SZA’s grip on the industry is unquestionable. Since the release of CTRL, she became a prominent and defining figure in the current state of R&B. However, the time between her debut studio album and December’s S.O.S left fans longing for new music while many of her detractors felt like she wouldn’t be able to replicate its success. Evidently, she blew past the expectations with S.O.S, which has broken records on the Billboard charts since its release and stayed atop the charts week after week.
In February, she embarked on her biggest tour to date. The S.O.S. tour found SZA and Omar Apollo heading across 17 cities, including two in Canada, as she sold out venue after venue. According to Billboard, she grossed $34.5M and sold 238,000 tickets throughout the venture, which began on Feb. 21st to March 22nd. Each night, SZA averaged about $1.9M and 12,812 tickets. It’s undoubtedly a long way from a few years ago when she performed in smaller, intimate venues, and certainly wasn’t raking in millions of dollars per night as she did this time around.
SZA Reaches New Heights
Two of the biggest markets for SZA were in New York and Los Angeles, where she performed back-to-back nights in each city. In NYC, she reportedly brought in $4.7 million and 27,000 tickets for both nights while at Inglewood’s Kia Forum, she grossed $3.9 million with 25,000 tickets sold. By comparison, SZA only did a fraction of those numbers during her 2017 run in NYC. She grossed $45K through 1800 when she performed at the Brooklyn Steel. Ultimately, SZA’s profile continues to grow and she has the numbers to back it.
It really isn’t surprising to see SZA’s touring success these days. The S.O.S tour drew major celebrities who were spotted in attendance. A fan caught a rare glimpse of Frank Ocean in the crowd during one of the shows while Lori Harvey and Damson Idris showed up hand-in-hand to catch the St. Louis singer perform her new album. Overall, we hope to see SZA return to the road sooner rather than later. Clearly, she’s still in high demand out here.