It’s no secret that the past several years have been somewhat turbulent for Kanye West, who’s been embroiled in a series of controversies. More recently, however, the rapper has apparently seemed to distance himself from those past situations and continue with his music career. As part of that, West – who was approved to legally change his name to Ye in 2021 – has been headlining shows as of late. With that, the artist just hit a personal milestone that also marked a record for the music business as a whole.
Over the past week, Ye headlined a couple of sold-out shows in Los Angeles, which were held in SoFi Stadium and, based on a new report, those performances proved to be very lucrative. Per Bloomberg, the shows combined grossed $33 million in ticket sales, with a Friday show alone reportedly earning over $18 million in sales. That would make the performance one of the single highest-grossing single shows in the history of live music.
Something the news outlet also stresses, though, is that these reported numbers were not officially approved for public release. With that, the individuals who shared it declined to be identified for the story. So, whether that fact impacts the validity of the data can’t be said with absolute certainty. Nevertheless, what’s been presented represents a sizable boon for West and would seemingly indicate that he’s maintained a firm following even in the years following his scandals.
Ye made headlines back in 2022 when he shared antisemitic comments on a (since-removed) episode of the Drink Champs Podcast. The “Touch the Sky” performer mused that he could make such remarks and not face ramifications from his corporate partners. From there, West also shared inflammatory comments on social media, including a post in which he said he wanted to go “death con 3” on Jewish people. 2025 also saw the release of a controversial single from West called “Heil Hitler.”
In 2022, shortly after the initial comments were made, Adidas dropped Kanye West along with other entities like Balenciaga and CAA. West said, around that same time, that he’d been “beat to a pulp” due to the financial losses he experienced during that time.
There have been several occasions since in which Ye has retracted his antisemitic views. He did that in a significant way this past January, when he took out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal and apologized for his outbursts, including those not related to people of the Jewish faith. Some pundits, however, still questioned West’s apology, reasoning that he’d only shared it in an attempt to salvage his career. When posed with that question, the Grammy winner himself argued that the point was moot due to his music still being heavily streamed and hitting new benchmarks as a result.
West’s mention of his continued appeal seems to align with the recent reports about those LA shows. At the same time, while West has seen concert cancellations in recent years due to his controversies, he’s still apparently been able to book gigs. The SoFi Stadium performances aside, West recently booked shows in the Netherlands and Italy, and those will take place in June and July, respectively.
It’s hard to say exactly what lies ahead for Kanye West from a professional standpoint. Still, as he continues to perform in the aftermath of his controversies, pundits may continue to analyze his financial gains – and potential records – with great interest.
