RBD Conquers Billboard’s November Boxscore Report

After two months at No. 2, a reunited RBD takes the lead as the highest grossing touring act of November. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the group’s Soy Rebelde Tour grossed $71.1 million and sold 734,000 tickets from Nov. 3 to 30. The tour is the act’s first trek since 2008’s Tour del Adios.

Current through Nov. 30, the Soy Rebelde Tour has grossed $197.1 million since launching in August. About half a million dollars shy of Daddy Yankee’s 2022 farewell tour, RBD’s reunion will become the second-highest grossing tour by a Latin act once its December shows are reported, behind Bad Bunny‘s World’s Hottest Tour.

RBD’s monthly crown is due to hustle. Other than Trans-Siberian Orchestra, the perennial holiday favorite that includes two touring ensembles for either coast of the U.S., RBD played more shows in November than any act among the top 30. With 17 shows split between seven markets, the group earned its spot atop the heap by playing hard.

After sitting at No. 2 behind Beyoncé and Pink in September and October, respectively, RBD levels up, and its routing has much to do with it. Not only did the group play more shows than in either of the previous months, but after touring the U.S., RBD took on Latin America in November, transitioning to a primarily Spanish-language audience.

That move allowed RBD to move from arenas to stadiums, multiplying its nightly audience by more than two. In the U.S., the group paced about 18,000 tickets per night before rocketing to more than 43,000 each show in Colombia, Brazil and Mexico.

But the ticket pricing economy is much different in these geographical regions, and RBD’s average ticket price went from $241.30 in the U.S. to $96.81 in Latin America. In all, its average gross stayed almost the same, even dipping by 4%. But the pure volume of seats that RBD could sell made up the difference, giving RBD its first monthly win yet.

At No. 1 for November, RBD is only the third Latin act to lead the monthly Top Tours chart. Los Bukis first broke ground in September 2021, and Bad Bunny pushed the boundaries further, ruling in February, March, August and September of 2022. Aventura, Daddy Yankee, Maluma, and Rauw Alejandro have also hit the top five.

That means that RBD is the source for the genre’s first female artists to hit the top tier. The mixed-gender group’s reunion features original members Anahi, Dulce Maria and Maite Perroni, all hailing from Mexico. Beyond Latin music, they continue a hot streak for women atop the chart: after a nearly four-year drought, Beyoncé, Pink and RBD have kept women at No. 1 for six of the last seven months.

Beyond the No. 1 act, Pink and Madonna add support at Nos. 3 and 5, respectively. Mariah Carey, Shania Twain, Ms. Lauryn Hill, and in her monthly Boxscore debut, Doja Cat, follow. While a grand total of seven women acts in the top 30 doesn’t give them a majority, the 23.3% gender split is up from the 2023 year-end wrap, where women’s representation doubled from the previous year.

Doja leads a growing list of hip-hop acts on the Top Tours chart. Travis Scott, Rod Wave, Ms. Lauryn Hill & The Fugees and 50 Cent appear between Nos. 22-29. Though they miss the top 10, five rap acts on the chart foreshadow a promising year, when the genre’s share among the top 100 tours of 2023 dipped below 3%.

Four of RBD’s seven stops in November crack the 30-position Top Boxscores chart. Four shows at Allianz Parque in Sao Paulo, Brazil (Nov. 16-19) earned $17.4 million and sold 191,000 tickets, while another four at Estadio Antanasio Girardot (Medellin, Colombia; Nov. 3-6) took in $17.2 million from 150,000 tickets.

In Sao Paulo, RBD played another two shows at Estadio do Morumbi on Nov. 12-13, grossing $11 million. If the group had consolidated their Sao Paulo run at one venue, the combined gross would’ve given them the No. 1 spot with more than $28 million.

Instead, Mexico City’s Corona Capital festival took top honors among individual engagements, as the three-day festival grossed $26.5 million and sold 216,000 tickets. It’s followed by the final three shows of U2’s first leg at Las Vegas’ Sphere. Those shows earned $19.4 million, making up a small part of the $109 million run that began in late September. It’s enough to put Sphere at No. 4 on the Top Venues (15,001+ capacity) chart and situate U2 at No. 12 on Top Tours.

It was a banner month for Latin American shows. Not only did RBD and Corona Capital dominate Top Tours and Top Boxscores, Luis Miguel, Paul McCartney and Red Hot Chili Peppers all charted from shows south of the U.S. Even on Top Promoters, Mexico’s OCESA is No. 2 with $123.9 million and 1.5 million tickets sold, pushing perennial top-two candidate AEG Presents to No. 3, also above $100 million.

On the venue charts, Mexico City and Sao Paulo take the top four spots on Top Stadiums, plus Medellin’s Estadio Atanasio Girardo and Rio de Janeiro’s Estadio Nilton Santos at Nos. 6-7. The former market adds notices on three of the four capacity-based venue charts, notably with Auditorio Nacional at No. 2 among venues with a capacity between 5,001-10k.

Even more, the November recap captures a thriving global box office. Just among the month’s top five tours, RBD and Red Hot Chili Peppers hit Latin America, Coldplay played in Asia and Australia, Pink toured the U.S. and Canada, and Madonna celebrated in Europe. Only two of the top 10 – Morgan Wallen and The Trilogy Tour, starring Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull and Ricky Martin – played exclusively in the U.S. during November.