Friday, July 11, 2025
Friday July 11, 2025
Friday July 11, 2025

Kendrick & SZA smash co‑headlining records with $256m and counting

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Their Grand National Tour smashed co-headline records after just 23 massive stadium shows

Kendrick Lamar and SZA have rewritten the rules of live music history. Their Grand National Tour has grossed a staggering $256.4 million from just 23 North American concerts, officially becoming the highest-grossing co-headlining tour ever.

Industry data confirms the duo sold 1.1 million tickets, obliterating the previous record set by Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s On The Run II tour. The average gross per concert reached a jaw-dropping $11.15 million, with crowds of around 48,000 fans per night packing stadiums.

The tour launched on 19 April 2025 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, where Kendrick Lamar became the first rapper to break the $9 million barrier in a single night. That record was just the start. By the time the tour hit Texas, the gross had climbed to $11.8 million, and in Seattle, it reached a towering $14.8 million—the highest ever for a hip-hop concert.

SZA, too, broke personal milestones during the run. Her presence elevated the performances into an electrifying showcase of vocal power, vulnerability, and stage dominance. From the stripped-back intimacy of “Saturn” to collaborative anthems like “All the Stars,” she matched Kendrick’s intensity step for step.

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Together, the pair transformed their sets into musical storytelling events—equal parts spectacle and emotion. Critics lauded Kendrick’s fierce lyricism and theatrical flair, while SZA’s dreamlike stagecraft brought emotional gravity to the experience.

Their halftime show at the Super Bowl earlier this year, broadcast to over 130 million viewers, provided a major boost to their visibility. But the tour itself is where they proved their dominance. It’s already projected to surpass $400 million once the European, South American, and Australian legs are completed.

The tour features a 52-song setlist with alternating solo acts and high-energy duets. Kendrick and SZA closed their Glasgow show with “Gloria,” having opened with hits like “Wacced Out Murals” and “30 for 30.” The energy remains unrelenting.

Crowds have turned out in overwhelming numbers across the continent, and demand remains high for the remaining dates, including stops in Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Cologne, Paris, and Rome.

With only part of the world tour complete, analysts already expect this to rank among the top 10 highest-grossing music tours of all time—a seismic shift in the hip-hop and R&B concert landscape.

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