Inarguably, the biggest summer tour of the year is Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s co-headlining Grand National Tour. The duo is undoubtedly the most trusted hip-hop & R&B duo of the 2020s, who embody the purity of hip-hop and R&B’s effortless marriage. However, the tour also comes on the heels of their shared performance at the Super Bowl, which not only foreshadowed the stadium tour they’re currently embarked on but also served as another diss toward Drake.
Since kicking the tour off in April 2025, virtually every stadium stop has become a milestone. Industry trackers report that each new show has eclipsed the last with sold-out crowds and eye-popping grosses. The April 19th opener in Minneapolis, for example, grossed $ 9.124 million from 47,354 fans, per Touring Data, making Lamar the first rapper ever to exceed $9 million from a single concert (surpassing Eminem’s 2019 mark of $8.7M). That debut night, which filled U.S. Bank Stadium, also set a career-high attendance for the duo. Since then, they’ve continued to crush records at every turn, and below, we’ll be breaking down each one.
The U.S. Bank Stadium debut was instantly historic. Touring Data reports the show grossed $9.124,989 from 47,354 sold seats – a total no hip-hop artist had ever reached. This made Lamar the first rapper in history to gross more than $9 million in one show. That figure shattered Eminem’s previous record of $8.708M (set in 2019) and underscored the massive demand for Lamar’s return to stadium stages. In fact, every ticket was sold, and the 47,000+ fan crowd marked Lamar (and SZA’s) biggest attended show to date. The April 19 launch not only set a new bar for hip-hop grosses but proved the tour’s star power right out of the gate.
Just days later, Lamar and SZA topped even the Minneapolis numbers. The April 23 stop at Houston’s NRG Stadium pulled in over $9.4 million, as the pair pushed past Lamar’s freshly set record. Then on April 26 at Dallas’s AT&T Stadium, they smashed the record again – grossing $11.822 million in a single night. According to Touring Data, that Texas performance made Lamar “the highest grossing Black man in history for a single live performance”. In other words, the $11.822M haul overtook the previous Black male record (The Weeknd’s $9.8M in 2022). In just three shows, Lamar had set and reset the all-time rap box office record, underscoring how each successive stop kept outdoing the last.
The peak came at Seattle’s Lumen Field on May 17. Industry reporting places the gross at roughly $14.811 million from 60,941 tickets – by far the largest tally in the tour’s history, which Touring Data claims makes Kendrick Lamar “the first rapper in history to take in more than $14 million for a single performance.” In doing so, he eclipsed his own Dallas mark by roughly $3M overnight. The Seattle show’s attendance (60,941) was also the tour’s highest to date. (Touring Data notes this is the largest crowd ever to see Lamar or SZA perform.) Together, the Seattle figures shattered every benchmark: it now stands as the highest-grossing hip-hop concert in history, and the first time any rap show exceeded $14M.
For SZA, the Seattle numbers also represent a personal milestone. The $14.811M gross is so far her biggest co-headline night, and by Touring Data’s measure, it is “the highest-grossing concert by a female artist who debuted in the 2010s” (crediting SZA’s role).
By late May, the Grand National Tour’s string of landmarks extended well beyond individual shows. Estimates reported the tour had already grossed $112.5 million after its first 10 shows. That total surpassed Lamar’s previous career best (his 2023 Big Steppers Tour at $110.8M) and made him “the only rapper to have multiple tours in the top 5 [highest-grossing hip-hop tours of all time].” In other words, Lamar now holds two of the five biggest rap tour grossing totals ever. Pundits are even projecting that if current trends hold, the Grand National Tour will end as the highest-grossing rap tour in history.
Although Kendrick Lamar is the marquee name, co-headliner SZA has also chalked up tour-related records. By sharing top billing, SZA helped set those massive box office figures – making her a record-holder in her own right. For example, the Lumen Field gross ($14.811M) is the largest ever for any female headliner of her era, per reports. The Seattle crowd was SZA’s personal best as well. In addition, SZA’s career metrics have soared: she is now one of only a handful of Black female artists to headline tours surpassing $100M. (She joins an elite club that includes Beyoncé and Tina Turner.) In short, SZA’s presence on the Grand National Tour has produced unprecedented milestones for a female artist in hip-hop.
Together, Lamar and SZA have turned the Grand National Tour into a commercial juggernaut. Each stop has rewritten the record books – from the first stadium gross over $9M, to the first over $14M – and in doing so has set new standards for the live music industry. With dozens of dates still to come, the tour’s record-breaking pace shows no signs of letting up.
NEWS
Nick Cave has reflected on reports that his massive Preston Park concert with The Bad Seeds became “the largest ticketed event in Brighton’s history”.
Read More: In conversation with Nick Cave: “There’s no metric that says virtuousness makes good art”
The legendary rock band performed in Brighton on Friday, July 31, delivering their only UK show to more than 50,000 fans while celebrating their praised 2024 record, ‘Wild God’.
The Flaming Lips, English Teacher, Cate Le Bon and Warmduscher appeared as special guests, while Kylie Minogue joined Cave for a moving rendition of ‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’.
Before the main concert, the group gave fans another unexpected treat by performing an intimate acoustic set on the rooftop of Brighton’s Resident Records.
Following the packed Preston Park performance, Cave has now reflected on the milestone event, revealing that the occasion felt like a “homecoming” for several reasons.
Responding to a fan through his Red Hand Files website, Cave explained that he spent the following morning sitting along Brighton’s seafront and taking in the “near-empty, early-morning streets” while thinking about the previous night. He also revealed that his manager had told him “last night’s show was the largest ticketed event in Brighton’s history”.
While remembering the concert, Cave called it a “big day for The Bad Seeds” and said he could not “overstate the pride I feel in performing with a band that can play the rooftop of a record store in the morning, and then perform to nearly 50,000 people in the evening with the same ferocious intention”.
“There is simply no other group that can summon pure chaos and the most acute intimacy almost simultaneously, and that is both tight and anarchic within the same song,” he continued. “They are a force to behold, and it is a sheer privilege to share a stage with them.”
Discussing Minogue’s surprise appearance, Cave shared that her outfit had been created by his wife, fashion designer Susie. He also praised the Australian star as “a performer who only gives, gives and gives, then retreats, as ghosts and great performers do.”
The ‘Red Right Hand’ singer went on to express his gratitude to “everyone who came to the concert”, explaining that the evening felt like “a homecoming in many different ways”.
“Although part of me is relieved the Preston Park show is behind me, sometimes my job is so completely and emotionally overwhelming, I’m happy we could, for a delirious moment in time, create a place where the absent and the present could dance together. Again, thank you,” he finished.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds will now complete their tour with a final series of European festival appearances. The group has also suggested that another record may be approaching, having revealed earlier this year that they were “messing around” in the studio and considering what could follow ‘Wild God’.
Following the release of that project, Cave appeared on ‘Honora’, the first solo album from Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. He has also created a fresh recording of ‘Red Right Hand’ for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
