Looks like Harry Styles is doing pretty good with his solo career.
The One Direction singer announced solo tour dates for his first-ever world tour and tickets sold out in seconds. The tour also set the record for fan-to-ticket signups on the anti-scalper initiative rolled out earlier this year. Styles also went on sale with 10 shows in Europe and six dates in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Japan. With registered U.S. and Canadian buyers able to purchase four tickets each, only a small fraction of fans will be able to see the singer on his tour of intimate venues, which include the Ryman in Nashville, the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and Radio City Music Hall in New York.
Styles is touring in support of his debut self-titled album on Columbia Records, set for release May 12. His latest song, “Sweet Creature,” is now available on iTunes.
Styles is the latest artist to try out Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan platform, which requires fans to sign up in advance to purchase tickets, weeding out accounts created by scalpers, bot operators and resellers looking to flip the tickets for a profit. Asking fans to provide their name and email address in advance, Verified Fan uses a process similar to the two-step verification protocol used by sites like Facebook and Google to prove one’s identity.
Styles’ decision to play smaller, intimate venues meant the ratio of fan signups to available tickets was higher than it’s ever been since Verified Fan rolled out earlier this year. Although Styles could have played much larger venues for his debut solo run, sources close to the artist say Styles chose smaller venues to give his diehard fans a more intimate performance of material from his new album.
Styles kicks off his world tour Sept. 19 at The Masonic in San Francisco, wrapping up Oct. 14 in Phoenix before heading to Paris.