See Where Denver Ranked In Top Markets For Concerts In 2021

DENVER, CO —Pollstar, a trade publication dedicated to covering the worldwide concert industry, on Tuesday released its first-ever Concert Market Rankings.

According to the publication, the rankings were determined by sales data reported by concert promoters, venues, booking agents and artist managers throughout the year. The inaugural rankings were for the period from Nov. 19, 2020, through Nov. 17, 2021. The top 100 U.S. markets were ranked.

Though the sold-ticket count in all 100 regions topped 24.2 million from 8,833 performances, Pollstar pointed out that COVID-19 also played a role in keeping people from attending concerts, especially in late 2020 and early 2021.

" Of course, the chart year was not a typical year with the industry returning in fits and starts as it emerged from the global pandemic and the majority of touring data coming in Q3 and Q4," Pollstar said in a statement. "If the volume of tours continues to increase apace, it will invariably impact 2023's market rankings significantly."

Denver ranked No. 8 on the list with a reported market gross of $56,340,791 and reported ticket sales of 706,176. The rankings included 156 Denver-area concerts where the average ticket price was $79.78.

An accompanying article by Ariel King titled "From Red Rocks to Ball Arena" highlighted the beauty of the former.

"At the base of the Rocky Mountains in Morrison, Colorado, stands one of North America's most stunning venues, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, which artists and fans travel to from around the world," King wrote.

King went on to write that Red Rocks was "named Pollstar's Best Outdoor Venue so many times that the award was rechristened the Red Rocks Award."

According to the article, Red Rocks' highest-grossing single-night show in 2021 was the Jonas Brothers' Sept. 5 gig, which grossed $1.38 million from 8,677 tickets sold.

Meanwhile, the amphitheater's highest-grossing multi-night events were: Jimmy Buffet, which grossed $2.26 million from 17,157 tickets sold over two shows in September, and The String Cheese Incident, which grossed $1.97 million from three shows in July, for which 26,185 tickets were sold.

Denver's highest-grossing arena event was the Eagles' two concerts at Ball Arena, which grossed $5.91 million from 24,621 tickets sold. The top-grossing stadium run was Phish's three shows on Labor Day weekend at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, which brought in $6.11 million from 70,088 tickets sold.

The article highlighted some of the city's smaller concert venues including: The Mission Ballroom, Paramount Theatre, Bellco Theatre, The Oriental Theater and The Roxy Theatre.

On the overall list of U.S. markets, Las Vegas was No. 1, making $197.2 million in sold-ticket earnings, with the nation's highest-average ticket price of $192.79

Los Angeles, which is No. 2 on the list, had the highest ticket total with 1.56 million sold. New York, which was No. 3 on the list, had the most shows reported: 881.

Rounding out the top 10 were: San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose at No. 4, Chicago at No. 5, Atlanta at No. 6, Dallas/Ft. Worth at No. 7, Denver at No. 8, Nashville at No. 9, and Houston at No. 10.