Burna Boy Breaks Record As First-ever African Artiste With Highest-Grossing Arena Concert In USA

Nigerian Grammy Award winner, Burna Boy has etched his name in history as he has shattered barriers and set new standards, becoming the first African artiste to stage the highest-grossing arena concert in America.

Touring Data, an international platform that provides a PDF and spreadsheet with ticket count information for tours in the US and Canada made this news public on X.

Citing different data on its X account, Touring Data said Burna Boy beat his 2022 record after he generated $1.593 million, or just over N2 billion, at his TD Garden in Boston on 2 March.

‘‘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,” Touring Data stated.

Similarly, they 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.

But that’s not all. Still talking numbers, Touring Data said that over 124,706 tickets valued at $93.50 on average were sold at Burna Boy’s ‘I Told Them’ tour. Revenue-wise, $11,659,531, or about N16 billion, was realised via the ticket sales.

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 3 November at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.

It marked Burna Boy’s first-ever performance in a Los Angeles stadium. He toured other American cities, including Houston, Chicago, Toronto, and more, before wrapping up in Atlanta at State Farm Arena on 9 March.

Nine months earlier, the African Giant had a sold-out show at Citi Field, New York, making him the first Nigerian artiste to headline a stadium in America.

BMO Stadium’s website said 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.”

They said this history-making performance followed his landmark London Stadium performance, where Burna Boy made history as the first African to headline a stadium in the U.K.

With his Madison Square Garden performance, the singer again made history as the first Nigerian musician to sell out The World’s Most Famous Arena.

The global giant once again made history with his recently released album I TOLD THEM… after it debuted at #1 on the official U.K. Albums chart, making him the first international African artiste to earn the title.

Born Damini Ogulu, Burna Boy started his career with the hit single Like to Party and the album L.I.F.E, “Living an Impact for Eternity,” which dropped on 12 August 2013.

His approach and style of music have been one not to be ignored. His appraisal of a vast genre of music birthed room for the creation of his sound and style, “AFRO FUSION.”

Over the years, the Port Harcourt-born Afro artiste has delivered seven albums of excellent sound, the most recent titled “I TOLD THEM…” released on 25 August 2023

Burna Boy stays winning despite the friction between two of the big three Nigerian music acts.

He was recently listed among the TIME 100 Most Influential People of 2024.