The top touring act of the millennium is…NOT Taylor Swift? Yep.
Pollstar is the bible of the live music industry. It has just published a ranking of the top touring acts of the 2000s so far. I almost skipped the email because I was sure it would be another article about Taylor Swift.
Boy, was I wrong. By Pollstar’s measure, she’s in fifth–fifith–place when it comes to number of tickets sold. Yes, her Era tours had the highest gross, but when it came to appearing in concert more than anyone else, she didn’t even make the podium.
See for yourself.
Yes, Coldplay is number one, selling just shy of 25 million tickets. Coldplay probably would have reached number one in ticket grosses if not for one thing. They’ve been touring since the latest 90s and really broke through in the early 2000s, which is longer than Tay-Tay’s been at it. Digging deeper, we run into the issue of the price of a concert tickets.
As Pollstar says, “In 2001 the average ticket price for all events reported that year was $36.68; in 2025 it rose to $90.27, a 146% increase,”
For the full story and the list of the top 25 touring acts of the century/millennium, go here.
