Chart reveals bands that have made more than $1 billion on tour
The Rolling Stones, U2, Metallica, Eagles and Bon Jovi are amongst bands to have grossed more than $1 billion each
For the past four decades Pollstar has been one of the most important trade publications for the concert and live music industry.
As part of their 40th anniversary celebrations, the publication has compiled special charts looking at concert and touring statistics of what they dub ‘the Pollstar Era’, from 1980 to the present.
The Top Touring Artists of the Pollstar Era is comprised of cumulative totals for each artist and compiled from all the thousands of box-office reports Pollstar have received since the early 1980s.
It perhaps comes as no surprise that two stadium rock monsters hold sway at the top.
The Rolling Stones have the top grossing concert history at a massive $2.2bn while U2 come in second also break the $2 billion mark with $2.1bn. Remarkably, U2’s first show recorded in the archives was a performance for just 1,440 patrons at Warfield Theatre in San Francisco on Nov. 29, 1981.
In third place Elton John brought in considerably less, but $1.74bn is hardly chicken feed. Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Eagles, Metallica, and Paul McCartney were also among those breaking the $1bn mark, alongsides the likes of Madonna, Beyoncé, and Coldplay.
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Looking at other monsters of rock, Roger Waters has grossed $841m, Guns N’ Roses just over $751m, AC/DC $668m, Aerosmith $603m, KISS $532m and Def Leppard $514m.
Iron Maiden have a not inconsiderable gross of $475m since 1980 while the Foo Fighters brought in $397m.
Static festivals were not counted but touring ones were and the Vans Warped Tour was the 89th biggest grossing tourer, bringing in more than $296m.
When it comes to tickets sold, U2 top the chart, with 26,178,043. The Dave Matthews Band slips in at Number 2 with 23,279,056 tickets sold before the Stones pop up again with 22,137,799.
Metallica are in 6th spot (19.5m), AC/DC in 22nd (11.5m), while Def Leppard were 23rd (11.3m), KISS in 30th (9.8m) and Iron Maiden 35th (9.2m).
Watch the Stones' first gig without Charlie Watts:
The All-Time Boxoffice Chart looks at the top individual live engagements that occurred during the past 40 years in a single venue.
Grabbing the spotlight on the All-Time Boxoffice chart is Take That, who smashed all-time gross and attendance records with an eight-show concert run at London’s Wembley Stadium in 2011.
The total number of tickets sold reached 623,737 – a record attendance that still stands after 11 years and lands the group at No. 1 on the All-Time chart. With a $62.8 million gross, it also holds the record as the highest gross for a single headliner at a multiple-show engagement.
The top 10 box office gross touring artists since 1980:
1) The Rolling Stones $2,165,280,638
2) U2 $2,127,771,684
3) Elton John $1,748,183,036
4) Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band $1,527,407,373
5) Madonna $1,389,746,222
6) Celine Dion $1,354,352,578
7) Bon Jovi $1,329,891,400
8) Eagles $1,314,544,780
9) Metallica $1,219,599,179
10) Paul McCartney $1,193,812,645
See the full range of charts on Pollstar's website, here.