American singer Michael Jackson performed on three concert tours, and four benefit concerts.
Having toured with his brothers since the early 1970s, Michael Jackson began his first solo world tour Bad Tour in support of his seventh studio album Bad on September 12, 1987. Beginning in Tokyo, Japan, the tour lasted for 1 year, during which Jackson visited 15 countries and performed to 4.4 million people. Attendance figures for the first 14 dates in Japan totaled a record-breaking 450,000. The most successful of the European dates were those in London at Wembley Stadium, where demand for the five July dates exceeded 1.5 million, enough to fill the 72,000-capacity venue 20 times. Jackson went on to perform seven sold-out shows at Wembley for a total of 504,000 people which entered him into the Guinness World Records, setting a new world record for playing more dates at the stadium than any other artist.The third concert was attended by Diana, Princess of Wales and Prince Charles, and subsequently released as Live at Wembley July 16, 1988. The final European show was held in Liverpool at Aintree Racecourse, where 1,550 fans were reported injured among the crowd of 125,000, the largest show of the tour. Jackson toured the United States for a second time between September 1988 and January 1989, with a return to Japan for nine sold-out shows in Tokyo Dome for a total of 450,000 people in December. This would be the last time he toured his native country, aside from two shows in Hawaii in 1997 and a handful of one-off appearances in 2001 and 2002. Bad grossed a total of $125 million, earning two new entries in the Guinness World Records for the largest grossing tour in history and the tour with the largest attended audience. It was nominated for "Tour of the Year 1988" at the inaugural International Rock Awards. Bad was the second highest-grossing tour of the 1980s after Pink Floyd's Momentary Lapse of Reason tour
The follow-up concert series—the Dangerous World Tour began in Munich, Germany, on June 27, 1992, and concluded in Mexico City, Mexico, on November 11, 1993, playing 69 concerts in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Jackson performed in stadiums across the world with all being sold out in countries in Asia, Latin America, and Europe. At the tour's end, it grossed over $100 million and was attended by 3,500,000 people. All profits were donated to various charities including Jackson's own "Heal the World Foundation". The October 1, 1992, concert in Bucharest, Romania was filmed for broadcast on the HBO network on October 10. Jackson sold the film rights for the concert for $20 million, then the highest amount for a concert performer to appear on television. The special, Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour, earned Jackson the second of two CableACE Awards of his career, this one for Outstanding Performance Musical Special. In 1996, Jackson returned with the HIStory World Tour, an 82 run of concerts that concluded the following year. The concert series attracted more than 4.5 million fans from 58 cities in 35 countries around the world. It was the most attended tour of all time by any artist, having grossed over $165 million. The average concert attendance was 54,878. The next tour would be the HIStory World Tour, which ran from September 7, 1996 – October 15, 1997. The etour would promote the HIStory album which was released in June 1995. Starting on May 31, 1997, the tour would also promote Jackson's newly released single, "Blood On The Dance Floor", which released in March 1997. In 2001, after the release of the "Invincible" album, Sony Music planned another concert tour from Jackson for 2002 – 2003. However Jackson refused to tour and it was rumored that he would be forced to tour, but left the record company. The tour was canceled after Jackson's disputes, but it was marketed as being canceled due to 9/11.