event of 2025 following The Rock’s iconic comeback at WrestleMania XL.
- The Super Bowl is always a top-selling event annually, but early sales have already landed the game at #9.
✭ Top In-Demand Global Experiences in 2025
