Music enthusiasts coast to coast flocked to these large-scale gatherings for their fix, but which ones were the best-selling music festivals of 2019?
Continuing its reign yet again is 2018’s best-seller CMA Fest. The Nashville bash raked in the big bucks this year with its usual full slate of superstar country artists. Thomas Rhett, Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Dan + Shay, Maren Morris and Luke Combs were among the festival’s many performers at Nissan Stadium, which fans easily filled throughout its four-day run. CMA Fest topped the rest in overall sales, and nabbed an in-demand average ticket price of just over $240.
Just trailing CMA Fest is perennial pop culture phenomenon Coachella. The 2019 edition featured Ariana Grande, Childish Gambino and Tame Impala headlining its two weekends. Ticket prices spiked to a high of $650 for three-day admission. That figure was edged a week later by Coachella successor Stagecoach, which pulled just under $700 per ticket.
Texas was well-represented, with Dallas’ Crossroads Guitar Festival coming in at No. 4, followed by Austin City Limits and Austin’s iHeartRadio Country Festival at No. 5 and 10, respectively. Miami and New Orleans-based festivals appeared twice, while traveling festivals like Rolling Loud, Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival and the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball made the list as well.
See the Top 20 best-selling music festivals of 2019 below.
Best-Selling Music Festivals of 2019
| Sales Rank | Festival | City, State | Average Ticket Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | CMA Fest | Nashville, TN | $242 |
| 2. | Coachella | Indio, CA | $650 |
| 3. | Outlaw Music Festival | Various Cities | $74 |
| 4. | Crossroads Guitar Festival | Dallas, TX | $388 |
| 5. | Austin City Limits | Austin, TX | $196 |
| 6. | iHeartRadio Jingle Ball | Various Cities | $174 |
| 7. | Buckeye Country Superfest | Columbus, OH | $142 |
| 8. | New Orleans Jazz Fest | New Orleans, LA | $285 |
| 9. | Lollapalooza | Chicago, IL | $207 |
| 10. | iHeartRadio Country Festival | Austin, TX | $164 |
| 11. | Essence Music Festival | New Orleans, LA | $181 |
| 12. | Stagecoach Festival | Indio, CA | $698 |
| 13. | Rolling Loud Festival | Various Cities | $451 |
| 14. | Watershed Festival | Quincy, WA | $244 |
| 15. | iHeartRadio Music Festival | Las Vegas, NV | $141 |
| 16. | iHeartRadio Fiesta Latina | Miami, FL | $151 |
| 17. | Global Citizen Festival | New York, NY | $74 |
| 18. | BottleRock Festival | Napa, CA | $244 |
| 19. | OVO Fest | Toronto, ON | $392 |
| 20. | Ultra Music Festival | Miami, FL | $380 |
Want to see more posts like this? Check out the rest of our 2019 Year in Review series here.