List of highest-grossing concert tours

For the most-attended concert tours, see List of most-attended concert tours.
The Eras Tour by Taylor Swift is the highest-grossing tour of all time, as per Pollstar and Forbes estimates.
Coldplay's Music of the Spheres World Tour is the highest-grossing tour ever based on boxscores reported to Billboard

The following is a list of concert tours that have generated the most gross income. The data and rankings come largely from reports by trade publications Billboard and Pollstar. Billboard, which launched the boxscore ranking in 1975 through its spin-off magazine Amusement Business, has featured the ranking in its own magazine since the issue date of October 3, 1981.[1] Pollstar began reporting box office data on November 29, 1981,[2] but it has relatively little information about pre-2000 tours.[3] In the early 21st century, tour revenue skyrocketed as record sales collapsed and musicians began relying on live shows for their income.[4]

The first tours to surpass $100 million in revenue, according to reports, were Michael Jackson's Bad World Tour and Pink Floyd's A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour, which both ran from 1987 to 1989.

In 2023, Taylor Swift's Eras Tour allegedly became the first tour to collect US$1 billion in revenue, based on estimates by Pollstar.[5][6] In October 2024, Forbes estimated the tour's gross at US$1.93 billion from 121 shows, though Swift has yet to officially report the gross.[A] In 2024, Coldplay's Music of the Spheres World Tour became the first to gross over US$1 billion in revenue based on officially reported boxscores.[9][10]

While the touring industry is largely dominated by bands and male soloists of rock music,[11] some of the highest-grossing tours have featured pop stars such as Swift, Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles, Beyoncé, Pink, and Madonna, as well as country singer Garth Brooks. The Rolling Stones set the all-time tour-revenue record three times (1990, 1995, and 2006); their Voodoo Lounge Tour held the record for 11 years (1995–2006), longer than any other record-holder. They are the only act to have the highest-grossing tour of the decade twice, in the 1990s and the 2000s. U2 has mounted the highest-grossing tour of the year at least eight times, more than any other act.

  1. ^ "Box Office Information". Billboard. October 3, 1981. Retrieved August 25, 2023 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Waddell, Ray D.; Barnet, Rich; Berry, Jake (2007). This Business of Concert Promotion and Touring. Billboard Books. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-307-87500-6. Retrieved August 25, 2023 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference femalepollstar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Bloomberg (September 12, 2019). "Why concert tickets cost four times as much as 20 years ago, and why we're happy to pay for them". South China Morning Post. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  5. ^ Gensler, Andy (December 8, 2023). "Taylor Swift Sets All-Time Touring Record With $1 Billion Gross". Pollstar. Archived from the original on December 8, 2023. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  6. ^ Atwal, Sanj (December 12, 2023). "Taylor Swift's Eras Tour breaks record as highest-grossing music tour ever". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on December 12, 2023. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  7. ^ Dellatto, Marisa (October 15, 2023). "The Top-Earning Summer Concert Tours Of 2023". Forbes. Retrieved Oct 15, 2023.
  8. ^ Voytko-Best, Lisette. "The Top-Earning Summer Concert Tours Of 2024". Forbes. Forbes. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  9. ^ "Coldplay Tops July Boxscore Report As Tour Surpasses $1 Billion in Grosses". Billboard. 29 August 2024. Archived from the original on 18 October 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  10. ^ "Zach Bryan Returns to Monthly Boxscore Summit with $93 Million in August". Billboard. 26 September 2024. Archived from the original on 26 September 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  11. ^ Shah, Neil (October 3, 2018). "Hip-Hop Is Huge, but on the Concert Circuit, Rock Is King". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 2, 2021.


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