By Funsho Arogundade
Grammy award winner, Burna Boy, has set new standards, becoming the first African artiste to stage the highest-grossing arena concert in the United States of America.
Touring Data, an international platform that provides spreadsheet with ticket count information for tours in the US and Canada, revealed this on its X account.
According to Touring Data, Burna Boy beat his 2022 record after generating $1.593 million, or just over N2 billion, at his TD Garden in Boston on March 2, 2024.
“Burna Boy earns the highest-grossing arena concert by an African artist in US history with $1.593 million at TD Garden in Boston on March 2, 2024, surpassing his numbers at Madison Square Garden in 2022,” the platform stated.
It also noted that the singer’s I Told Them tour sold out by large margins in Scotiabank Arena, Montreal and Toronto in Canada, Boston in the US, and Cologne in Germany.
Shortly after dropping the highly anticipated video for City Boys, Burna Boy announced his I Told Them…Tour. Produced by Live Nation, the 16-city tour kicked off on November 3 at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
According to BMO Stadium’s website, the singer commanded a crowd of more than 40,000 fans, including celebrities like Busta Rhymes, SZA, NBA star, Mo Bamba, NFL star, Larry Ogunjobi, and British rapper, Dave, who joined him on stage for a performance of his (Burna Boy’s) hit song, Location.
Touring Data added that over 124,706 tickets valued at $93.50 on average were sold at Burna Boy’s ‘I Told Them’ tour while $11,659,531 (about N16 billion) was realised via ticket sales.
Recently, Burna Boy was listed among the TIME 100 Most Influential People of 2024.
In a glowing tribute penned by Angelique Kidjo for TIME magazine, the Beninese/French Grammy winning legend, described Burna Boy as “history in the making. Now a whole generation of young people from the continent is looking up to him.”