NEWS
Beyoncé‘s ‘Cowboy Carter’ tour has become the highest-grossing country tour ever.
The 32-show run wrapped up on Saturday (July 26) in Las Vegas with a surprise Destiny’s Child Reunion.
Now, it’s been revealed that the trek grossed $407.6million (£305.5million) with 1.6 million tickets sold, according to Billboard Boxscore.
In making over $400million, the tour has reached a feat that no other country tour ever has, per Pollstar. Bey is also the first American artist to have two separate tours gross over $400 million, with her 2023 ‘Renaissance‘ trek – previously named one of the highest-grossing tours of all time – amassing $579million (£434million) across 56 shows.
The ‘Cowboy Carter’ run is also the shortest tour to ever reach the figure, with its closest competitors lagging far behind. Those include her own previous tour (56 dates), The Rolling Stones’ 2017 – 2021 No Filter Tour (58 dates), and Metallica’s ongoing M72 World Tour (60 so far).
This time around, Bey performed in only nine cities, choosing to play mini-residencies in the likes of Los Angeles, New York City, Atlanta, London and Las Vegas. It was a different approach to the ‘Renaissance’ run, which saw her play 39 cities in 17 countries.
Other surprise guests included Jay-Z, who made a special appearance in Atlanta for ‘Crazy In Love’, followed by solo performances of his own tracks ‘Public Service Announcement’ and ‘I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)’. It came after he previously joined her in France in June, marking their first time sharing a stage in seven years.
Before that, Beyoncé surprised fans once again in Paris, by bringing out Miley Cyrus to perform their collaboration ‘II Most Wanted’ together for the first time.
Beyoncé’s first London date at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier this month earned her a glowing five-star review, with Nick Levine writing for NME: “As a performer, she remains pretty much flawless – who else can sing from a bucking mechanical bull without missing a note? And as a creator of stadium spectacle, she keeps getting better. No one leaving this show will be removing their cowboy hat on the ride home.”
In other news, hard drives containing unreleased music from Beyoncé were reportedly stolen out of a rental car during the tour stop in Atlanta.
According to CNN, the vehicle in question was rented by Beyoncé’s choreographer Christopher Grant, who had arrived in Atlanta early to prep for the singer’s mini-residency.
Taylor Swift believes Nashville has a music scene that stands apart from anywhere else.
The 36 year old singer moved to Nashville, Tennessee, when she was young to chase her dream of becoming a country music star. After being inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame on Monday (26.10.26), Taylor took the opportunity to recognise the city and the talented writers who have helped shape its music scene.
In her acceptance speech, Taylor said: "I believe you really get to master a craft by doing it again and again. That's exactly what the incredible songwriters in this wonderful town do every day."
Taylor also spoke about what makes Nashville such a special place for musicians.
The award winning singer, who ranks among the best selling music artists of all time, said: "You won't find another music community quite like this one. Trust me, I've checked them all."
Taylor also shared how being part of Nashville's songwriting scene had taught her valuable lessons about life and working with others.
She joked: "I've learned to be flexible when your co writer turns up with a hangover, or when they need to spend ages talking about their divorce before we can even get started on a song."
Taylor previously spoke about how Faith Hill and Shania Twain inspired her decision to move to Nashville.
Speaking to Time magazine, the singer said: "I couldn't get enough of watching TV biographies about Faith Hill and Shania Twain, and I realised they had both moved to Nashville to get their careers started. After that, I kept asking, pleading and begging my parents to take me there.
"When I was 11, my mum took my brother and me to Nashville during spring break, and we spent the trip driving around Music Row. She stayed in the car while I rushed into record companies one after another, giving my demo CD to the receptionists. I found it fascinating that so many major record labels were gathered along a single street, often inside little buildings and old houses.
"What really stayed with me was how welcoming people were to newcomers and complete strangers like us. We started visiting Nashville more often, and when I was 13, I received an offer for a development deal from a major record label. That was when my parents finally agreed to leave Pennsylvania and move with me."
