Kendrick Lamar’s Grand National Tour Breaks Rap Touring Record
Kendrick Lamar has officially added another major accomplishment to his already historic run.
The Compton rapper’s Grand National Tour has become the highest-grossing tour by a rapper in history, per Chart Data. The trek has grossed $390.7 million across 47 shows and sold 2.037 million tickets, according to updated touring figures reported this week.
The tour also featured SZA for the majority of its run, making it a major collaboration between two of the biggest artists in hip-hop and R&B.
Kendrick Lamar Makes Touring History
The latest numbers push Kendrick into new territory when it comes to live touring.
The Grand National Tour originally became the highest-grossing hip-hop tour while its North American and European dates were still being reported. Those portions of the trek generated hundreds of millions of dollars, but Kendrick continued the tour with additional international dates afterward.
The updated total now stands at $390.7 million.
Across 47 shows, the tour sold 2.037 million tickets. That means the Grand National Tour did not just generate an enormous amount of revenue. It also attracted more than two million concertgoers worldwide.
The achievement adds another major milestone to Kendrick’s career following an especially eventful period for the rapper.
SZA Joined Kendrick For Most Of The Tour
SZA was a major part of the Grand National Tour and co-headlined the North American and European portions with Kendrick.
The two artists brought together their respective audiences for a stadium-scale tour that supported Kendrick’s GNX album and SZA’s LANA era.
The pairing was also familiar to fans because of their long musical history together.
Kendrick and SZA have collaborated on several major records, including “All The Stars” from the Black Panther soundtrack and “luther” from GNX. Their chemistry continued to be showcased throughout the tour.
SZA’s involvement helped make the early portions of the tour feel like a major joint event. Fans were able to experience two Grammy-winning artists on the same stadium stage, with each bringing their own catalogs and performances.
However, it is important to note that SZA was not part of all 47 shows.
After the North American and European legs, Kendrick continued the Grand National Tour as a solo headliner for later international dates. The updated $390.7 million figure combines the entire 47-show run.
The Tour Started In April 2025
The Grand National Tour kicked off on April 19, 2025, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
The opening show immediately demonstrated the scale of what Kendrick and SZA had planned.
The Minneapolis performance generated more than $9 million from over 47,000 tickets, setting a new record at the time for the highest-grossing hip-hop concert.
The tour then continued through major stadiums across North America before heading overseas.
Atlanta was also part of the early run, with Kendrick and SZA performing at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The stadium format allowed the artists to bring their music to much larger audiences than a traditional arena tour.
As more dates were reported, the tour continued climbing the touring charts.
Kendrick And SZA Delivered A Stadium Spectacle
The size of the venues was one of the defining elements of the Grand National Tour.
Rather than relying on traditional arena settings, Kendrick and SZA performed in some of the world’s biggest stadiums.
That scale matched the popularity of both artists.
Kendrick had just come off the release of GNX, his sixth studio album, while SZA remained one of R&B’s biggest stars following the enormous success of her SOS era.
Their shared history also made the tour especially appealing.
Fans could hear Kendrick perform records from throughout his career while also getting SZA’s biggest songs in the same night.
The performances also incorporated their collaborations, giving the audience moments that could not have happened on a standard solo tour.
‘GNX’ Helped Set The Stage
Kendrick’s GNX album played an important role in the timing of the tour.
The album arrived in November 2024 and quickly became a major commercial and cultural success.
It also included “luther,” Kendrick’s collaboration with SZA. The song eventually spent 13 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, further connecting the two artists heading into their stadium run.
That success gave fans another reason to be excited about seeing Kendrick and SZA together.
The Grand National Tour essentially transformed the momentum around GNX and SZA’s music into a massive live experience.
The Numbers Continued To Grow
Before the tour’s final international dates were added to the updated totals, the reported numbers were already massive.
Pollstar previously reported $358.7 million in gross revenue from 39 reported dates, with 1,761,880 tickets sold.
The final stretch of dates pushed the overall figures considerably higher.
The updated total of $390.7 million across 47 shows represents another major increase from those earlier figures.
That also means the tour averaged nearly $8.3 million in gross revenue per reported show across the full 47-show run.
The ticket sales average out to more than 43,000 tickets per show.
Those numbers illustrate just how large the tour became.
Kendrick’s Historic Run Extends Beyond Touring
The touring record is only one part of Kendrick Lamar’s massive recent run.
His GNX album became another major entry in his catalog, while his collaboration with SZA on “luther” became one of the biggest songs associated with the project.
Kendrick also headlined the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in February 2025, bringing his music to one of the biggest television audiences of the year.
His performance followed an already massive period surrounding his 2024 feud with Drake, the success of “Not Like Us,” and the release of GNX.
The Grand National Tour then gave Kendrick an opportunity to bring that momentum directly to fans around the world.
A Major Milestone For Rap Touring
Kendrick’s latest achievement also highlights the growing scale of rap tours.
Hip-hop artists have increasingly moved into stadiums, with major rappers proving they can attract enormous audiences around the world.
Kendrick’s latest numbers demonstrate that trend on an especially large scale.
Generating $390.7 million across 47 shows places the Grand National Tour in rare company among major global concert tours.
It also shows the commercial impact that can come from pairing two major artists.
Kendrick and SZA had established audiences before the tour began. Bringing them together for most of the run created an event that appealed to fans across hip-hop and R&B.
Kendrick Lamar’s Grand National Tour Makes History
The Grand National Tour has officially reached a historic milestone.
Kendrick Lamar’s trek grossed $390.7 million across 47 shows while selling 2.037 million tickets, making it the highest-grossing tour by a rapper in history.
SZA played a major role in the tour as well, co-headlining the North American and European legs before Kendrick continued the final international dates as a solo headliner.
The tour’s success adds another accomplishment to Kendrick’s already remarkable run.
From GNX and “luther” to the Super Bowl stage and now a record-setting global tour, Kendrick has continued reaching new levels in his career.
The Grand National Tour is now officially part of rap history, with more than $390 million in revenue and over two million tickets sold across its 47-show run.
