Kid Cudi Scores Career-Best Grosses With To The Moon Tour

Kid Cudi recently wrapped his first North American tour in five years, but they say absence makes the heart grow fonder. In his case, the continental heart swelled several sizes, helping him deliver the biggest tour of his career. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the To The Moon Tour grossed $17.2 million and sold 183,000 tickets from 18 shows. The tour is promoted by AEG Presents.

The To The Moon Tour situated Cudi in arenas across the U.S. and Canada. The run kicked off on Aug. 18 at Portland’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum with a $679,000 take and 6,757 tickets sold. It was only up from there, as opening night marked the run’s lowest gross and attendance.

Cudi eventually peaked in gross at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., with $1.45 million and 13,000 tickets sold, and in attendance on closing night at Chicago’s United Center, with $1.41 million and 13,500 tickets. Additionally, he cleared the $1-million mark in Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Miami and Boston, and surpassed 10,000 tickets in Seattle, Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Miami, Boston, Brooklyn and Toronto.

Ultimately, the tour averaged $955,000 and 10,184 tickets, up 194% and 63%, respectively, from Cudi’s prior touring peaks. The To The Moon Tour wasn’t his first time playing arenas but it was his first exclusively full-capacity arena run, having mixed theaters and adjusted scaling on The Cud Life Tour (2011, 2013) and The Especial Tour (2016).

In the time between Cudi’s past tours and his recent upgrade to sold-out arenas, he hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, spawning 10 debuts on the Billboard Hot 100, led by “Tequila Shots” at No. 41.

All of that, plus his first No. 1 hit, “The Scotts,” with Travis Scott, certainly helped fuel his recent sales, but it can also be attributed to building nostalgia, respect and adoration for the impact he has made throughout his career. Look no further than 2009’s “Pursuit of Happiness,” featuring MGMT and Ratatat and 2010’s “Memories,” with David Guetta. Both songs have enjoyed sporadic runs on the Billboard Global 200 in 2021-22, more than a decade removed from their releases.

While older songs do float on and off the global charts from time to time, the most successful catalog titles are usually huge hits from bygone eras, like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Billie Jean” and “Umbrella.” Both of Cudi’s globally charting titles peaked outside the top 40 on the Hot 100, having found a steadily increasing audience over the last 10 years to the point of charting alongside iconic songs like those mentioned above as well as the biggest songs of the ‘20s.

That global success bodes well for Cudi’s next leg of shows. The To The Moon Tour will hit Tokyo for one performance on Oct. 17 and then move into a string of European dates in November.