One of the biggest tours of the year just wrapped — yep, we're talking about Olivia Rodrigo's GUTS World Tour! You might recall that the tour started in Feb. 2024, and just ended on Oct. 23 in Sydney, Australia.
Well, Livies will be happy to know that the momentum and excitement didn't end when the tour did — far from it. Because not only is the tour coming to Netflix on Oct. 29, but Olivia just received a HUUUUGE award. And we gotta talk about it.
Basically, Olivia was just featured in the most-recent issue of Billboard magazine. The issue features an interview with Olivia about the GUTS tour, but also an announcement that she'll be getting this year's "Touring Artist of the Year" award at the Billboard Live Music Summit & Awards on Nov. 14.
Thankfully, Billboard gave an explanation for their choice (I bet they knew the internet would have their opinions). After noting the GUTS album's success, Billboard explains that this time around, "Rodrigo was prepared for arena audiences." Because, if you recall, her SOUR tour wasn't an arena tour, so this was a big first for Olivia.
And now, time for some stats. Because we can't argue with the facts. The article breaks it all down: the GUTS tour "grossed $186.6 million, according to Billboard Boxscore — even with its 1.4 million tickets sold at an average price of $128.81, in line with price-conscious acts like Coldplay and P!nk, and less than that of several major pop arena shows."
So yeah, it's safe to say Olivia's tour was a massive success. But before we get into some of the internet's opinions about the award itself, Olivia also spilled some interesting info about the tour in the interview. Soooo, let's go over some highlights, shall we?
One super interesting thing we learned? It was a MAJOR step for her. "The first dozen shows or so, it was a big adjustment for me, energywise," Olivia said. "I had to really learn how to look up and take in the space. You definitely perform differently when you're performing to that many people."
And another thing the GUTS tour did? Arguably put Chappell Roan on the map by introducing her to larger audiences as Olivia's opener. "I'm inspired by her so much as an artist, but she's also been such a good friend to me over the years, and she really helped me through some of the more stressful parts of the tour," Olivia said. "It's been incredible to watch her get the recognition she so rightfully deserves. She's just further proof that being unapologetically yourself always pays off."
I do get where people are coming from, because The Eras Tour is the highest-grossing concert of all time. And I've scoured the internet to see if Taylor won this award in 2023, but it looks like there wasn't a general "Touring Artist of the Year" award in at the Billboard Music Awards in 2023. So like, yeah, she deserves some recognition.
But we don't even know for sure if Taylor was even eligible for this award, since The Eras Tour started in 2023, not 2024. And most importantly, let's put the comparisons aside for a minute. Olivia clearly accomplished something huge, so let's celebrate her! This is her moment.
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