Determining who has the fastest sold out concert is an interesting question. There are a few ways we can evaluate this – looking at the total time to sell out the tickets, the percentage of seats sold in the first day or week, or even how quickly re-sale tickets appear online. To get a full picture, we’ll consider all of these factors.
How concert tickets are sold
First, it’s helpful to understand the basics of how concert tickets are sold. Typically, an artist or promoter will contract with a venue for a specific date. The venue has a set capacity, so there are only a certain number of tickets available. In the initial sale, tickets are made available through the artist’s website, the venue’s website, and third party ticketing sites like Ticketmaster. Popular shows will often sell out very quickly when tickets first go on sale.
Tickets are released in phases – first there is often a presale for fan club members or credit card holders a few days before the public on-sale date. This helps ensure dedicated fans have first access. On the public on-sale date, tickets are opened up to the general public. In high demand situations, tickets can sell out in minutes or even seconds!
After the initial sell out, there is usually a robust secondary market for tickets on sites like StubHub. Resellers acquire tickets specifically to sell at a higher market price. The speed with which these appear can also indicate high demand for a show.
Fastest sell outs by time
Looking at the raw time to sell out all available tickets, a few concerts stand out:
- U2 – In 2009, U2 sold out their entire North American tour in under 5 minutes. Over 650,000 tickets were sold for shows in stadiums like Soldier Field in Chicago.
- One Direction – In 2015, the popular boy band sold out their 85,000 tickets at London’s Wembley Stadium in under 5 minutes.
- Taylor Swift – During Taylor Swift’s massive 1989 World Tour, she sold out Los Angeles’ Staples Center in under 2 minutes – just 1 minute and 27 seconds to be exact!
Based solely on the speed of selling out 100% of available tickets, U2, One Direction, and Taylor Swift appear to be top contenders for fastest sell outs.
Highest percentage sold quickly
Another way to look at fast sell outs is to consider the percentage of total seats that were sold out very quickly, even if not the full 100% right away. By this measure, several other artists stand out:
- The Rolling Stones – When tickets went on sale for their 50th anniversary tour in 2012, the band sold 80% of available seats at London’s O2 Arena within 1 minute.
- Michael Jackson – For his 50-date This Is It residency at London’s O2 Arena planned for 2009, over 1 million tickets were sold in just 5 hours. Impressively, all 50 shows were over 80% sold out on the first day.
- Bruce Springsteen – Over 75% of seats for Springsteen’s 2016 The River Tour were purchased in the first 24 hours. Multiple arena dates sold out nearly completely within the first few minutes.
The instant high demand shown for The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, and Bruce Springsteen reveal them to be top contenders based on the percentage of tickets grabbed very quickly.
Fast secondary market sales
The speed with which extra tickets appear on secondary sites can also give a sense of the initial demand. If re-sale tickets are quickly posted at high markups, it likely indicates tickets were very scarce. A few examples:
- Adele – When Adele announced her comeback tour in 2016, re-sale sites were flooded with overpriced tickets within minutes, indicating tickets vanished instantly.
- Taylor Swift (again) – After Taylor Swift’s 2013 Red Tour sold out, StubHub had thousands of tickets available within hours at an average of $500 above face value.
- Hannah Montana – For the teen sensation’s Best of Both Worlds Tour in 2007, re-sellers were trying to hawk tickets for thousands above face value from the instant sales began, showing the fervor.
These acts demonstrate the mania that drove secondary sales reveals their enormously high initial demand.
Other contenders
While the above artists seem to have exemplified the fastest sell outs, some other notable contenders include:
- Spice Girls – The Spice Girls 2019 reunion tour sold out 13 dates in just 1 hour, including 600,000 tickets at London’s Wembley Stadium.
- Celine Dion – Celine Dion sold out 600,000 tickets for her 2008 Taking Chances World Tour in Europe in under 1 hour.
- Miley Cyrus – Miley Cyrus & Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds Tour in 2007 sold out all of its 54 US shows, selling over 1 million tickets in its first day.
These fast sell outs show the immense popularity of the Spice Girls reunion, Celine Dion’s comeback, and Miley Cyrus’ Hannah Montana (and own) fame.
Factors impacting speed
There are a few key factors that allow some artists to sell out concerts faster than others:
- Fan base size – Artists with massive global fan bases have the advantage of enormous demand.
- Venue size – Bigger venues take longer to sell out compared to more intimate arena shows.
- Media hype – Amount of buzz and hype in advertisements and media helps drive instant demand.
- Scarcity – Perception of scarce tickets and “once-in-a-lifetime” events creates urgency.
- Loyal fans – Devoted fan club members are ready to buy tickets the instant they are available.
Artists who are at the pinnacle of popularity, marketed widely, and create a perception of scarcity are primed for lightning fast sell outs.
Difficult to definitively determine
With so many metrics like overall sell out speed, first day sales percentage, and secondary market activity, it becomes difficult to pinpoint one clear winner for the fastest concert sell out. However, looking at the various factors, a few artists stand out:
- Taylor Swift – Her ability to sell out huge stadium shows globally in seconds demonstrates immense popularity.
- U2 – The band clearly has one of the fastest total sell outs, with their 2009 tour selling out all 650,000 seats in under 5 minutes.
- Michael Jackson – The 1 million tickets sold for his London shows in just 5 hours shows his unprecedented demand.
While other big names like the Rolling Stones, Spice Girls, and Bruce Springsteen have been contenders, Taylor Swift, U2, and Michael Jackson seem to rise above with their sheer rapid selling power and ability to generate media frenzy.
The future of fast sell outs
In the future, technology may enable even faster sell outs. Virtual queuing systems like Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan platform help ticket sales move seamlessly and combat scalpers. Paperless/mobile ticketing reduces fraud and resales.
At the same time, moves toward more fan club presales and limited capacity “quality over quantity” shows may make mass instant sell outs less common. Some artists like LCD Soundsystem have begun using slow, lottery-style ticket sales to fight bots and allow more real fans to purchase at regular prices.
Still, for artists with enormous global followings like BTS, The Weeknd, and Billie Eilish, the potential remains to generate lightning fast sell outs when desired.
The right mix of celebrity status, media hype, and show uniqueness will likely continue enabling some artists to sell out full world tours faster than you can click “refresh.” Carefully controlled scarcity and high profile PR campaigns will feed buyer urgency. New technologies promise ever more optimized sales capabilities. So in the future, we may yet see sell outs happen at dizzying new speeds.
Conclusion
Measuring by total sell out time, percentage sold quickly, and secondary market activity – Taylor Swift, U2, and Michael Jackson appear to have the clearest claim to the fastest selling out concerts of all time. Their mix of sheer popularity, loyal fan bases, and ability to generate publicity frenzies propelled them past other top contending acts. As ticketing technologies evolve and artists find new ways to create buzz and scarcity, concert sell outs may continue to happen at ever more astounding paces.