Drake has set a new record, as his ‘It’s All a Blur’ tour has been confirmed as the highest-grossing hip-hop tour in history. The news was first shared on Instagram by Genius, which reported that the Canadian rapper achieved this milestone after selling out all 80 shows on his North American tour.
According to the announcement, the ‘It’s All a Blur’ tour, featuring J. Cole and guest appearances from 21 Savage, Sexyy Red, and Travis Scott, grossed a total of $320.5 million (£238.8 million). The update also provided a breakdown of ticket sales for each of the 39 venues where Drake performed, confirming that the tour attracted 1.3 million attendees. Back in November, it was reported that the ‘Hotline Bling’ rapper had already grossed $129.7 million (£96.7 million) with just 30 of the 72 scheduled shows, surpassing Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Big Steppers’ tour.
Lamar’s tour, which celebrated his fifth album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, began in July 2022 and concluded in September after 73 shows, grossing $110.9 million (£82.7 million) from 929,000 ticket sales.
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This July, Drake’s tour broke another record during two shows in Washington D.C., becoming the first rapper to earn over $5 million (£3.7 million) in revenue from a single arena concert in U.S. history (via HipHopDX). The back-to-back performances on July 28 and 29 attracted around 34,303 attendees, with tickets averaging $293.40 (£218.70) each.
These impressive tour results come in the wake of Drake’s ongoing feud with Kendrick Lamar, which dominated the hip-hop scene for several months earlier this year. Throughout this rivalry, both artists released various diss tracks, prompting commentary from rap legends like André 3000, who expressed feeling “a little sad,” and Questlove, who likened it to “wrestling match level mudslinging and takedown by any means necessary.”
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Recently, DJ Akademiks, a close associate of Drake, mentioned that the Toronto rapper has new music “on the way” and appeared to dismiss rumours that an upcoming single would sample Michael Jackson’s ‘Man In The Mirror.’ Since then, Drake has shared 100 gigabytes of content with fans, including three new songs. He also collaborated on two tracks for Camila Cabello’s new album and announced a new project with PartyNextDoor.
–Silviya.Y