Beyoncé And Jay-Z’s ‘OTR II Tour’ Wraps Europe: Everything Is Love & $87.6M

Robin Harper / Parkwood / PictureGroup – DRUNK IN LOVE:
Beyoncé and Jay-Z share a moment during the couple’s co-bill performance at Telia Parken in Copenhagen, Denmark, June 23, 2018.

With the combined star power of Beyoncé and Jay-Z, it comes as no surprise that the first leg of the couple’s “OTR II Tour” was a wild success. Pollstar’s Boxoffice has received reports for the entire 18-night European excursion – and every single show sold out.

Presented by Live Nation Global Touring in association with Beyoncé’s Parkwood Entertainment and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, the stadium outing kicked off June 6 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. That gig sold 39,731 tickets and grossed nearly $4.2 million (£3.1 million).

The European run racked up a total of 871,012 tickets sold and grossed more than $87.6 million. The average show sold 58,067 tickets and grossed more than $5.8 million, with tickets ranging in price from as low as €10 ($11.69) in Rome and Milan, Italy, to as high as €175 ($204.44) in Barcelona. The average ticket price was $100.57, which would seem a bargain to catch two of the biggest artists around.

The biggest stop of the European leg was the two-night stand at London Stadium, which sold a total of 126,443 tickets and grossed nearly $11.2 million. The London show also happened to be the location for the couple announcing the surprise release of their collaborative Everything Is Love album. The other cities that were treated to two nights of The Carters were Paris and Amsterdam.

As the name implies, “OTR II Tour” is the follow-up to Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s 2014 co-headline “On The Run Tour.” That 21-date outing grossed nearly $109.7 million with 979,781 tickets sold, landing the couple at No. 5 on Pollstar’s Year End Top 100 Worldwide Tours chart and No. 2 on the Top 200 North American Tours chart.

As to how the “On The Run Tour” and its sequel compare, 

it’s tough to say because the previous co-bill just had one stop in Europe. Looking at just Paris’ Stade de France, Queen Bey and her king sold 111,615 tickets at the venue July 14-15, with a gross of nearly $10.9 million in 2018, significantly less than their two-night stand in 2014, when the couple grossed more than $13.6 million from 147,012 tickets.

Beyoncé did her own 17-show headline tour in Europe in 2016, performing at several of the same venues the couple just played, with a total of 867,025 tickets sold and a gross of more than $86.9 million. Some venues grossed more with the co-bill (such as Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden) while others pulled in less dough compared to Beyoncé solo (like Glasgow’s Hampden Park), but the averages per show were pretty close: 58,067 tickets and $5.8M gross for “OTR II Tour” versus 54,189 tickets and $5.4M gross for Bey.

While Jay-Z’s talent and popularity are undeniable, the crowds he attracts on his own are significantly smaller. While Beyoncé can headline stadiums in Europe, Jay-Z’s 2013 European tour took in arenas, with an average of 17,930 tickets and a gross of nearly $1.5 million per show.

After wrapping Europe with a July 17 show at Allianz Riviera in Nice, France, Bey and Jay-Z return to kick off the North American portion of the “OTR II Tour” July 25 at Cleveland’s FirstEnergy Stadium, with dates booked through Oct. 2 at Vancouver’s BC Place.