Bandsintown Highlights the Year's Live Trends in its '2025 High Notes'

Live events discovery platform Bandsintown has released its 2025 High Notes, a comprehensive look at the artists, venues, festivals and trends that shaped live music this year. The report is based on data from the 8 billion events, 100 million fans and 700,000 artists on its platform.

Genre dominators:

• Trap was 2025’s fastest rising genre, surging 65% year over year, driven by the rise of fusion subgenres such as phonk and latin trap.

• Shoegaze jumped 37%.

• Rock reclaimed the No. 1 spot in fan engagement, with metal and alternative at Numbers 2 and 3 respectively.

Live draws:

• sombr was the fastest growing artist, followed by Lola Young, JENNIE, Doechii, Ella Langley, Alex Warren, Olivia Dean, Tyla, BigXthaPlug and Forrest Frank.

• Billie Eilish earned the most new followers, followed by Taylor Swift. The Weeknd (No. 3), Eminem (No. 4) and Kendrick Lamar (No. 5) round out the Top 5.

• System of a Down (São Paulo) and Zayn (Mexico City) were the top two shows globally for ticket demand in 2025.

Travel boom:

• 32.6% more fans traveled internationally for concerts than in 2024.

Music city:

• New York City topped the charts as the fastest growing music fan city globally. It was also a top city for fan engagement and ticket demand.

• Globally, Madrid, London and São Paulo were among the fastest growing fan cities.

• Top US cities for ticket demand were New York, Dallas and Los Angeles.

Destination venues:

• Red Rocks Amphitheatre was the top destination venue, leading in ticket demand, RSVPs and new followers.

• Standout independent US venues included The Rave/Eagles Club (Milwaukee), First Avenue (Minneapolis), Le Poisson Rouge (New York), The Virgil (Los Angeles), Empire Control Room & Garage (Austin), and McMenamins Crystal Ballroom (Portland).

The full report:

• Can be found here.