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Top-selling Music Tours in 2016

How the music bands and single performers were grossing in 2016

Poor Madonna! Her 2016 tour machine only earned $82.2 million at the mid-point in 2016, according to the publication that focuses on music tours.  They said only perennial favorites Billy Joel and Black Sabbath grossed less than the pop diva.

As evidenced in the graph compiled by Pollstar, the next above Madonna was country artist Luke Bryan, followed up the earnings line by R & B’s Drake.  The Rolling Stones beat out Celine Dion, who was followed by Garth Brooks, who just re-started touring in 2014.   

Paul McCartney, Justin Bieber and Adele followed Brooks up the line, with Guns ‘N’ Roses coming next. 

So far in 2016, the next in earnings showed Coldplay at $241 million, trailing Beyoncé who grossed $256.4 million.  Beyoncé’s global World Formation Tour alone earned $137 million.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band top the rankings thanks to The River Street Tour and comes in at number one in the rankings with $268.3 million overall.  The Boss and his band grossed nearly $171 million in ticket sales from The River Tour.  Some say The River Tour is one of the biggest of The Boss’ career. 

Speaking of consistent box office draws, not-so-poor Madonna, and The Rolling Stones, show up time after time.  Madonna’s average ticket price was by far the highest at $216, the only one of all the acts exceeding the $200 amount.  The Rolling Stones only had to play 13 concerts to gross $90.3 million, however.  The Stones tend to attract very large groups of fans which accounts for some of the concert-to-dollars ratio.

The acts which draw the biggest crowds and gross the highest amounts are usually the same.  Only Springsteen, Beyoncé, and Coldplay so far sold over one million tickets in 2016.  Other groups could meet or exceed that amount. 

Three of the top ten highest grossing concerts were played by The Rolling Stones, which mostly were in South or Central America. 

As for other concerts, again, in descending order, Adele played the O2 in London taking the fifth spot.  The Stones, continuing their tour in Argentina, came in both third and fourth in revenues.  The not-previously-mentioned Stone Roses, from Britain, took second.  Coldplay’s concerts at London’s Wembley Stadium ranked first, bringing in a gross of $29.7 million.  They sold out all their shows with the gross of 304,000 tickets, a record.  The British pop-rock group sold out four shows in the massive stadium, moving almost 304,000 tickets in the process.  Behind them comes another English favorite, the Stone Roses, who sold out just as many shows as Coldplay, though at an arena in Manchester.  Their four-concert stay earned just under $20 million, putting them well behind the number one position. Bruce Springsteen in Dublin and The Rolling Stones’ trio of concerts in Argentina occupy spots three and four, respectively, while Adele’s incredible eight shows at the famous O2 in London round out the top five.


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