The past two decades, girl groups from around the world have shown the masses what they’re made of. From selling out huge arena tours to breaking international records, it’s pretty hard imagining a world without girl groups.
From the 90’s intervention of teen pop set off by the Spice Girls to the present day wrath of K-pop girl groups, here is the latest update on the list of the 10 highest grossing girl group tours of all time.
10) Girls Aloud – Out Of Control Tour – $16 million
With a thorough discography of critically acclaimed bops such as “Sound of the Underground”, “Love Machine”, & “Biology”, Girls Aloud were one of the few acts to really help revitalize the British pop sound of the 2000’s decade. According to Billboard, their Out Of Control tour grossed over $16 million from 32 performances, landing them in the #10 spot. When Girls Aloud are waiting to go on stage, they love spending time with their adorable doggies – hear about other celebrities here.
9) SNSD – Girls & Peace – 2nd Japan Tour – $21.5 million
Girls’ Generation aka SNSD are icons in helping spread the Korean Wave of K-pop sounds internationally. Besides being readily famous in South Korea, their Japanese fanbase is huge. With a total attendance of 230,000+ people, the 20 stops during this tour were fully worth it.
8) Little Mix – Get Weird Tour – $22.1 million
Little Mix’s “Black Magic’ changed it all for the vocal girl group. Since then, the U.K. have adorned these girls and the Get Weird tour certainly justified that. Pollstar’s mid-year had them at a final gross amount of $22.1 million.
7) SNSD Phantasia Tour – $22.3 million
SNSD take another spot on the list with their Phantasia Tour, generation approximately $22.3 million. The groups biggest night was the back to back slot at the Saitama Super Arena, selling over 30,000 tickets in two nights alone.
6) SNSD – Girls’ Generation Japan 3rd Tour 2014 – $31.6 million
With a 3rd spot on the chart, SNSD are one of the few girl groups to consistently and effectively sell out huge arenas. This was members Jessica Jung’s last tour before departing the group. Their biggest nights was once again at the Saitama Super Arena, only this time they did it 3 times consecutively grossing over 13.3 million alone and selling over 90,000 tickets.
5) Little Mix – Glory Days Tour – $42 million
Little Mix’s ‘Glory Days’ tour amassed an extreme $42 million thus becoming the best selling girl group tour of the 2010 decade so far. They placed at #46 on Pollstar’s 2017 year end top 100 worldwide tours list. Despite not touring North & South America, it’s obvious the damage could’ve been massively higher had they done demographically appropriate but key city shows around these areas. Perhaps next tour?
4) Spice Girls – SpiceWorld Tour – $60 million
The late 90’s was a moment of teen pop revival and leading the movement was the unstoppable Spice Girls. Performing to an estimated 2.1 million fans across Britain, Europe and North America, the girl group readily grossed 60 million dollars despite Geri aka Ginger Spice leaving throughout the American leg of the tour.
3) Spice Girls – The Return Of The Spice Girls World Tour – $70 million
Girl power came, then left, then came back again with a glorious fury! The best selling girl group of all time weren’t calling it quits just yet! Billboard noted that the quarter’s reunion tour “won the 2008 Billboard Touring Award for Top Boxscore for a 17-night stand at London’s The O2 Arena”. Anyway, racking over 70 million is a pretty nice treat, especially for a reunion tour.
2) Destiny’s Child – Destiny Fulfilled…and Lovin’ It Tour – $70.8 million
While they were once opening acts for TLC (*spoiler alert*), Destiny’s Child proved to be a rather successful R&B girl group. The media may have heckled them with their early split decisions and removal of some past members, but the girl group continued and are now recognized as one of the greatest musical trios of all time. It’s not every year you gross over 70.8 million dollars!
1) TLC – FanMail Tour – $72.8 million
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZgFz9YUfcY
TLC’s FanMail Tour remains the highest and best selling girl group tour of all time. Although the group had to cancel and reschedule a numerous amount of shows, their effective popularity didn’t stop fans from attending other set dates. The tour ended up with a whopping gross of $72.8 million. Opening acts included Destiny’s Child, Christina Aguilera, Marc Nelson, etc. All hail the ultimate R&B queens!