List of highest-grossing concert tours

The following is a list of concert tours that have generated the most gross income, largely from ticket sales. The rankings are based largely on 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. Pollstar began reporting box office data on November 29, 1981, but it has relatively little data about tours before 2000.

Michael Jackson's Bad tour and Pink Floyd's A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour, which both ran from 1987 to 1989, were the first tours to have reportedly surpassed $100 million in revenue. As record sales collapsed in the early 21st century, musicians began relying on live music shows for their income, causing the touring industry to skyrocket. In 2023, Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour became the first tour to surpass $1 billion in revenue. The tour reportedly grossed $1.039 billion from 60 shows in one calendar year, surpassing Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road which earned $939.1 million from 330 shows from 2018 to 2023.

While the touring industry is largely dominated by bands and male soloists of rock music, 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.

Highest-grossing tours

Timeline of the highest-grossing tour

Highest-grossing tours by decade

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Highest-grossing tours by year

This list represents the top-grossing tour of each year according to either Pollstar or Billboard Boxscore (formerly Amusement Business). The two publications may differ on their annual figures due to different total of dates reported or different year-end tracking period. For example, Pollstar listed Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour as the top tour of 2008 with $281.6 million, but Billboard ranked it third on their year-end chart whose tracking period ended on November 11, 2008, thus excluding 20 shows by Madonna. In 2019, Billboard listed Ed Sheeran's ÷ Tour as the top tour of the year ($223.7 million), instead of Pink's Beautiful Trauma World Tour ($215.2 million) as reported by Pollstar. However, the Billboard's figure included Sheeran's gross from November 2018 shows, therefore the Pollstar's figure is closer to accurate for the 2019 calendar year.

See also

• List of highest-grossing concert tours by women
• List of highest-grossing concert tours by Latin artists
• List of most-attended concert tours
• List of most-attended concerts
• List of highest-grossing concert residencies
• List of highest-grossing live music artists

Notes

References