Jay-Z broke the all-time attendance record at Yankee Stadium twice in a row during his Jay-Z 30 concert series.
Opening night pulled in 44,916 paid fans, the largest paid crowd the venue had ever hosted for a concert. He topped that number the very next night, selling 45,832 tickets for the Blueprint anniversary show. Combined, the two nights alone account for more than 90,000 tickets sold at Yankee Stadium in a single weekend. That kind of demand had been building for months. When tickets first went on sale back in March, more than 1.6 million fans combined flooded the queue trying to grab seats for the first two shows.
According to a press release, Jay-Z’s Blueprint Anniversary show on Saturday (July 11) sold 45,832 tickets, breaking the record set by the previous day’s show. At his Saturday performance, Jay-Z brought out artists including Eminem (to perform “Love Yourself” and “Renegade”) and Pharrell Williams (to perform “Excuse Me Miss,” “Frontin,” “I Just Wanna Love U,” and “Allure”).
In the crowd enjoying the tracks were Dave Chappelle, Coco Jones, Jayson Tatum, Gabrielle Union, The Dream, and Joe Budden. At the previous show the night before, celebrities including Kevin Hart, LeBron James, Megan Thee Stallion, Fabolous, and Leonardo DiCaprio were in attendance. Friday’s show was built entirely around Reasonable Doubt, marking 30 years since his 1996 debut album. He closed the set with a line tying the night back to that slow-burning release, telling the crowd, “the album that did 43,000 in its first week now put 45,000 in the seats.”
He also brought out Nas for a run through “Dead Presidents,” “The World Is Yours,” and “N.Y. State of Mind.” Beyoncé stepped in to sing Mary J. Blige’s hook on “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” and Blue Ivy Carter played piano during “Feelin’ It.”