While many pastimes can be enjoyed from the comfort of your own home, such as video games, watching movies or playing in an online casino, big in-person events offer a thrill that is hard to replicate.
Regarding live events, few are as enjoyable as seeing our favourite bands and artists perform on stage. The shared experience with thousands of other fans, all buzzing with excitement, creates an electric atmosphere that concert-goers will remember for a lifetime. Even if you’re stuck queueing for hours to get into your dream gig, it’s a small price to pay, especially if you can play some online slots while you wait.
Sadly, many of our favourite bands and artists take long career breaks, going on hiatus for many years. This means that the excitement among fans is palpable when they reemerge onto the music scene with a new comeback tour.
With this in mind, we wanted to see which comeback tours of the last decade have been the most popular and made the most significant impact among fans. We’ll look at various factors, from the number of tour dates to how many times each tour featured on popular social media sites.
Guns N’ Roses’ Not in This Lifetime… was the biggest comeback tour of the past decade
1. Guns N’ Roses
Not in This Lifetime… Tour Score: 8.95
The biggest comeback tour of the past decade is the Guns N’ Roses’ Not in This Lifetime... Tour, with the highest score of 8.95 out of 10. The tour, which kicked off in April 2016, lasted more than three years, finally coming to a close in November 2019.
The Not in This Lifetime… Tour performed very strongly for all factors other than the number of TikTok hashtags, which is unsurprising as the hit social media app was founded in 2016 and took several years to reach widespread popularity.
2. Jonas Brothers
Happiness Begins Tour Score: 8.67
Two artists’ comeback tours were tied for second place, the first of which is the Jonas Brothers’ Happiness Begins Tour, having earned a score of 8.67 out of 10. The tour began in August 2019 in Miami, Florida, and lasted just over six months, finishing in Paris in February 2022.
The Happiness Begins Tour acted as a comeback tour for the group, being their first tour since the ill-fated Jonas Brothers Live 2013, which was cut short just weeks before they announced their official split.
2. Justin Bieber
Justice World Tour Score: 8.67
Justin Bieber’s Justice World Tour also claimed a joint second place with a score of 8.67. Kicking off in February 2022 at San Diego’s Pechanga Arena, the tour saw 58 concerts played across North America and Europe before a final show in September 2022 at Rio de Janeiro’s Barra Olympic Park.
Unfortunately, the tour was cut short in a move to prioritize Bieber’s health following a diagnosis of Ramsay Hunt syndrome. This was Justin Bieber’s first tour since the Purpose World Tour, which ended in 2017, but we’ll hopefully see him make another comeback soon!
Guns N’ Roses’ Not in This Lifetime… was the comeback tour with the most dates
1. Guns N’ Roses
Not in This Lifetime… Tour Number of dates: 175
Guns N’ Roses’ Not in This Lifetime… Tour was the longest-running comeback tour in our study, with 175 dates being played. This monumental effort was delivered throughout a lengthy tour of more than three years, allowing swathes of fans worldwide to attend.
2. Adele
Adele Live 2016 Number of dates: 121
The Adele Live 2016 tour had the second most dates in our study, with 121. Starting in February 2016 at Belfast’s SSE Arena, the tour was split into four legs, visiting cities across Europe, North America and Oceania, before a final set of shows in the UK.
The Adele Live 2016 tour was a massive undertaking for a solo artist and is a testament to her global appeal. Unfortunately, the final two dates of her tour, scheduled for July 2017 at London’s Wembley Stadium, were cancelled due to a vocal injury. The tour was hugely successful and was widely praised by fans and critics alike.
3. Jonas Brothers
Happiness Begins Tour Number of dates: 90
The Jonas Brothers’ Happiness Begins Tour had the third most tour dates in our study, with 90 concerts. This was the tenth concert tour from the group, promoting their fifth studio album of the same name.
Guns N’ Roses’ Not in This Lifetime… was the biggest comeback tour with the most venues
1. Guns N’ Roses
Not in This Lifetime… Tour Number of venues: 159
The comeback tour which visited the most locations was Guns N’ Roses’ Not in This Lifetime… Tour, which played at 159 venues. A genuinely global tour, these concerts were split across 40 countries and 134 cities, from Auckland to Ottowa and Singapore to San José.
2. Jonas Brothers
Happiness Begins Tour Number of venues: 78
The Happiness Begins Tour from the Jonas Brothers visited the second most venues, with a total of 78. Most concerts were held in North America, with 64 in the United States and five in Mexico and Canada. The remaining 16 concerts were held in Europe, playing at venues in the UK, France, Spain and six other countries.
3. My Chemical Romance
Reunion Tour Number of venues: 56
The My Chemical Romance Reunion Tour visited the third most venues, totalling 56. This was the first tour from the American pop-punk and emo-rock band for eight years and saw the group reform after a six-year hiatus. The tour played venues across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, visiting cities from Montreal to Munich and Brisbane to Budapest.
Justin Bieber’s Justice World Tour had the most Google searches in recent years
1. Justin Bieber
Justice World Tour Google Searches: 532,890
Justin Bieber’s Justice World Tour had the highest search volume, with over 532,000 searches in the past four years. The tour proved immensely successful before its unfortunate postponement due to concerns surrounding Bieber’s health.
2. Genesis
The Last Domino? Tour Google Searches: 435,400
The Last Domino? Tour saw one of the most influential British rock bands, Genesis, reunite after a 13-year hiatus. The tour comprised 45 concerts at 27 venues across the UK, Europe and North America. The tour was immensely popular and garnered huge online interest, with more than 435,000 over the past four years.
3. Mötley Crüe
The Stadium Tour Google Searches: 263,980
The third most searched comeback tour was Mötley Crüe’s The Stadium Tour, with just under 264,000 searches. This was the band’s first tour following their three-year hiatus from 2016 to 2019. The Stadium Tour saw Mötley Crüe co-headling alongside Def Leppard to deliver 36 concerts across Canada and the United States.
Justin Bieber’s Justice World Tour is the most popular comeback tour on TikTok
1. Justin Bieber
Justice World Tour TikTok Posts: 24,863
Justin Bieber’s Justice World Tour is the most featured comeback tour on Tiktok, with 24,863 posts. Bieber has cultivated a hugely loyal and engaged audience who love to share their experiences of live gigs and concerts, helping to spread his performances far and wide.
2. Jonas Brothers
Happiness Begins Tour TikTok Posts: 24,088
The Jonas Brothers’ Happiness Begins Tour had the second most TikTok posts, with 24,088 in total. The Jonas Brothers have 7.8 million followers and 81.5 million likes on the platform, making it a highly valuable avenue for marketing and promoting their music.
3. JLS
Beat Again Tour TikTok Posts: 2,353
JLS’ Beat Again Tour had the third-highest number of TikTok posts with 2,353. This was the first time the group had toured since their split in December 2013, almost eight years before the tour’s first concert in October 2021 at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow.
The Jonas Brothers’ Happiness Begins Tour is the most popular comeback tour on Instagram
1. Jonas Brothers
Happiness Begins Tour Instagram Posts: 174,565
The Jonas Brothers’ Happiness Begins Tour saw the highest number of Instagram posts, just under 175,000. The Jonas Brothers have 7.3 million followers on Instagram, which is slightly smaller than their TikTok following, but they still managed to dominate when it came to fans tagging posts from their comeback tour.
2. Guns N’ Roses
Not in This Lifetime… Tour Instagram Posts: 157,521
Guns N’ Roses’ Not in This Lifetime… Tour saw 157,521 posts on Instagram, the second highest in our study. The band’s official Instagram account has 7.2 million followers, much more than their 1.3 million followers on TikTok.
3. Adele
Adele Live 2016 Instagram Posts: 132,078
The Adele Live 2016 tour saw another massive amount of Instagram posts, with just over 132,000. Adele has a whopping 56.6 million followers on the platform, sharing pictures and updates for her current shows and appearances.
Methodology
We wanted to find out which artists had the biggest comeback tours of the past decade. We included 22 tours in our research, all kicking off in 2014 or later. Any ongoing tours were not included as their data would be incomplete.
The factors considered in our study were the number of dates in each tour, the number of venues visited, the number of Google searches each tour saw in the past four years (this was all the available data), the number of posts on TikTok, and the number of posts on Instagram. These factors were combined into an equally weighted score to reveal the biggest and most popular comeback tours.
The numbers of tour dates and venues were predominantly sourced from Wikipedia, with other sources such as Smooth Radio and Heart filling in the blanks. Search data was taken from Google Keyword Planner, while social media data was taken directly from each included platform.
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