Biggest Grossing Tours Of All Time

[STING2]

Here are the top 10 tours worldwide regardless of the years the tour may fall in.



1. Rolling Stones "A Bigger Bang Tour" 2005-2006 Should be the highest Grossing tour of all time by the time it finishes in August 2006. Projected Gross is slightly above $400 million.

2. U2 "Vertigo Tour" 2005-2006 Prior to the postponement of the tour, the GROSS was $333,206,884. 10 shows remain, all in stadiums and should push the final GROSS to around $380 million dollars.

3. Rolling Stones "Bridges To Babylon/No Security Tour" 1997/1998/1999 $339 million GROSS.

4. Rolling Stones "Voodoo Lounge Tour " 1994-1995 $319 million GROSS.

5. Rolling Stones "Licks Tour" 2002-2003 $300 million GROSS.


At #6 is likely Bruce Springsteens "Rising Tour" which did about $157.3 million in the USA, and probably another $75 million outside of North America for a total of around $230 million worldwide. This could be a little higher or lower, and would require a look up of the European Boxscores from 2003 to get a confirmed total.

At #7 is likely the Eagles "Hell Freezes Over Tour" which started in 1994 and went through the end of 1996. The tour Grossed $140 million dollars just from its North American dates in 1994 and 1995. It then did another $20 million in North America in 1996. Shows outside North America were smaller in number, but with a total North American Gross of $160 million from nearly 3 years of touring, its likely that the global total is around $200 million.

The next 3 tours are close in GROSS, but I only have exact figures for one, which is POPMART, so I'll put it first.

8. U2 "POPMART" 1997-1998 $171,677,024 GROSS

9. Rolling Stones "Steel Wheels Tour" 1989-1990 close to $170 million. There are no precise figures for this tours dates OUTSIDE North America since this tour is prior to 1995 when Amusement Business started to track such data. Because of that, this figure will always be an estimate of some sort.

10. Pink Floyd "Division Bell Tour" 1994 close to $170 million. This tour is in the same boat as the Steel Wheels tour because its international figures took place prior to 1995 and were not recorded by Amusement Business.


The farwell tours by Tina Tour and Cher were both large extensive multi-year tours that might be competitive enough for the top 10. I don't have the international figures, but in North America, Tina Turner did $80.2 million. She likely did as much if not more outside North America. Cher's 2002-2003 North American total was a massive $141.8 million. Also, Paul McCartney's recent tour from 2002 could be a contender but I'm not sure how many shows he played outside of North America if any.





Here is the top 10 North American Tours from Pollstar which only uses the highest single calander year gross total, which cuts some tours totals off.

1. The Rolling Stones "A Bigger Bang Tour" $162 million 2005
2. U2 "Vertigo Tour" $138.9 million 2005
3. The Rolling Stones "Voodoo Loung Tour" $121.2 million 1994
4. Bruce Springsteen "The Rising Tour" $115.9 million 2003
5. U2 "Elevation Tour" $109.7 million 2001
6. Pink Floyd "Division Bell tour" $103.5 million 1994
7. Paul McCartney $103.3 million 2002
8. The Rolling Stones "Steel Wheels Tour" $98 million 1989
9. The Rolling Stones "Bridges To Babylon Tour" $89.3 million 1997
10. The Rolling Stones "Licks Tour" $87.9 million 2002



Here are the 15 largest Grossing tours ever North America. This list is based on the entire tour, and does not cut off the figures because parts of tours fall in different years. I combined the Billy Joel/Elton John tours of 2001, 2002, and 2003 into one tour because I was uncertain if they were seperate individual tours or simply one long one.



1. The Rolling Stones "A Bigger Bang Tour" $200 million + (exact total figure not reported yet) 2005-2006

2. The Rolling Stones "Bridges To Babylon/No Security Tour" $185 million 1997-1999

3. Billy Joel/Elton John $173.6 million 2001/2002/2003

4. Eagles "Hell Freezes Over Tour" $162.7 million 1994-1996

5. Bruce Springsteen "The Rising Tour" $158.4 million 2002-2003

6. Cher " Farewell Tour" $141.8 million 2002-2003

7. U2 "Vertigo Tour" $138.9 million 2005

8. The Rolling Stones "Licks Tour" $126.4 million 2002-2003

9. The Rolling Stones "Voodoo Lounge Tour" $121.2 million 1994

10. N'Sync "Celebrity Tour" $120 million 2001-2002

11. U2 "Elevation" $109.7 million 2001

12. Bruce Springsteen $107.3 million 1999-2000

13. Eagles $104.7 million 2002-2003

14. Pink Floyd "Division Bell Tour" $103.5 million 1994

15. Paul McCartney $103.3 million 2002



While U2's Vertigo Tour ranks at only #7 in this list, it should be remembered that nearly every show was soldout in minutes or hours and dozens of shows could have been added to the tour in North America because the demand was there. That would have substantially increased the GROSS total. Most of the tours ahead of it met demand and in fact did not sellout every show.




Remember that when dealing with the highest Grossing Tour, recent tours will usually place higher, simply because of increasing ticket prices. The highest grossing tour in history is not necessarily the highest attended tour in history. The highest attended global tour in history where exact figures are available for both its North American and international shows is the Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge tour, with a total attendance for 6.4 million.

 

[STING2]

The Eagles total gross for the 1990s worldwide is $197 million dollars. This figure comes from Amusement Business. The Eagles toured from 1994-1996 on their "Hell Freezes Over Tour". There may have been a few shows outside of that time frame, but their total gross for the 1990s is $197 million.

This means there are only 6 tours to make it past the $200 million dollar mark, putting the Vertigo tour way ahead of what most artist have ever done on the road.

 

[roy keane]

No mention of any GNR tour?

 

[vaz02]

cheers for this sting2 , great help

 

[STING2]

No mention of any GNR tour?

GNR never had a tour that GROSSED enough to make either one of those list. GNR's last tour was 1991-1993. Average ticket price on this tour was only about $23 dollars. Nearly all the shows in North America were in Arena's. The co-headlining tour with Metallica would not count as its not simply a GNR tour, and many people went to see those concerts who were not actually GNR fans but Metallica fans. But notice that U2's ZOO TV tour is not included either. Although it had a higher ticket price and better attendance, $30 dollar ticket price and massive attendence levels, it does not add up to a total GROSS that would make anyone of the list.

Because ticket prices have been higher across the board in recent years, it means these list are skewed towards more recent tours since the rankings are based on total GROSS and not Attendance.

 

[edge3]

Thx Sting. V.interesting. 1 thing though - what about :

Madonna - Re-Invention Tour (2002-03) : $124.5M (I think) - 56 concerts drew in more than $2M per night (up to $300M per seat)

 

[Danospano]

Let's rank tours by ticket sales. Dollar amounts don't reflect the popularity of a given tour, because as we all should know the Rolling Stones make the same amount from one ticket as U2 would make from 10.

 

[vaz02]

how about attendances for tours..... would voodoo lounge be top ?

 

[STING2]

Thx Sting. V.interesting. 1 thing though - what about :

Madonna - Re-Invention Tour (2002-03) : $124.5M (I think) - 56 concerts drew in more than $2M per night (up to $300M per seat)

That was for the entire planet, not just North America. On the Global chart, $124.5 million is well below the top 10. Only about half of the GROSS total is for North America which is about $60 million to $70 million, and there for, not enough for the North American list either.

 

[STING2]

Let's rank tours by ticket sales. Dollar amounts don't reflect the popularity of a given tour, because as we all should know the Rolling Stones make the same amount from one ticket as U2 would make from 10.

Since tickets are priced based on demand, looking at the money made from the tour is an excellent way to rank popularity. Otherwise, it would be rather easy for some artist to charge just $5 dollars a ticket and get unusually large numbers of people to their shows.

The average ticket price of the Rolling Stones latest tour is $133 dollars in North America. The average ticket price of U2's latest tour in North America was $97 dollars. So the Stones were charging roughly 37% more for tickets than U2, not 10 times the amount.

Concert grosses are the best way to compare the popularity of current tours. But, when comparing tours from previous era's or just as recently as 10 years ago, one should use attendance figures instead of gross figures. Changes in what society was willing to pay for concert tickets has dramatically changed over the years, well ahead of what normal inflation has actually been.

Because the industry is only comparing more recent figures to each other, they use the gross figures. Because of that fact, most of the information available for concert tours is in the form of gross figures rather than attendance figures.

The comparisons using attendance figures should only be done when comparing tours from different era's say about 10 or more years apart. Otherwise, the gross figures are the most accurate way to compare tours that have happened more recently or in the same year.

 

[STING2]

how about attendances for tours..... would voodoo lounge be top ?

Voodoo Lounge is the highest figure I have ever seen for a single tour with a little over 6.4 million worldwide for the tour. I'll have to go dig up the exact number if you need that.

 

[Danospano]

I disagree with Sting2...but I understand your point.

That being said, I think that the Rolling Stones would out-do U2 if both bands did a free tour across the globe. Meaning, more people would show up on average for Mick and Keith.

 

[vaz02]

I disagree with Sting2...but I understand your point.

That being said, I think that the Rolling Stones would out-do U2 if both bands did a free tour across the globe. Meaning, more people would show up on average for Mick and Keith.

i disagree totally , i think u2 would ease stones out of europe and auz, US be too close to call and im not sure about asia.

The stones seem also forgotten in europe to be fair.

 

[STING2]

I disagree with Sting2...but I understand your point.

That being said, I think that the Rolling Stones would out-do U2 if both bands did a free tour across the globe. Meaning, more people would show up on average for Mick and Keith.

Its hard to say worldwide, but in Europe, U2 soldout all of their stadium shows within hours of going on sale. Many Rolling Stone Stadium shows for this summer still have tickets available after being on sale for months.

 

[Mirrorball06]

Since tickets are priced based on demand, looking at the money made from the tour is an excellent way to rank popularity. Otherwise, it would be rather easy for some artist to charge just $5 dollars a ticket and get unusually large numbers of people to their shows.

The average ticket price of the Rolling Stones latest tour is $133 dollars in North America. The average ticket price of U2's latest tour in North America was $97 dollars. So the Stones were charging roughly 37% more for tickets than U2, not 10 times the amount.

Concert grosses are the best way to compare the popularity of current tours. But, when comparing tours from previous era's or just as recently as 10 years ago, one should use attendance figures instead of gross figures. Changes in what society was willing to pay for concert tickets has dramatically changed over the years, well ahead of what normal inflation has actually been.

Because the industry is only comparing more recent figures to each other, they use the gross figures. Because of that fact, most of the information available for concert tours is in the form of gross figures rather than attendance figures.

The comparisons using attendance figures should only be done when comparing tours from different era's say about 10 or more years apart. Otherwise, the gross figures are the most accurate way to compare tours that have happened more recently or in the same year.

But I think it's a lot easier to compare the total American grosses because total worldwide grosses are first counted in 1995 as I read in this forum.

For instance, there are only American gross numbers for The Joshua Tree Tour and ZOO TV and not accurate worldwide gross numbers.

So, based on worldwide gross figures it's difficult to compare the joshua tree and Zoo TV with Popmart, Elevation and Vertigo.

 

[STING2]

But I think it's a lot easier to compare the total American grosses because total worldwide grosses are first counted in 1995 as I read in this forum.

For instance, there are only American gross numbers for The Joshua Tree Tour and ZOO TV and not accurate worldwide gross numbers.

So, based on worldwide gross figures it's difficult to compare the joshua tree and Zoo TV with Popmart, Elevation and Vertigo.

Well, I think in comparing those tours it would be best to use the attendance figures, even when comparing just the North American tours. For reasons of inflation and what society is willing to pay for concert tickets can change dramatically over 10 year period. The Joshua Tree North American tour in 1987 was obviously much more successful than the POPMART tour of 1997, but the GROSS figures do not reflect that because of normal inflation as well as ticket price inflation.

 

[alexvox]

Sting2, have you got figures on the Bigger Bang Tour ?

And how to find details on other tours like Zoo TV or Popmart ?

 

[STING2]

Sting2, have you got figures on the Bigger Bang Tour ?

And how to find details on other tours like Zoo TV or Popmart ?

The total figures for the entire A Bigger Bang Tour just came in:

A BIGGER BANG TOUR
GROSS: $440,982,715.5
ATTENDANCE: 3,623,450
SHOWS: 113


Let me know if you need the more specific North American figure.


POPMART TOUR
GROSS: $171,677,024
ATTENDANCE: 3,935,936
SHOWS: 93


The ZOO TV tour took place prior to Amusement Business reporting concert statistics outside North America. There for, the following figures are based on estimates of attendance at those shows outside North America times the average ticket price of the tour and added to the results for North America.

ZOO TV TOUR
GROSS: $162,000,000
ATTENDANCE: 5,400,000
SHOWS: 157

 

[alexvox]

Than you STING2 !
We've got all Popmart figures, but who could provide data on ZooTV/Zooropa Tour?

I'm looking for Paris / Hippodrome de Vincennes (26th June, 1993) attendance ...

 

[STING2]

Than you STING2 !
We've got all Popmart figures, but who could provide data on ZooTV/Zooropa Tour?

I'm looking for Paris / Hippodrome de Vincennes (26th June, 1993) attendance ...

To the best of my knowledge, prior to 1995, Amusement Business only provided figures for concerts in North America and not anywhere else. Because of this, only estimates can be obtained for concerts that took place outside North America prior to 1995. The book, U2 LIVE: A Concert Documentary by Pimm Jal De La Parra has all of these estimates as well as the precise attendance figures for concerts taking place in North America.

We've never done up a full summary of all the shows for ZOO TV or the earlier tours in here and perhaps we should even though there is only precise information for North America and the rest of the shows are estimates.

In any event, the show that you asked for is reported in the U2 LIVE book as having the following estimated attendance:

75,000(sellout)

The book provides nearly all setlist for every show U2 has ever played as well as a brief summary of each show:

Interestingly on the subject of attendance, the summary for the show you requested says the following:


"Since the Parc des Princes stadium is not available , the inferior Hippodrome is booked. Initial plans to limit the capacity to 40,000 and play two nights fail to materialise. As a result, the field is over-crowded with heavy pushing at the front and hundreds of people fainting in the heat"

 

[alexvox]

Thank you!

It was a great show. I was 15 years old and it was my first concert

 

[STING2]

Thank you!

It was a great show. I was 15 years old and it was my first concert

Thats cool! Thanks again for all the information you have provided for us. Can you get any statistics for the 2001 Elevation tour? Not all of the individual show statistics were posted for this tour either. I can come up with the shows that were missing later, when I have some more time.

 

[STING2]

Here are the top 10 tours worldwide regardless of the years the tour may fall in.



1. Rolling Stones "A Bigger Bang Tour" 2005-2006 $440,982,715.5

2. U2 "Vertigo Tour" 2005-2006 $389,047,636

3. Rolling Stones "Bridges To Babylon/No Security Tour" 1997/1998/1999 $339 million GROSS.

4. Rolling Stones "Voodoo Lounge Tour " 1994-1995 $319 million GROSS.

5. Rolling Stones "Licks Tour" 2002-2003 $300 million GROSS.


At #6 is likely Bruce Springsteens "Rising Tour" which did $158.4 million in the USA, and probably another $75 million outside of North America for a total of around $230 million worldwide. This could be a little higher or lower, and would require a look up of the European Boxscores from 2003 to get a confirmed total.

At #7 is likely the Eagles "Hell Freezes Over Tour" which started in 1994 and went through the end of 1996. The tour Grossed $140 million dollars just from its North American dates in 1994 and 1995. It then did another $20 million in North America in 1996. Shows outside North America were smaller in number, but with a total North American Gross of $160 million from nearly 3 years of touring, its likely that the global total is around $200 million.

8. Madonna "Confessions Tour" $197,754,447

The next 3 tours are close in GROSS, but I only have exact figures for one, which is POPMART, so I'll put it first.

9. U2 "POPMART" 1997-1998 $171,677,024 GROSS

10. Rolling Stones "Steel Wheels Tour" 1989-1990 close to $170 million. There are no precise figures for this tours dates OUTSIDE North America since this tour is prior to 1995 when Amusement Business started to track such data. Because of that, this figure will always be an estimate of some sort.

11. Pink Floyd "Division Bell Tour" 1994 close to $170 million. This tour is in the same boat as the Steel Wheels tour because its international figures took place prior to 1995 and were not recorded by Amusement Business.


The farwell tours by Tina Tour and Cher were both large extensive multi-year tours that might be competitive enough for the top 10. I don't have the international figures, but in North America, Tina Turner did $80.2 million. She likely did as much if not more outside North America. Cher's 2002-2003 North American total was a massive $141.8 million. Also, Paul McCartney's recent tour from 2002 could be a contender but I'm not sure how many shows he played outside of North America if any.





Here is the top 12 North American Tours from Pollstar which only uses the highest single calander year gross total, which cuts some tours totals off.

1. The Rolling Stones "A Bigger Bang Tour" $162 million 2005
2. U2 "Vertigo Tour" $138.9 million 2005
3. The Rolling Stones "A Bigger Bang Tour" $138.5 million 2006
4. The Rolling Stones "Voodoo Loung Tour" $121.2 million 1994
5. Bruce Springsteen "The Rising Tour" $115.9 million 2003
6. U2 "Elevation Tour" $109.7 million 2001
7. Pink Floyd "Division Bell tour" $103.5 million 1994
8. Paul McCartney $103.3 million 2002
9. The Rolling Stones "Steel Wheels Tour" $98 million 1989
10. The Rolling Stones "Bridges To Babylon Tour" $89.3 million 1997
11. Madonna "Confessions Tour" $88,842,663
12. The Rolling Stones "Licks Tour" $87.9 million 2002



Here are the 15 largest Grossing tours ever North America. This list is based on the entire tour, and does not cut off the figures because parts of tours fall in different years. I combined the Billy Joel/Elton John tours of 2001, 2002, and 2003 into one tour because I was uncertain if they were seperate individual tours or simply one long one.



1. The Rolling Stones "A Bigger Bang Tour" 2005-2006 $300,529,651.5

2. The Rolling Stones "Bridges To Babylon/No Security Tour" $185 million 1997-1999

3. Billy Joel/Elton John $173.6 million 2001/2002/2003

4. Eagles "Hell Freezes Over Tour" $162.7 million 1994-1996

5. Bruce Springsteen "The Rising Tour" $158.4 million 2002-2003

6. U2 "Vertigo Tour" $158,111,235 2005-2006

7. Cher " Farewell Tour" $141.8 million 2002-2003

8. The Rolling Stones "Licks Tour" $126.4 million 2002-2003

9. The Rolling Stones "Voodoo Lounge Tour" $121.2 million 1994

10. N'Sync "Celebrity Tour" $120 million 2001-2002

11. U2 "Elevation" $109.7 million 2001

12. Bruce Springsteen $107.3 million 1999-2000

13. Eagles $104.7 million 2002-2003

14. Pink Floyd "Division Bell Tour" $103.5 million 1994

15. Paul McCartney $103.3 million 2002



While U2's Vertigo Tour ranks at only #6 in this list, it should be remembered that nearly every show was soldout in minutes or hours and dozens of shows could have been added to the tour in North America because the demand was there. That would have substantially increased the GROSS total. Most of the tours ahead of it met demand and in fact did not sellout every show.




Remember that when dealing with the highest Grossing Tour, recent tours will usually place higher, simply because of increasing ticket prices. The highest grossing tour in history is not necessarily the highest attended tour in history. The highest attended global tour in history where exact figures are available for both its North American and international shows is the Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge tour, with a total attendance for 6.4 million.

 

[vaz02]

I thought guns n roses for your illusion tour or woteva was the highest attended tour of all time with around 7 mill.

 

[STING2]

I thought guns n roses for your illusion tour or woteva was the highest attended tour of all time with around 7 mill.

I have seen that reported figure, but I have never seen any boxscore data to prove it. The Rolling Stone figure though, is backed up by the boxscore results from Amusement business. GNR did a very long tour, but they played almost all Arena's in the United States, plus the tour with Metallica that was in stadiums can't be considered a GNR tour since it was co-headlining with a sizable number of fans just there to see Metallica.

Part of the problem is that Amusement Business did not start to report Boxscore results from outside North America until 1995. The GNR tour started in 1991 and ended in July 1993.

 

[vaz02]

Alright cheers for that, always wondered why GnR were neevr regonised for the achievement.

I suppose the tickets would of been around $5 too.

 

[Mirrorball06]

One question,

Amusement Business did not report the Boxscore results outside America until 1995. But the attendance figures outside America, are they also reported after 1995?

 

[STING2]

One question,

Amusement Business did not report the Boxscore results outside America until 1995. But the attendance figures outside America, are they also reported after 1995?

Amusement Business did not start to report gross and attendance figures from outside North America, prior to 1995.

 

[gman]

Let us not forget that biggest grossing doesnt nescescarily mean most attened! Stones gigs are well excessive ticket prices!!

 

[U2FanPeter]

How does the Michael Cohl promoted Streisand 2006 US tour fit in with the other North American grosses?