Jay-Z announced on Wednesday (March 18) his first two headline concerts in seven years with shows at Yankee Stadium on July 10-11. The hometown dates will end an extended hiatus for the legendary rapper after playing a B-sides show to re-open Webster Hall in 2019, breaking records with Beyoncé on their coheadlining On the Run II Tour (2018), and his last solo headline stint on 2017’s 4:44 Tour.
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Jay-Z “made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can,” as he famously rapped in 2009’s “Empire State of Mind,” but it’s been even longer since he played at the iconic stadium. He spent two nights there in 2013 on the Legends of the Summer Stadium Tour with Justin Timberlake. Before that, he did a hometown swap with Eminem, playing two shows at Detroit’s Comerica Park and two at Yankee Stadium in 2010. His upcoming shows will mark his first time headlining there on his own.
It’s rare that the baseball field plays host to superstar performers, balancing 81 regular-season home games per year amid a weather-restricted stadium season in the Northeast. But a select group of acts have performed sold-out concerts there, packing the 50,000-capacity venue with fans of the biggest acts in rock, rap, Latin and more.
The earliest Yankee Stadium concert reported to Billboard Boxscore featured Tracy Chapman headlining a rally to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990. Billy Joel and The Beach Boys played un-reported shows around the turn of the ‘90s. U2 and Pink Floyd followed in 1992 and 1994, respectively, selling more than 100,000 tickets over two nights apiece. Concerts became slightly more common upon the unveiling of the re-built stadium in 2010. Jay-Z will be the first headliner in three years.
Keep reading for the five biggest Boxscore reports from Yankee Stadium, by the numbers. Ranked by gross revenue, the list leans toward concerts from the 21st century, as ticket prices for shows in the ‘90s topped out at $75 for Pink Floyd and $30 for U2. All data is according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore.
