The way we listen to music may have changed throughout the decades but one thing remains a constant: we always want to see the real thing. We want to stand shoulder to shoulder with fellow fans as our favourite artists captivate us for an evening, taking us out of ourselves for a few hours as we sway to the beat and sing along until we’re hoarse.
The statistics back up that the sentiment. This year has been another massive one on the live music front, and here we take a look at which tickets were the most sought-after in 2018.
Tell me what you want, what you really, really want! And wow, did you! With nearly one million people searching for Spice Girls tickets in 2018, they take top spot here. Let’s just take a moment to think about that number—you could fill London’s O2 Arena 50 times!
That shouldn’t come as a surprise though, as when Mel B, Emma Bunton, Geri Horner and Mel C announced in November they were reuniting the iconic girl group for a 2019 UK stadium tour they nearly broke the internet.
As tickets continued to fly out new dates were added to keep up with the demand. The result is that Scary, Baby, Ginger and Sporty will play multiple dates at huge venues across the UK and Ireland in the summer, finishing the run with a three night stint at Wembley Stadium.
One thing we can say with certainty is that P!nk is a force of nature. She’s repeatedly shown that during a career spanning more than two decades and seven albums, the most recent of which, ‘Beautiful Trauma’, reached number one on charts across the world, including the US and UK.
The singer is renowned and revered for her balls to the wall attitude, demonstrated in her candid lyrics and fearless live shows. Her party piece usually finds her descending through the air and performing high-flying acrobatics on circus silks. The Beautiful Trauma tour will be no exception.
Pink will head to the UK and Europe next summer, with two nights at London’s Wembley Stadium due to bring the UK leg to a close at the end of June. It seems a lot of people are eager to witness the spectacle of her performance as well over half a million fans searched for tickets.
Comeback kings Take That have done it again! They may have diminished in numbers over the years, now made up of only three of the original five members, but their popularity continues to soar. Just shy of half a million people searched out tickets to see the trio.
Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald have lined up an absolutely massive UK and Ireland arena tour for April, May and June next year as part of their 30th anniversary celebrations, which also saw them recently release their re-imagined greatest hits collection, 'Odyssey'.
Sans Robbie Williams and Jason Orange, the group will play multiple dates in Sheffield, Glasgow, Manchester, Dublin, Birmingham and Southampton, as well as stops in Milton Keynes, Bristol, Norwich, Middlesbrough, Huddersfield, Liverpool, Cardiff and eight nights at the O2 Arena.
In 2019 it will have been 20 years since Westlife came into our lives, using a combination of heartfelt ballads and synchronised stool routines to charm their way into our hearts. Still without Brian McFadden, who left in 2004, Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan will celebrate their anniversary with an extensive run of UK and Ireland arena shows next summer.
The Twenty Tour will kick off with five shows at the SSE Arena Belfast and conclude with two hometown shows at Dublin’s Croke Park. The trek will also include three nights at the O2 Arena.
If LL Cool J is to be believed then “don’t call it a comeback!”. But why? The boys are back and the numbers go a long way in showing just how happy their fans are about it. This year well over 300,000 of you searched for tickets to see the pop quartet.
With the top five dominated by nostalgia it’s nice to see some new blood. American singer, rapper and producer Austin Richard Post will follow up a whirlwind year with an even bigger one in 2019. Not only is he topping the bill at Reading and Leeds next summer but February will see him hitting the road for a headline tour across the UK and Ireland.
As if 2018 wasn’t good enough, with the up and comer reaching number one in numerous countries with his sophomore album ‘Beerbongs & Bentleys’ and receiving four Grammy nominations, Post had 331, 135 people looking to see him live.
The Rockstar singer will kick off the trek at Dublin’s 3Arena on Valentine’s Day and finish up with two consecutive nights at the O2 on March 13 and 14.
Elton John has been in the music business since the late 1960s, when he began his songwriting career. Since then the piano man has become a world renowned performer, sold hundreds of millions of records and topped charts. He must be ready to close the piano lid for good sometime soon right? Not quite.
This year over a quarter of a million people searched for tickets to his final tour, which continues to be extended and is currently set to run until 2021.
The Farewell Yellow Brick Road trek will see the icon play over 300 shows across five continents, calling in North America, the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, South America and Australasia.
George Ezra won’t sit still. Having only recently completed a UK tour that included a stop at London’s SSE Arena Wembley and earlier in the year releasing his sophomore LP, ‘Staying At Tamara’s’, 2019 is looking just as hectic for the singer-songwriter.
He’s stepping things up a gear, though, swapping the intimate venues of his early career for arenas, with a date at the O2 set to conclude the run on March 19. Over a quarter of a million people searched his name this year, so the proof is in the pudding.
The announcement of Fleetwood Mac’s London stadium show and arena date in Dublin was no Second Hand News. It was a pretty hot topic, shown by the sheer volume of people searching for tickets.
Undeterred by the departure of longtime guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and rumours of renewed turbulence between the members, over 240,000 searches for the legendary band took place over the year.
The current line up comprises of Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, and Christine McVie, with newcomers Mike Campbell, formerly of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, plus ex-Crowded House frontman Neil Finn joining the fold to replace Buckingham. They will play Wembley Stadium and the RDS Arena in June.
It’s been nearly two years since Sheeran released his last LP, ‘÷’, yet he’s still managed to get in to the top 10 most searched artists with 218, 581 people checking in on what he’s up to.
The record dominated charts across the world, reaching number one nearly everywhere, with just a few top five positions blemishing the perfect game. Its success has meant the Suffolk singer-songwriter is in more demand than ever and he’s been riding the wave with a rigorous touring schedule to keep the momentum going.
Following dates across Europe, Sheeran will play two shows at Leeds’ Roundhay Park and four consecutive nights at Ipswich’s Chantry Park in August.
Rod Stewart is a veteran of the stage. He’s been part of the musical landscape for more than half a century and in 2016 was even knighted. He’s released more than 30 albums, many of which have topped the charts, and played his songs to audiences all over the world, but he’s not done yet.
Neither are his fans if our numbers are anything to go by. Over 200, 000 people are eager to see Sir Stewart rip it up to Maggie May on his upcoming 2019 tour.
The legendary vocalist has plotted shows during May, June July, November and December, with the run due to conclude with two nights at the O2 in December.
So we looked at what fans were searching for on Google and we’ve crunched the numbers from our Google Ads account to bring you the definitive list of the hottest tickets sought in 2018.
We did this by analysing Stereoboard’s impression share, from millions of search queries, and extrapolated that data. That enabled us to estimate, to a high degree of accuracy, the total number of fans searching for ticket related terms on Google’s search engine for each artists’ UK tour throughout the past 12 months—covering over 3,000 artists in total.
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