Taylor Swift and Beyoncé concerts deliver record-breaking earnings for Live Nation

Taylor Swift and Beyonce are to blame for Live Nation Entertainment's best-ever quarterly results.

Ticketmaster's parent company, which drew Swifties and legislators ire after botching the ticket sales for the wildly successful Taylor Swift Eras Tour in 2023, reported on Thursday a third-quarter revenue of $8.3billion, a 32% increase from a year earlier.

Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino stated in a press release that "Today, we delivered our best quarter ever. We are on track for a record-breaking 2023."

The ticket industry giant has said that it has sold 140 million records tickets this year. This is an increase of 17% over the previous year and has already exceeded the 121 millions tickets sold for 2022. It reported that revenue from concerts increased by 32%, to $7 billion.

Ticketmaster has sold 257 millions fee-bearing ticket so far in this year, an increase of 22% over last year. Ticketmaster's sales soared by 57% in the third quarter to $833 millions and 90 million tickets with fees were sold.

Live concerts are back in a big way in 2023. Beyonce and Taylor Swift will be the most popular tickets. Pink, Harry Styles and Bad Bunny were among the stars who toured this year. The Jonas Brothers, Bruce Springsteen, and the Jonas Brothers also took part.

Live Nation (LYV), which is a subsidiary of Live Nation, is anticipating a similarly robust 2024 in the live concert market. It says that half the shows scheduled for the next year will be held at large venues. This trend is double-digits higher than the previous year.

We're confident that we'll have record-breaking tours in the road next, since Bad Bunny has just gone up again. And there's more to come .... We're confident that both Ticketmaster and Live Nation will have strong, big years in the future with a pipeline full of numbers that will surpass this year's figures,' Rapino told analysts on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the Justice Department was investigating Live Nation, for using anticompetitive tactics to book venues, top talent, and manage ticket sales. This information came from people who are familiar with the situation. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Justice Department is investigating Live Nation for using anti-competitive practices to book venues and top talent, manage their ticket sales, and manage their bookings. It cited people familiar with the matter.

CNN has reached out the DOJ to get a comment.

Live Nation's President and CFO Joe Berchtold responded to the WSJ piece in a call with analysts. He said, "Let me emphasize that, as far as I can tell, no one thinks the fundamentals driving our promotions business is illegal."