Some of the Highest-Grossing Concert Tours of All Time
Concert tours are a boon to both artists and their fans. For the artists, this is the opportunity to showcase their talent in front of millions of people while also earning a lot of money and making investments along the way. For audiences, this is the moment when their hard-earned investment money has resulted in the opportunity to see their favorite icon perform live, which is a dream come true for many. At the end of the day, everyone feels energized and happy after a concert tour, with audiences satisfied and artists exhausted but accomplished.
Concert tours have become much more elaborate in recent years than in the past. This, predictably, results in higher ticket prices to compensate for the high cost. This translates to ever-increasing earnings from each concert tour. In the not-too-distant future, we will be accustomed to seeing concert tours that generate hundreds of millions of dollars after their tours conclude. In this article, we will list, in ascending order, some of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time.
Roger Waters’ The Wall Live Tour – $460 Million
Roger Waters has had nothing but success since Pink Floyd’s disbandment many years ago. His The Wall Live Tour, which ran from 2010 to 2013, was perhaps his most successful to date. Waters performed in cities all over the world during the tour. In addition, Pink Floyd’s iconic album The Wall was performed in its entirety, along with Water’s former Pink Floyd bandmates.
When the tour was over, it had earned $460 million, which is enough investment money to invest in infrastructure. It was the largest global tour ever undertaken by a solo artist at the time. Other tours, including one on this list, have surpassed it.
Coldplay’s A Head Full of Dreams Tour – $566.6 Million
When Coldplay launched their A Head Full of Dreams Tour in March 2016, they went all in. The tour was held in support of their seventh studio album of the same name. It was filled with confetti cannons, laser shows, and excellent pyrotechnics.
It grossed $566.6 million after it ended, representing a massive return on the band’s investment. It went on to become the band’s highest-grossing tour of all time, as well as the third highest-grossing world concert tour of all time.
The Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang Tour – $558 Million
The Rolling Stones are without a doubt one of the most iconic bands of all time, with many artists crediting them as an inspiration and catalyst for rock music. Of course, any world tour they embark on will draw crowds in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Their A Bigger Bang Tour, which ran from 2005 to 2007, was one of their best.
By the end of the tour, it had been crowned the highest-grossing tour of all time, with $558 million. While most artists concentrated on their tour, the band decided to hold a surprise concert in Toronto in August 2005, with concertgoers paying $10 to attend.
Guns N’ Roses’ Not In This Lifetime Tour – $629.9 Million
Guns N’ Roses’ Not In This Lifetime Tour has been the band’s most successful tour to date. The tour, which featured a reunion of band members Axl Rose, Slash, and Duff McKagan, began in April of 2016 and lasted three years until November of 2019.
In addition to their fans gushing at the reunion and stellar performances, the concert tour raked in $629.9 million and sold 5.4 million tickets. It was also the first time the three men had performed on stage together since 1993.
U2’s U2 360 Degrees Tour – $736.4 Million
U2 is undeniably a juggernaut, having been one of the most successful bands of all time. During that time, they made their album Song of Innocence available for free on iTunes, which drew criticism but gave them clout. Another was their 360 Degrees Tour, which ran from June 2009 to July 2011.
The tour became famous for the stage the band played on, which was a massive investment they made, in addition to becoming the second highest-grossing concert tour of all time with $736.4 million in sales. The Claw is regarded as the single largest stage ever built, providing the band with a 360-degree view while allowing concertgoers to enjoy any U2 performance from any angle. Muse and Lenny Kravitz are among the guest performers, in addition to the band.
Ed Sheeran’s Divide Tour – $775.6 Million
Ed Sheeran’s Divide Tour, which concluded in August 2019 a year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and halted all concert tours, astounded everyone. The tour began in March 2017 in Italy, but sales picked up a year earlier. Given the tour’s name, it was intended to complement Sheeran’s album, which was his most successful to date.
After the tour concluded, it generated approximately $775.6 million in sales, making it the highest-grossing concert tour of all time and enough to fund a mid-sized city’s entire investment plan. Such figures are impressive given how the singer rose from being a talented street singer and guitarist to becoming a global sensation.