Data
Historical concert ticket prices
What a concert ticket cost, and what that price would be today. Each record is a nominal price taken from a published source at a stated date, restated in current dollars by the consumer price index and nothing else.
Admission prices, 1965 to 2023
The Beatles charged $4.50 in 1965 — $47.55 in July 2026 dollars. Taylor Swift charged $49.00 in 2023, which is $54.21 in the same dollars. The gap between those two figures is the part of ticket-price growth that general inflation does not account for. It is not a like-for-like comparison: the records differ in what the price bought, where it sat in the house, and whether it was a single show's face value or a market-wide average. Each is labelled below.
Then and in July 2026 dollars
The Beatles
August 1965 · Shea Stadium
$4.50$47.55Lowest face value · ×10.6 consumer prices since 1965
Bruce Springsteen
August 1985 · Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
$17.50$54.11Face value · ×3.1 consumer prices since 1985
U2
March 1992 · Los Angeles Sports Arena
$25.00$59.93Face value · ×2.4 consumer prices since 1992
North American market
2000 (annual average)
$43.75$84.84Market average · ×1.9 consumer prices since 2000
U2
June 2010
$30.00$45.96Lowest face value · ×1.5 consumer prices since 2010
Taylor Swift
March 2023
$49.00$54.21Lowest face value · ×1.1 consumer prices since 2023
Thin bar: the price as charged. Thick bar: the same amount expressed in July 2026 dollars using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics series CUUR0000SA0.
Parking compared with historical ticket prices
Admission is one line on a night out. Setting a present-day ancillary charge beside the same historical prices, in the same dollars, shows how much of the modern cost of attendance sits outside the ticket entirely.
$40.00
Citi Field stadium parking, 2026 season
2026 season · Citi Field
Pre-paid parking for one car for one game. Drive-up parking on the day is $50.
Every admission price on this page, restated in July 2026 dollars, costs more than a single car parked at this venue.
- U22010$45.96
- The Beatles1965$47.55
- Bruce Springsteen1985$54.11
- Taylor Swift2023$54.21
- U21992$59.93
- North American market2000$84.84
How the adjustment is made
A price is restated by multiplying it by the ratio of two published index levels: the consumer price index in July 2026 divided by the index in the month the price was charged. Where a record describes a full year rather than a single event, the year's annual average index is used and the period is labelled as a year. Nothing is smoothed, chained through an alternative deflator or projected forward.
The index is Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: all items, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted (1982-84 = 100), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, series CUUR0000SA0. Levels are retrieved from the agency and stored verbatim; the stored record was last refreshed 2026-08-14.
What these figures are not
- A price series. These are individual benchmarks separated by decades, not a continuous measurement of the market. The national consumer price index for admissions is the continuous series.
- Like-for-like seats. A 1965 stadium ticket, a 1985 top-price seat and a 2023 face value describe different products sold under different conditions.
- The price anyone paid. Face value is what a promoter set. Resale, fees and dynamic pricing all sit outside these records and are documented separately.
- Inflation as experienced by concertgoers. The all-items index tracks a general basket; it is the standard comparison, not a live-music-specific deflator.
Record and sources
Every figure used above, with the period, the exact basis of the price, the index level applied and the publication it was taken from.
| Event | Price period | Price as charged | What the price is | In July 2026 dollars | CPI then | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The BeatlesNorth American tour, Shea Stadium · New York, NY | August 1965 | $4.50 – $5.65 | Lowest face valueLowest denomination printed on surviving tickets. Upper reserved seats were issued at $4.50, $5.10 and $5.65; every other section in the house was $5.65. | $47.55 | 31.6 | Rare Beatles ticket archive, Shea Stadium 1965 denominationsDenominations transcribed from unused ticket stocks rather than from a contemporary news report.documented |
| Bruce SpringsteenBorn in the U.S.A. tour, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum · Los Angeles, CA | August 1985 | $17.50 | Face valueSingle reserved-seat face value; the Coliseum run was sold at one price with no tiering. | $54.11 | 108.0 | Los Angeles Times, 27 August 1985Price stated in the on-sale announcement: "The $17.50 reserved seat tickets will go on sale today."documented |
| U2Zoo TV tour, Los Angeles Sports Arena · Los Angeles, CA | March 1992 | $25.00 | Face valueFace value on the Southern California on-sale. Broker prices reported in the same article reached $600. | $59.93 | 139.3 | Los Angeles Times, 23 March 1992Reported as "Twenty-five-dollar tickets for Irish rock sensation U2's first Southern California concerts in five years."documented |
| North American marketPollstar average ticket price, top 50 tours · North America | 2000 (annual average) | $43.75 | Market averageAverage paid ticket price across the top 50 North American tours for the full year — a market aggregate, not a single event. | $84.84 | 172.2 | Pollstar News, "Concert Ticket Prices Stabilize For The Moment", 1 January 2001Reported as "for all of 2000, the average was virtually unchanged at $43.75," against $43.63 in 1999 and $33.59 in 1998.documented |
| U2360° tour, North American leg · North America | June 2010 | $30.00 – $250.00 | Lowest face valueLowest face value on a tour priced from $30 to $250; the top of that range is a premium floor ticket. | $45.96 | 218.0 | Billboard, "U2: Summer Live Preview 2010"Listed in the tour preview as "Ticket prices: $30-$250."documented |
| Taylor SwiftThe Eras Tour, U.S. stadium leg · United States | March 2023 | $49.00 – $449.00 | Lowest face valueLowest announced face value. Face prices ran to $449, with VIP packages from $199 to $899, and exclude resale. | $54.21 | 301.8 | Variety, "Taylor Swift Announces 2023 Tour of U.S. Stadiums"Reported as "They run from $49 up to $449, with VIP packages that start at $199 and go up to $899."documented |
| New York MetsCiti Field stadium parking, 2026 season · New York, NY | 2026 season | $40.00 – $50.00 | Ancillary costPre-paid parking for one car for one game. Drive-up parking on the day is $50. | $40.00 | 333.9 | MLB.com, New York Mets stadium parkingPublished as "Parking will remain $40 for fans who pre-pay, while drive-up parking will be $50 upon arrival."documented |