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January 13, 2010
Pollstar has compiled its annual list of the 50 top grossing tours. Is your favorite act on the list? 2009′s top earner isn’t that big of a surprise, but I found some other stand-outs. My favorite: the Devine Miss M beat out Beyonce! DIVA!
The Pollstar Top 50
Posted on Thursday December 31, 2009 at 04:31 PM
Pollstar has compiled its Top 50 Tours of North America for 2009 and, although there is no surprise as to who came in at No. 1, there were plenty of surprises just the same.
U2 surpassed all other tours by a wide margin, grossing $123 million in North America and selling more than 1.3 million tickets overall. It beat its closest competitor, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, by about $30 million.
With U2 and Bruce charting Nos. 1 and 2, the top five were rounded out by Elton John / Billy Joel, Britney Spears and AC/DC. The Top 10 included the inexhaustibleKenny Chesney, headlining newcomers Jonas Brothers, Dave Matthews Band,Fleetwood Mac and Metallica.
For all of the financial troubles of 2009, the concert business had an up year. The numbers for the Top 50 tours were better, across the board, than for 2008, be it total gross revenue or tickets sold. Last year, Chesney was the only artist to sell more than 1 million tickets. This year, U2, Springsteen, Chesney, Jonas Brothers, DMB and”Walking With Dinosaurs” all topped the million mark.
Newcomers to the list include Lil’ Wayne at No. 26 and Kings of Leon at No. 43.Taylor Swift, who essentially began the year as a support act, wrapped 2009 at No. 36 as country’s newest headline draw.
No Doubt, Blink-182 and Leonard Cohen, which each made splashy announcements that they were returning to the stage, made good on their returns, coming in at Nos. 24, 32 and 44 respectively.
So much for the Great Recession. When it comes to live music, 2009 was worth being around for.
Pollstar Top 50 Tours of North America:
Rank Total Gross* Artist
1 123.0 U2
2 94.5 Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
3 88.0 Elton John / Billy Joel
4 82.5 Britney Spears
5 77.9 AC/DC
6 71.1 Kenny Chesney
7 69.8 Jonas Brothers
8 56.9 Dave Matthews Band
9 54.5 Fleetwood Mac
10 53.4 Metallica
11 47.4 Nickelback
12 46.2 “Walking With Dinosaurs”
13 45.0 Miley Cyrus
14 43.7 Trans-Siberian Orchestra
15 42.8 Eagles
16 42.7 Keith Urban
17 42.6 Celine Dion
18 42.2 Rascal Flatts
19 40.8 Coldplay
20 40.7 Paul McCartney
21 37.2 Phish
22 35.4 Brad Paisley
23 34.6 Jeff Dunham
24 33.9 No Doubt
25 33.2 Cher
26 32.1 Lil’ Wayne
27 30.5 KISS
28 30.1 “American Idols Live”
29 29.7 Toby Keith
30 29.1 Bette Midler
31 28.1 Dane Cook
32 26.7 Blink-182
33 26.4 The Dead
34 26.4 Beyoncé
35 26.0 Il Divo
36 25.5 Taylor Swift
37 24.8 Def Leppard
38 24.2 Cirque du Soleil – “Saltimbanco”
39 23.5 Mötley Crüe
40 22.3 Depeche Mode
41 22.0 George Strait
42 21.9 Eric Clapton / Steve Winwood
43 21.8 Kings Of Leon
44 21.3 Leonard Cohen
45 20.4 Bob Dylan
46 19.7 ”So You Think You Can Dance”
47 19.1 Barry Manilow
48 18.8 Journey
49 18.7 Jimmy Buffett
50 18.5 Luis Miguel
* In US millions
This exclusive Pollstar chart ranks touring artists for all shows worked during the calendar 2009 year. All figures are in U.S. dollars. Average gross and tickets sold is per city except for the Las Vegas residencies for Cher and Bette Midler where the averages are per show.
–Joe Reinartz
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