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Lil Wayne�s �I Am Music� & �America�s Most Wanted� Tours = $42 Million
The final numbers are in for Lil Wayne�s 2008-2009 North American touring, and it looks like the rapper will have the highest grossing hip-hop tour of the year � and the most lucrative rap jaunt that Billboard has ever tracked.
Seventy-eight Lil Wayne headlining arena and amphitheater concerts in North America from Dec. 14, 2008, through Sept. 6, 2009, grossed approximately $42 million and drew nearly 804,000 fans, according to Lil Wayne tour producer and tour business manager Shawn Gee, who also serves as president of music and entertainment at Sports & Entertainment Financial Group.
�It�s definitely one of the biggest in the last couple of years,� Gee tells Billboard.com, noting that Haymon Events/Live Nation was the exclusive tour promoter for all of the shows. �Our plan was to prove that Wayne was a viable headlining arena artist.�
The second highest-grossing rap tour that Billboard has tracked was Jay-Z�s 2008 jaunt with Mary J. Blige, which grossed $34.6 million and drew 310,694 concertgoers to 28 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore. Kanye West�s 2008 Glow In the Dark tour comes in third, having pulled in $30.8 million from 49 concerts that attracted 507,853 fans.
Other lucrative hip-hop tours in recent years include 2005�s Eminem/50 Cent Anger Management tour, which grossed $22.7 million from 23 shows; and a 50 Cent tour in 2003 that rang up nearly $23 million in ticket sales, much of it co-headlining with Jay-Z on the Roc-the-Mic tour, according to Boxscore.
Hip-hop tours rarely crack the Billboard year-end list of the top 25 grossing tours, but it�s likely that Lil Wayne�s 2009 trek will earn a spot on this year�s tally. Several well known support acts on various legs of the rapper�s tour helped push ticket sales, Gee admits.
On the first leg of Lil Wayne�s I Am Music Tour (Dec. 14, 2008 through Jan. 28, 2009), other artists on the bill included Keyshia Cole, T-Pain, Gym Class Heroes and Keri Hilson. Later, his America�s Most Wanted Music Festival trek (July 27 through Sept. 6) featured opening performances by Young Jeezy, Drake (who only appeared at three shows due to an injury), Soulja Boy Tell �Em, Jeremih and Pleasure P.
Gee, who was brought on by the rapper�s management last fall to �help redefine Wayne within the touring market,� says the main touring strategy was to create packages that appealed to fans of different musical genres. �We wanted to make sure we put together a package and over delivered to the consumer,� says Gee, who�s also worked with artists including West, the Roots and Jill Scott.
�We strategically put the I Am Music package together to make sure that all segments of Wayne�s fanbase would be interested in one, if not, all of the opening acts,� he continues. �We had T-Pain as an opening act, who�s had hits over all formats of radio; we had Keyshia Cole, who is more of an urban-leaning female; and we had Gym Class Heroes, which is more alternative.�
Although no specific touring plans are currently in the works, Gee believes that Lil Wayne will continue as an arena-sized headliner. �We definitely want to capitalize on the success we�ve had and want to continue building Wayne as a touring artist and not just an artist that tours,� he says. �We established him as a headline artist and I think it grows from there.�
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Lil Wayne�s �I Am Music� & �America�s Most Wanted� Tours = $42 Million
The final numbers are in for Lil Wayne�s 2008-2009 North American touring, and it looks like the rapper will have the highest grossing hip-hop tour of the year � and the most lucrative rap jaunt that Billboard has ever tracked.
Seventy-eight Lil Wayne headlining arena and amphitheater concerts in North America from Dec. 14, 2008, through Sept. 6, 2009, grossed approximately $42 million and drew nearly 804,000 fans, according to Lil Wayne tour producer and tour business manager Shawn Gee, who also serves as president of music and entertainment at Sports & Entertainment Financial Group.
�It�s definitely one of the biggest in the last couple of years,� Gee tells Billboard.com, noting that Haymon Events/Live Nation was the exclusive tour promoter for all of the shows. �Our plan was to prove that Wayne was a viable headlining arena artist.�
The second highest-grossing rap tour that Billboard has tracked was Jay-Z�s 2008 jaunt with Mary J. Blige, which grossed $34.6 million and drew 310,694 concertgoers to 28 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore. Kanye West�s 2008 Glow In the Dark tour comes in third, having pulled in $30.8 million from 49 concerts that attracted 507,853 fans.
Other lucrative hip-hop tours in recent years include 2005�s Eminem/50 Cent Anger Management tour, which grossed $22.7 million from 23 shows; and a 50 Cent tour in 2003 that rang up nearly $23 million in ticket sales, much of it co-headlining with Jay-Z on the Roc-the-Mic tour, according to Boxscore.
Hip-hop tours rarely crack the Billboard year-end list of the top 25 grossing tours, but it�s likely that Lil Wayne�s 2009 trek will earn a spot on this year�s tally. Several well known support acts on various legs of the rapper�s tour helped push ticket sales, Gee admits.
On the first leg of Lil Wayne�s I Am Music Tour (Dec. 14, 2008 through Jan. 28, 2009), other artists on the bill included Keyshia Cole, T-Pain, Gym Class Heroes and Keri Hilson. Later, his America�s Most Wanted Music Festival trek (July 27 through Sept. 6) featured opening performances by Young Jeezy, Drake (who only appeared at three shows due to an injury), Soulja Boy Tell �Em, Jeremih and Pleasure P.
Gee, who was brought on by the rapper�s management last fall to �help redefine Wayne within the touring market,� says the main touring strategy was to create packages that appealed to fans of different musical genres. �We wanted to make sure we put together a package and over delivered to the consumer,� says Gee, who�s also worked with artists including West, the Roots and Jill Scott.
�We strategically put the I Am Music package together to make sure that all segments of Wayne�s fanbase would be interested in one, if not, all of the opening acts,� he continues. �We had T-Pain as an opening act, who�s had hits over all formats of radio; we had Keyshia Cole, who is more of an urban-leaning female; and we had Gym Class Heroes, which is more alternative.�
Although no specific touring plans are currently in the works, Gee believes that Lil Wayne will continue as an arena-sized headliner. �We definitely want to capitalize on the success we�ve had and want to continue building Wayne as a touring artist and not just an artist that tours,� he says. �We established him as a headline artist and I think it grows from there.�
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