Recent claims regarding a multi-year contract between singer Rihanna and Live Nation have been dismissed as “bogus” by a credible source according to Billboard Magazine, which may leave fans disappointed as they anticipate the superstar singer’s imminent live comeback.
The London-based tabloid Daily Mirror reported on Sunday that the singer was gearing up for a substantial world tour spanning 2024 and 2025, all as part of a £32 million ($39 million) deal with Live Nation. On Monday (October 23), several publications also ran with the story including ET stating that Rihanna was “preparing for a world tour in 2024/2025 after securing a deal with Live Nation.”
However, a high-level source who would be privy to such negotiations expressed doubts to trade publication Billboard about the £32 million figure and emphasized that “no tour plans have been confirmed for Rihanna.”
The figure £32 million figure itself is also low considering Beyonce recently grossed $579 million for her Renaissance Tour which spanned 56 show, 2 legs, in Europe and North America from May 2023 to October 2023.
Both Rihanna and Beyonce are in demand artist and would perform at similar venues with similar crowd pull but the source revealed that the “Bitch Better Have My Money” singer has not committed to any touring projects for 2024 at this stage.
Moreover, Live Nation has not placed holds on venues for a potential tour. Typically, when a promoter initiates the booking process for a major artist’s tour, they contact various venues along the tour route, asking them to reserve dates on their calendars for potential routing scenarios. If Rihanna and Live Nation were to finalize a deal, it would likely take several months to establish a potential tour itinerary.
The demand for a Rihanna tour and new music is undeniably high. She stands as one of the most commercially successful artists in history, boasting 14 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a record eclipsed only by The Beatles and Mariah Carey. Her last album, “Anti,” was released in 2016, and her subsequent tour generated over $110 million in global sales. However, since her final tour stop in Abu Dhabi on November 27, 2016, she has not held a commercial concert, with only three performances since, including the Super Bowl halftime show in 2023 and the 2023 Oscars.
While a new global tour would undoubtedly yield hundreds of millions in ticket sales and merchandise, Rihanna’s financial stability is not dependent on it. According to a March 10 report from the Wall Street Journal, her business empire is estimated to be worth $1.4 billion, thanks to the success of her record sales and her cosmetics company, Savage X Fenty, which she co-owns with luxury brand LVMH.
In 2019 the Barbadian Billionaire announced that she was working on a Reggae album titled R9. In 2019 as her net worth grew from the sale of Fenty Beauty line of products she assured fans in the Vogue Interview
Rihanna who is the first woman to create a brand for LVMH and the first black woman to lead a major luxury fashion house told Vogue at the time that “I have been trying to get back into the studio,” but still has not released an album, since her with studio album Anti, the slow-burner that featured the 9x Platinum dancehall track Work with Drake.
The now mother of two had promised that her next album would be a reggae infused record. “I like to look at it as a reggae-inspired or reggae-infused album,” Rihanna says. “It’s not gonna be typical of what you know as reggae. But you’re going to feel the elements in all of the tracks.” I ask why reggae feels right for this moment, and she says, “Reggae always feels right to me. It’s in my blood. It doesn’t matter how far or long removed I am from that culture, or my environment that I grew up in; it never leaves. It’s always the same high. Even though I’ve explored other genres of music, it was time to go back to something that I haven’t really homed in on completely for a body of work.”
In 2020 more news came of Rihanna working on new music with Pharrell on Valentine’s Day Rihanna tells ET that new music is “worth the wait,” but in the same breathe telling a fan on Instagram that “she lost the album”
In 2021, Rihanna tells AP she’s figuring out visuals and wants to tour and last year she dropped Oscar nominated track “Lift Me Up” & “Born Again”.
Rihanna, 35 and her fiancé, A$AP Rocky, welcomed their second child, Riot Rose, in August, a pregnancy she had announced during her Super Bowl performance. They’re already parents to their 18-month-old, RZA.
