#MerchMadness: Revisiting 2016's hottest selling tour merchandise

For many of us, purchasing the tour merchandise is about as exciting as attending the tour itself. To tell the truth, when your favorite artist announces they’re coming to town and you’ve bought your ticket on pre-sale the next thing to do is figure out what to wear. Some people get custom designs made while others purchase from the tour merch. Leave it to Yeezus to be the first to introduce the tour merch pop-up back in 2012, and the trend has continued ever since. This year, we witnessed the set up and break down of several pop-up shops from artist like Justin Bieber, Rihanna, and the Bad Boy Family to name a few.

Puff Daddy & The Family’s Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour

Sean combs

Our home team the Bad Boy Family took us down memory lane during the epic 20th anniversary reunion tour. Music mogul Sean Combs collaborated with sought after streetwear brand Invisible Bully to create the highly coveted line that included embroidered hats, jackets, sweatshirt and t-shirts with the notorious Bad Boy logo. These pieces were so exclusive even we had to hunt them down. However it was not the hype or the collaboration that sold these items it was the nostalgia. Putting on that Bad Boy logo made you feel like you just got signed and for a couple hours you too could have that experience on tour.

Justin Bieber’s Purpose Tour

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We know the Bieber fans are the epitome of “Fanatics” but the purpose tour merch proved how many true fans the Biebs really has. It was evident when his tour came to town how much people really loved the designs brought to life by Jerry Lorenzo. Even in populated cities like NYC known for fashion you almost couldn’t go anywhere without seeing Purpose plastered on the back of t-shirts. The most striking aspect to the collection is the original use of typography. We’d seen several examples this year of this edgy font style, which was popularized this year, however few were done as well as these.

Beyoncé’s Formation Tour

shop.beyonce.com

The buzzing from the BeyHive was loud and clear as they hovered in Formation awaiting the release of Lemonade. Whilst quenching their thirst with the dynamic visuals and learning the routines in preparation for the show. Naturally they swarmed Bey’s website to preorder the merch for the tour. There were very few people who didn’t want to rock lemons at this time. The album itself was charged with more electrolytes than your doctor recommends but that was all they needed to ensure that every single piece from this collection was sold out.

Drake & Future’s Summer Sixteen Tour

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Drake and Future took the world by storm with their joint album. Now sometimes Drake delivers empty promises but we know now he surely was not lying about Summer Sixteen. The Summer Sixteen tour was one of the most attended and socialized for this year. Building such pandemonium could only lead to chart topping merch sales as well. The OVO superstar knows a lot about selling product, designing each piece like a streetwear line with “Summer Sixteen” embroidered all over everything. We must admit the typography plus embroidery combination is just that extra touch provided to be the right approach for many lines this year. Above all Drake’s design teams attention to detail is what sets this collection apart from the rest.

Rihanna’s Anti Tour

https://rihanna.shop.livenation.com/dept/featured-items?cp=58556_59664

The ever so stylish Rihanna dominated athletic apparel this year with her latest Fenty x Puma collection. She allows finds a way to give her fans a small piece of herself to walk away with and it doesn’t hurt that she sets the trends. While creating the Anti tour merch Rihanna made sure to incorporate some her sexiest photos for which we all undeniably love. Showing of her nice booty how much more can the people really ask for. She even took things a step further to pair the tops with army fatigue pants and Anti shorts that we’re certain we will see this summer somewhere. Rihanna’s merch is just the gift that keeps on giving and we certainly can’t get enough.

Kanye West’s Saint Pablo Tour

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This year we went on a rollercoaster with Mr. West. He has broken barriers, while remaining innovative in both the fashion and music world. While we are a bit apprehensive about where he will go next, right now let’s reflect.

The most creative aspect to the Pablo merch was the custom gothic font that sells for thousands of dollars if you wanted to imitate the look. Granted Kanye created merch that was easily reproduced and ripped off, but real fans want the real deal and they made sure to get it in every color. The color schemes had a vast in-cohesive assortment of reds, greens, and yellows to name a few. Each piece marked with arched typesetting spelling out the lyrics to some of our favorite songs on TLOP. As a smart business man, Kanye travelled with his merch from festival stages to large arenas and everywhere he performed, fans got a chance to buy his merch. Now every bad b*tch in Equinox can workout in these.