U2 declared Touring Artist of the Decade by grossing over ONE BILLION DOLLARS on the road
As time ticks away on the 2010s, there’s a lot of retrospective material being shared. Pollstar, the bible of the live music/touring industry, has partnered with Venuesnow to declare which artists dominated the decade in terms of touring.
U2 is on top, grossing a staggering US$1.04 BILLION on the road, followed by The Rolling Stones at US$929 million and Ed Sheeran with US$899 million.
Meanwhile, the top live music venue in the world in terms of events and tickets sold is the O2 Arena in London, putting a total of 15.6 million bums in seats over the last ten years.
Here are the top 20 lists in both categories for Touring Artists of the Decade (all figures in USD):
- U2 – $1,038,104,132 gross
- The Rolling Stones – $929,196,083 gross
- Ed Sheeran – $922,361,663 gross
- Taylor Swift – $899,627,048 gross
- Beyoncé – $857,405,819 gross
- Bon Jovi – $836,661,584 gross
- Paul McCartney – $813,811,559 gross
- Coldplay – $731,805,591 gross
- Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – $729,789,815 gross
- Roger Waters – $702,231,419 gross
- Elton John – $675,886,369 gross
- Metallica – $661,907,247 gross
- Guns N’ Roses – $648,112,698 gross
- Eagles – $630,066,670 gross
- One Direction – $628,242,521 gross
- Pink – $626,026,122 gross
- Jay-Z – $611,837,214 gross
- Kenny Chesney – $608,693,967 gross
- Justin Bieber – $554,229,462 gross
- Bruno Mars – $545,585,346 gross
Top Venues of the Decade:
- The O2, London – 15,579,691 tickets sold
- Radio City Music Hall, New York – 13,715,654 tickets sold
- Auditorio Nacional, Mexico City – 13,257,170 tickets sold
- Manchester Arena, England – 10,084,262 tickets sold
- Madison Square Garden, New York – 9,615,706 tickets sold
- MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. – 8,015,609 tickets sold
- Foro Sol, Mexico City – 7,258,783 tickets sold
- Scotiabank Arena, Toronto – 6,490,847 tickets sold
- Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany – 6,430,861 tickets sold
- 3Arena, Dublin – 6,413,131 tickets sold
More on venues here.