Asia’s Flourishing Live Music Scene Expands Global Reach

The Asian touring market continues to thrive, with promoters and venues reaping the rewards of artists both homegrown and international presenting top-notch concert productions at home and abroad, with new partnerships and long-lasting relationships behind the scenes meaning the traffic is both inbound as well as exported to the rest of the world.

The dominance of K-pop in the region, anchored by activity in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Dubai, continues. The top four touring acts, as reported to Pollstar (see page 162), were K-pop bands, with SEVENTEEN showing the way with a gross of $97,394,005. TWICE grossed $76,176,781 and TOMORROW X TOGETHER did $53,035,381. Ranked No. 4, Korean powerhouse BTS grossed $49,069,994 in Asia as part of its mammoth “ARIRANG” world tour, which was No. 1 on Pollstar ’s Q3 chart. Those shows were the chart-topping boy band’s first in nearly four years due to military service.

Western acts were busy as well, with Lady Gaga leading the charge ($44,379,794 grossed), fifth overall in the territory, and Travis Scott was close behind ($37,922,441). Just to reinforce the Asian presence in the home region, G.E.M. came in seventh ($31,725,779), BLACKPINK is eighth ($29,193,966 grossed) and ENHYPEN nabbed the ninth spot ($21,562,532 grossed).

The key players in the region who Pollstar talked to were uniformly enthusiastic about business. HYBE was the leading promoter in the region with $247,965,087 in gross revenue. HYBE 360 President Yoojin Oh (Impact Honoree, see page 176), who oversees the company’s concert business, says, “Over the past year, HYBE artists’ global tours have continued to expand not only in scale but also in the breadth of markets they reach.”

Japan’s presence as the longtime leader in the Asian music industry remained strong. Three of the top five promotion agencies were Japanese and the country held six of the top 10 spots. The biggest player in the nation was Creativeman Productions, with $103,665,840 in gross revenue, third overall in Pollstar ’s Asia chart. Naoki Shimizu, president of the promoter behind the long-running Summer Sonic festival, notes, “The live music market has bounced back from the pandemic and is expanding even more than before.” Of Japan in particular, he says, “The breadth of the entertainment landscape is a key factor. There is a capacity to turn anything — whether local acts, Asian artists, Western music, anime, or voice actors — into a major live concert market.” In second place for promoters was Live Nation with $209,803,871 in gross revenue reported.

Dennis Argenzia, president of global touring, Asia-Pacific at Live Nation, has observed a shift in enthusiasm from artists. “Asia is at a really exciting point in its evolution as a live music market,” Argenzia says. “For many years, we had to convince artists and their teams to come to Asia — today, the conversation is very different. Artists want to perform here because they see the growth in demand and the opportunity to build deeper connections with fans across the region.”

Hong Kong appears as a microcosm of the expanding Asia market. The 50,000- capacity Kai Tak Stadium is a crucial venue for all of Asia. Kath Wong, senior manager at the firm that runs the stadium, emphasizes the outsized role K-pop plays in Asia touring and Hong Kong’s place in the market, with concert highlights from BLACKPINK and SEVENTEEN at Kai Tak Stadium.

“Each show serves as a milestone not only for Kai Tak Sports Park, but for Hong Kong as a whole,” Wong says. “It demonstrated that the stadium could host some of the world’s biggest touring artists and deliver complex international production to the standard expected by the artist, promoter and production teams.”

She expands on the environment, with Kai Tak Sports Park including both the 50,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof and the indoor Kai Tak Arena, which can accommodate 10,000 people and has 80% retractable seating.

Irene Chan, CEO of AsiaWorld-Expo, which operates the 14,000-cap arena of the same name in Hong Kong (the third biggest in Asia), is extremely upbeat on the business in 2026: “Audiences increasingly seek destination events that combine music, culture, fashion, art, retail, food and technology—driving the global trend of ‘festivalisation’ and creating new revenue and partnership opportunities beyond ticket sales.”

Global promoter AEG Presents, based in the U.S., is also focused on the region. Adam Wilkes, president and CEO of AEG Presents Europe and Asia-Pacific, who has worked in the Asian touring market for decades, offers a comprehensive overview.

“Asia is already a core part of the global touring ecosystem, and its significance will only grow,” he says. “International artists are reaching more markets, supported by a wave of world-class venues – both newly opened and under construction. The regional touring industry is also becoming more sophisticated, allowing artists to build meaningful careers across multiple countries rather than only at home.”

He adds that the world environment has changed, catapulting Asia to a new position. “Crucially, the traffic now moves both ways,” he says. “K-pop led the way, but Japanese, Chinese and Indian artists are increasingly finding audiences and performing at the highest level around the world. More inbound touring, better infrastructure and a growing pipeline of internationally successful Asian talent make the potential enormous.”

In Japan, Shimizu reflects on Creativeman’s successes but also looks forward.

“After Summer Sonic, the biggest tour of the year for us would be Iron Maiden,” he says of the globally renowned heavy metal pioneers. Other rock bands continue to show strength in the market. “Last year, it was Green Day, and Radiohead is coming up next year. It is a joy, after such a long career, to have tours every year by bands I’ve promoted for over two decades.”

The company is set to expand its dominant network even further. Shimizu explains, “Creativeman recently entered into a strategic partnership with AEG. In the past, artists like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande have started out working with Creativeman for their Japan shows, only to move on to global tours handled by others. Now, however, we have a setting where we can continue working with them throughout that process. Furthermore, Creativeman’s 36 year-career will undoubtedly bring added value to AEG.”

Kaori Hayashi, president of Live Nation H.I.P. (Hayashi International Promotions), notes the promoter is set for a banner year. “We are seeing strong demand for live entertainment in Japan. More artists are touring, more live events are taking place, and more fans are attending these events. Bruno Mars’ 12-show dome tour in January 2027 will be the largest tour ever undertaken by an international artist in Japan. It will span six cities across the country – from Osaka to Nagoya – reflecting the depth of demand for international artists well beyond Tokyo, and is another indication of the scale of opportunity in this market.”

The 37,000-cap GMO Arena Saitama (formerly Saitama Super Arena), one of Japan’s biggest arenas and the second largest in Asia, has been closed for a major renovation since January. Operations will resume in April 2027, and Yutaka Minagawa, MD of the arena, tells Pollstar they have already secured a number of major international artist performances.

“Japan’s music market continues to benefit from strong and stable demand for domestic artists, particularly within the J-Pop genre,” Minagawa says. “In addition to J-Pop, K-Pop enjoys enduring popularity, while major international artists continue to include Japan as part of their world tours. This creates a highly diverse live entertainment ecosystem where multiple genres can successfully coexist.”

In addition to being Asia’s traditional international live music powerhouse, Minagawa sees a hidden benefit in the Japanese situation now. “The weak Japanese yen has also made Japan a more attractive destination for overseas visitors. As a result, we see significant growth opportunities in music tourism, where fans combine attendance at live concerts with broader travel experiences throughout Japan.”

Tsuyoshi Tamura, president of K-Arena (20,033 capacity) in Yokohama, is also bullish on the future for the country’s touring market. “Japan boasts a wide variety of musical genres, and there are plans to build new venues nationwide with a capacity of over 10,000 people,” Tamura says. ”With its excellent transportation infrastructure, Japan is likely to see even more opportunities for music fans to attend concerts. We can also expect visitors from neighboring Asian countries.”

Tamura does note that the expanding market will bring some challenges: “The shortage of specialized personnel for stage setup and other tasks has become a major challenge. This issue is likely to become even more serious as the number of large-scale facilities increases.”

Singapore plays a key role in Asia touring despite its modest size. Keith Magnus (an Impact Honoree, see p. 175), founding chairman of the Kallang Group, which manages and books the 55,000-cap National Stadium at The Kallang, stresses, “We are not Asia’s largest domestic market, and we will rarely be its cheapest. But we offer a combination that is difficult to replicate: safety, connectivity, predictability, world-class infrastructure and regional access.”

Magnus provides powerful examples over the last few years, including Coldplay, which played National Stadium shows in 2017 and in 2024, raised the number to six, making it the band’s highest single-venue Asian engagement for the British band yet with $43.4 million grossed and 321,113 tickets sold. Taylor Swift then played to more than 300,000 fans on six sold-out nights as part of her record-breaking “Eras Tour.”

“The final show drew 63,000 people – the largest concert ever staged in Singapore,” Magnus says. Lady Gaga followed that up with four nights in 2026 at The Kallang, her only Asian stop, selling nearly 200,000 tickets and grossing more than $40 million.

Dubai is also benefiting from the region’s expanding touring scene. Coca-Cola Arena’s Mark Jan Kar, SVP, MENA & APAC, Strategic Projects for Legends Global, says, “There is significant potential for continued growth in regional and international touring, live sport and premium entertainment experiences. Dubai is also well positioned to become an increasingly important part of wider regional touring routes.

“Dubai has developed from a market focused on occasional major concerts into a year-round live-entertainment destination,” he adds. “Since COVID, audiences have become more selective. The right content performs exceptionally well, but reputation alone is no longer enough. Regional artists, premium experiences, live sport and more data-led pricing have all become increasingly important.”

One of Asia’s most exciting emerging markets is Indonesia, which has the world’s fourth-largest population at about 288 million. Promoters, including Rajawali Indonesia, Ravel Entertainment, Ismaya, PK Entertainment and Spectrum Management Indonesia, have been touring international and domestic acts, earning increasingly greater revenue.

Tovic Raharja, MD of Rajawali Indonesia, explains, “Indonesia is a market of enormous scale, strong fandom and strong local culture—but succeeding here requires localization. What works in Singapore, Japan or Australia cannot simply be copied and applied to Indonesia.” Celestinus Febrianto, a promoter who has brought the Smashing Pumpkins as well as a host of K-pop acts to Indonesia, notes the burgeoning potential is buoyed by expanding digital access. “With a diverse population and a rising interest in music and cultural events, there’s potential for expanding our reach. Collaborations with local artists in doing shows overseas is also something that some promoters, including us, look at as an exciting business model.”

_Originally reported by [Pollstar](https://news.pollstar.com/2026/10/07/asia-focus-expanding-global-reach-worlds-most-populous-continent-continues-to-flourish/)._