They say it’s a marathon, not a sprint. But for Beyoncé and JAY-Z, it was both. Their sprawling On the Run II Tour finished with $253.5 million in the bank, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore.
The trek wrapped Oct. 4 at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field, the last of the 48 stadium dates they played, after beginning June 6 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. From there, the dynamic duo played 18 shows throughout Europe, peaking at London Stadium’s two-night engagement with $11 million grossed and more than 125,000 tickets sold. After a few final shows in France, including their debut performance of “APESHIT” in Paris, they crossed the pond for 30 North American shows, with doubles in Landover, Md.; East Rutherford, N.J.; Chicago; Atlanta; Houston; and Pasadena, Calif. The biggest earner of the tour was the Aug. 25-26 engagement at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, grossing $14.1 million.
On the Run II is the sequel to 2014’s On the Run Tour, a massive success in its own right. Billboard named it the Top R&B/Hip-Hop tour of the year, coming in at No. 8 on 2014's overall Top Tours list, with three appearances on the year-end Top Boxscores ranking. The original trek grossed $109.6 million from 980,000 tickets sold.
But despite the high bar set four years ago, On the Run II expanded The Carters’ worldwide reach. The $253.5 million haul of this year’s run represents a 132 percent increase over the original’s gross. While one might worry that expanding from 21 sold-out stadium dates to 48 would be spreading oneself thin, Beyoncé and JAY-Z were still able to increase their average per-show gross, maintaining a pace of $5.28 million each night.
