Dua Lipa has been given the crown for the top-selling tour of 2024 on O2’s Priority Tickets platform.

The telecoms giant declared a record-breaking year for its customer reward scheme with 1.54 million tickets sold January to November – a 12% increase on the same time period in 2023. The platform offers exclusive early access to events and venues in the UK for O2 and Virgin Media broadband customers.

Tours by Dua Lipa, Peter Kay and Lana Del Rey topped this year’s biggest-seller list, which spans pop, comedy, R&B and heavy metal.

Lipa topped the list with her 2025 Radical Optimism tour, after partnering with O2 for an exclusive pre-sale and brand new ‘Walk’ ad to celebrate – the first of its kind in six years.

The pop star is closely followed by British comedian Peter Kay, whose first tour in over a decade included a residency at The O2 arena in London and was recently expanded due to popular demand.

Lana Del Rey claimed third position on the list with her first-ever UK stadium shows for the summer of 2025, R&B star Usher came in fourth with his ten-show residency at The O2 arena in London, while Billie Eilish’s tour came in fifth place.

“There have been massive tours announced this year, ones that will go on to define an entire generation of music and entertainment,” says Gareth Griffiths, director, partnerships and sponsorship at Virgin Media O2.

“Our Priority campaign starring Dua Lipa was a huge success, selling out Wembley Stadium. With a relentless demand from O2 and Virgin Media broadband customers for access to live shows, we’re now seeing Priority Tickets smash its own sales records again this year. Our best-sellers list shows the variety of live entertainment the UK has an offer – here’s to an even bigger 2025.”

Between 1 January and 30 November 2024, O2 has offered access to tickets to shows from over 2,000 artists and performers, at more than 650 venues across the UK. It has also hosted three exclusive ‘Priority Gigs’ for customers, which saw D-Block Europe, Girls Aloud and RAYE each play their own free and intimate shows for customers at O2 venues.

In a recent interview with IQ, Griffiths discussed the company’s Priority Tickets platform, its gigs, and its quest to clean up secondary ticketing.

O2 revealed it had stopped more than 50,000 suspected bots from entering its Priority platform over a six-week period.

“We are a customer-centric brand, and if our customers have signed up to Priority to get exclusive access to tickets, then they get into a ticketing journey where there are 30,000 bots in front of them, that’s just not fair. So genuine fans are missing out and this is why we’ve been on a mission to try and sort it out.”

Read the full interview here.

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O2’s Gareth Griffiths has spoken to IQ about the company’s Priority Tickets platform and its quest to clean up secondary ticketing.

The telecoms giant sold 1.4 million tickets in 2023 via the customer reward scheme, which offers members early access to concert tickets up to 48 hours before general sale.

The company has sponsored London’s The O2 since the venue’s 2007 opening, and  also runs the O2 Priority Gig series, featuring intimate one-off shows by acts such as Kylie Minogue, D-Block Europe, Raye, Sam Fender and Girls Aloud. Held across its entire O2 Academy venue network in the UK, tickets are given away for free to O2 and Virgin Media customers via a ballot.

“We’ve had three huge Priority Gigs this year,” says Griffiths, Virgin Media O2’s director, partnerships and sponsorship. “We did Girls Aloud at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, D-Block Europe at Indigo at The O2, and we just had Raye a couple of weeks ago, also at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire as well.

“They’re free shows for our customers and demand is huge – they had 110,000 people applying for tickets for the Kylie show last year. We’ve got some fantastic artists coming to us now and asking to be involved, so next year will be our fourth year and they’re going from strength to strength.”

“We say to an artist, ‘Where would you like to play?’ And they’ve got our whole venue estate to choose from”

The series launched in 2021 with a performance by Wizkid at O2 Forum Kentish Town.

“It’s massive artists doing intimate shows at an O2 venue,” adds Griffiths. “We basically say to an artist, ‘Where would you like to play from our 21 venues?’ And they’ve got our whole venue estate right around the country to choose from, so the potential is really exciting.

“We did an incredible show with Sam Fender in Newcastle and with Raye, she said, ‘I used to go to O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire as a kid. I’m from London and I love that venue,’ so that was her choice.”

Yesterday (16 October), Griffiths spoke as part of a panel discussion in London hosted by O2, which examined the pain points in the secondary ticketing market and explored what government and online businesses can do to protect consumers.

The conversation followed research by O2 and YouGov indicating that ticket touts are costing music fans in the UK an extra £145 million (€174m) a year. Moreover, O2 revealed it had stopped more than 50,000 suspected bots from entering its Priority platform over a six-week period.

“I think it’s an even bigger problem than that YouGov survey highlights,” Griffiths tells IQ. “Only 5% of people said they would buy a ticket from a tout outside a venue, but two-thirds don’t understand what secondary ticketing is, so we’ve got a lot of customers we can help with awareness.

“We are a customer-centric brand, and if our customers have signed up to Priority to get exclusive access to tickets, then they get into a ticketing journey where there is 30,000 bots in front of them, that’s just not fair. So genuine fans are missing out and this is why we’ve been on a mission to try and sort it out.”

“Money is being taken out of the whole live ecosystem by touts. People won’t spend as much on merch or F&B because they’ve spent all their money on a ticket”

He continues: “We’re also huge supporters of artists and venues in this country. We’ve got 21 O2 venues – 20 O2 Academies and The O2 –  and have invested massively. But money is being taken out of the whole live ecosystem by touts: people won’t spend as much on merch or F&B when they go, because they’ve spent all their money on a ticket.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer included a pledge to introduce new legislation to cap ticket resale as part of the Labour manifesto, with new the UK government currently preparing to launch a consultation into the secondary ticketing market. A debate is also due to take place in Westminster Hall next week.

“To get something in the manifesto is a huge deal for us because that’s the first time actually we’ve had any political support on it really. That’s a huge sign of positive intent,” adds Griffiths. “The Labour government has just got in and has a whole basket of stuff to get through first, but we are hoping that mid-term – in a couple of years time – there will be legislation, but it won’t stop there for us.”

As well as new laws to protect fans against profiteering, O2 is also calling for clearer information to be presented during the sale process on secondary ticketing platforms, plus clearer identification of resale sites on search engines.

“Hopefully legislation will happen. There’s a way to go on that, and we’ll keep the pressure on, but the other two areas are key for us as well,” concludes Griffiths. “It’s about making our customers aware – and then they can make an informed decision. What they want to do is up to them, but at least we’ll have made them aware and are trying to do right by our customers.”

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