This Band Will Drive The Most Travel Demand In 2025, Per StubHub

For the travel industry, 2024 was the year when live tourism exploded as an irrepressible economy mover, as millions of travelers planned trips around music concerts, sports events and natural phenomena like solar eclipses and meteor showers. The year saw Americans double their international travels in the pursuit of live events, according to a new report from StubHub, as demand for live events jumped by 33% globally compared to 2023.

“What’s incredible about 2024 is the huge influence live events had on global tourism—international travel to live events increased by 62% this year with vacations centered around seeing Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Ohtani in the World Series and Copa America,” says Cris Miller, chief business officer of StubHub.

In 2024, Americans collectively bought more tickets for live events outside of the country than any other national cohort. With 116 events in 2024, Taylor Swift was the most in-demand artist, followed by Zach Bryan (85 events) and Adele (32 events). This year, more Americans bought tickets to Swift’s Paris shows than any other event outside North America. Swift was the most-searched artist on StubHub, drawing three times more interest than the next-most-searched artist, Coldplay.

The travel industry’s enthusiasm for live events is driven by the sector’s impressive growth. The global live music market is expanding at a rate of 17% annually, and is projected to grow by another $36 billion by 2028, according to a recent report from market research firm Technavio.

Nobody embodies the live events trend more than Swift, whose $2-billion worldwide Eras Tour just came to a close last weekend in Vancouver. Around the world, Swifties—and often their parents and grandparents—built vacations around her concerts and moved local economies. Concert-goers spent an average $1,300 per show on incidentals—transportation, accommodation, dining, shopping—over and above the cost of tickets, according to research from Skift.

Now that the Eras Tour has wrapped, StubHub is predicting that Coldplay will reign over live events in 2025. It remains to be seen whether the Chris Martin-led band can lift the travel industry to the same extend as Swift’s tour, which had tourism destinations falling over themselves to offer special packages and airlines adding flights to meet demand. One promising sign is that buyers from 148 countries purchased tickets to see Coldplay’s tour this year, and more Americans flocked to see the band in Rome and Athens than to any other concerts outside Swift’s Eras Tour. Looking ahead to 2025, the final year of the three-year Music of the Spheres World Tour, Coldplay is outselling the next best-selling experience, Oasis, by nearly 4x on StubHub.

Next year will be big for legacy bands, according to StubHub, with second-place Oasis outpacing The Eagles by almost 60% in ticket sales. The Manchester band announced in August that the long-feuding Gallagher brothers would put aside 15 years of rancor to embark on a 2025 reunion tour, which will include shows at Chicago’s Soldier Field and New York City-area MetLife Stadium.

Based on ticket sales in 2025, The Eagles will take the No. 3 spot on the list. The iconic 1970s country-rock band, also known for past feuds, will continue its residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Nos. 4 and 5 are two more legacy acts—Metallica and My Chemical Romance.

At No. 6, the bestselling sports event of 2025 is looking to be WrestleMania 41, which will be held in April at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Early ticket sales for SuperBowl LIX, taking place in February in New Orleans, have only landed the game at No. 9.

At No. 7, the bestselling female artist globally for events in 2025 is 25-year-old Sabrina Carpenter, which StubHub also identifies as the No. 1 artist on the rise and the No. 1 pop star in 2025.

Rounding out the top 10 for live events in 2025 is Zach Bryan at No. 8 and Bruce Springsteen at No. 10.