NYC Music Clubs Ranked by 2021 Ticket Sales

Citizen Cope at City Winery NYC on May 15; it was the venue's first vax-only concert (photograph by Ehud Lazin)

Pollstar, the touring talent industry’s leading trade publication, published numerous year-end reports on December 13. Among its year-end charts, the publication ranked the world’s music clubs by ticket sales. Even as the publication continues collecting data for the industry’s fourth quarter, it listed several New York City venues in its top 200.

According to Pollstar, the 10 music clubs reporting the highest ticket sales in 2021 were in the United States, with the top three clubs located in Boston, Massachusetts. The first club outside the United States ranked 11^th and is in Russia. New York City’s music clubs did not chart in the top 10, although the Paramount in nearby Long Island ranked fourth with 48,916 admissions sold in 2021, grossing $2,609,868.

The 450-capacity City Winery NYC ranked highest for the number of ticket sales among New York City music clubs and 14^th in the world. In 2021, City Winery NYC reportedly sold 32,011 tickets. The venue was also the city’s top grossing club, generating $1,534,444 in ticket sales. This standing is curious in that City Winery NYC, which reopened for concerts on April 2, in May became the first venue in New York City to require proof of vaccination from its staff and customers. City Winery NYC restricted entry in this manner a full three months before this policy became a city-wide mandate for indoor restaurants and entertainment establishments on August 16.

The 2,000-capacity Brooklyn Bowl was the next top-selling club in the city, ranking 39^th with ticket sales of 18,602 grossing $374,645. The 3,000-capacity Terminal 5 followed closely, ranking 41^st with 17,552 tickets grossing $683,223. The 300-capacity Knitting Factory did surprisingly better than most other clubs in the city, ranking 55^th with 13,936 admissions grossing $232,513. The 120-capacity Loft at City Winery ranked 57^th, with 13,113 tickets grossing $383,319. A new 500-capacity venue, Brooklyn Made impressed, opened on September 30 and ranked 61^st with 12,995 tickets grossing $534,197. The 1,800-capacity Brooklyn Steel ranked at 83 with 9,018 sales grossing $411,721 at the box office.

Pollstar’s reports bear some scrutiny, however, in that 2021 was a very odd year for club bookings. Boston may have fared at the top because the COVID infection rate in New England was among the lowest in the early part of the year. New York City, while having relatively low infection rates compared to the rest of New York State and many parts of the country, had its music club circuit restricted in the early part of the year by rapidly-changing state regulations, which for a time limited capacity, set curfews, and prohibited all ticket sales. New York City also was the first municipality in the nation to mandate vaccinations for indoor concerts, which impacted ticket sales.

Conga player Pedrito Martinez and his band at Drom on June 16; tomorrow night is canceled so he will resume his Thursday residency on January 6.

Updates on Postponements and Cancelations

The annual one-day music festival known as globalFEST announced on December 23 that its 2022 return is canceled. Kiran Ahluwalia, Al Bilali Soudan, Nora Brown, Bedouin Burger, Kombilesa Mí, Northern Cree, and Son Rompe Pera were among the performers scheduled to perform at Webster Hall on January 16. The promoters posted on social media that "Live shows are a big part of the mission of globalFEST - the magic and community are undeniable! But what is most essential to our work is the joy of discovering music and culture from around the globe - to bring the world to the eyes and ears of curious listeners. We are heartbroken to announce the cancellation of globalFEST’s flagship event, which was to take place on January 16, 2022 at Webster Hall. Out of an abundance of caution for the current upward trends in COVID cases with the highly transmissible Omicron variant, and the nature of live concerts, we have made this decision for the health and safety of our artists, audiences and staff." Instead, globalFEST 2022 will presenting the second annual "Tiny Desk meets globalFEST" concert series on January 18-20 on NPR Music’s YouTube channel with host Angélique Kidjo.

Ripe announced on social media on Monday that its December 30-31 performances at Irving Plaza are cancelled. Due to other commitments in 2022, the band was unable to reschedule its concerts.

Drom has canceled a performance by Pedrito Martinez tomorrow night. "We were looking forward to be together with Pedrito Martinez on Cuban Dance Party," the venue operators announced on social media. "But given the growing concerns around COVID-19, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel this event." Martinez will resume his Thursday night residency at the club on January 6.

Several shows at Mercury Lounge are not happening this week. Cookie Tongue canceled and the Maine Dead Project postponed tonight's performances. Hollis Brown & Friends with DMC in canceled for tomorrow, replaced by a performance by Eggy.

The following concerts were scheduled for tonight but will not be happening. They were postponed or canceled.

• Phish at Madison Square Garden
• Lupe Fiasco, Billy Blue, Mickey Factz at Brooklyn Steel
• Aimee Mann at City Winery NYC
• Soulive, George Porter Jr. at the Brooklyn Bowl
• The Harlem Blues Project at the Iridium
• Johnny A (solo) at Café Wha?
• Cookie Tongue, the Maine Dead Project at Mercury Lounge
• LaMP at Nublu
• Spafford at the Gramercy Theatre
• John Medeski, MonoNeon, Eddie Roberts, the Chase Brothers at le Poisson Rouge
• Brandon "Taz" Niederauer at the Cutting Room

Val Kinzler at the Parkside Lounge on November 13; she will perform tonight as Valkyrie's Vendetta at the Bitter End, the venue's last show of the year before reopening on January 3

Tonight's Concerts

The Manhattan Beat recommends the following concerts for Wednesday, December 29. As the scenario changes constantly, a confirmation call to the venue before traveling would be wise.

• David Byrne's Unchained at the St. James Theatre
• Chris Botti at the Blue Note (8 & 10:30 p.m.)
• John Cameron Mitchell & Stephen Trask at Town Hall
• Sean Kershaw & the New Jack Ramblers at the Waylon
• New Moon Acoustic Blues at Terra Blues (7 p.m.)
• Valkyrie's Vendetta at the Bitter End
• Baby Monroe and Jason Bateman at the Anyway Café
• PJ Lamariana at the 11th St. Bar
• The Jr. Mack Band at Terra Blues (10 p.m.)
• Mulebone at the Ear Inn (10 p.m.)
• Deep C Revival at the Red Lion (10 p.m.)

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The Manhattan Beat covers New York City's live music developments as they happen. All photographs are by Everynight Charley Crespo, except when noted otherwise. For a list of Manhattan venues that are presenting live music regularly, swing the desktop cursor to the right and click on the pop-up tab "Where to Find Live Music." For a listing of upcoming concerts for live audiences, visit The Manhattan Beat's December 2021 and January 2022 calendars.