When it comes to live music, Gen Z stands out from other age groups by spending more on tickets in the U.S., according to findings in Luminate Insights’ U.S. Music 360 second-quarter survey last year and again in Q1 2025.
But the latest wave of data from this year’s survey confirms another trend distinguishing them from their older counterparts.
Gen Z is the only generation in the U.S. that consistently reported a higher percentage of women than men attending at least one concert within the past 12 months each quarter between Q1 2023 and Q1 2025.
Granted, the Gen Z gender difference usually hovers between just 3% and 6%. But compare these results with U.S. Millennials, where men and women actually traded off each quarter between having higher concert attendance. Baby Boomers displayed similar results, while Gen X concert attendance was slightly male leaning.
What’s more, U.S. Music 360 data pertaining to future intent — wherein respondents of both sexes said they planned on attending at least one concert in the next 12 months — underscored this generational gender difference, while Gen Z women consistently outpaced men but by even wider margins than for past attendance.
And the gap is widening: Gen Z women’s future intent peaked at 49% in Q2 2024, up from 44% in the previous Q2 and outpacing men’s future intent by a full 10%. That gap would hit 10% again in Q4 2024, which was also a jump from the 4% difference in Q4 2023.
The increase in Gen Z women’s concert activity may ultimately be reflective of who’s on tour and which artists are currently popular. Considering that women-fronted pop music has had quite the mainstream resurgence over the last few years, it makes sense that some of the most successful and high-profile tours in recent memory were artists with predominantly female and younger fan bases: Beyoncé, Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Harry Styles and, of course, Taylor Swift.
So, does this indicate that male Zoomers are less interested in music? Not necessarily. Learn more about their growing interest in emerging music experiences, ranging from livestreams to VR, via Luminate Insights’ quarterly U.S. Music 360 survey.
