U2 Tops Rolling Stones, Ed Sheeran as Highest-Grossing Touring Artist of the Decade
By Jem Aswad
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – U2 topped the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift as the top-grossing touring artist of the 2010s, according to data from Pollstar. grossed more than a billion dollars — $1,038,104,132, to be exact — although that number is likely to grow, as the group is currently on its “Joshua Tree 2019” tour in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.
The Stones were a distant second with over $929 million gross, and Sheeran third with more than $922 million. is fourth with over $899 million and Beyonce fifth with $857 million. A full top 10 is printed below; more details are available at Pollstar .
Pollstar’s sister outlet, VenuesNow, published a list of the top-grossing venues for the decade, topped by the O2 Arena in London with nearly 15.6 million tickets told, and followed by New York’s Radio City Music Hall, with 13.7 million.
Touring Artists of the Decade
1 U2 – $1,038,104,132 gross
2 The – $929,196,083 gross
3 – $922,361,663 gross
4 Taylor Swift – $899,627,048 gross
5 Beyoncé – $857,405,819 gross
6 Bon Jovi – $836,661,584 gross
7 Paul McCartney – $813,811,559 gross
8 Coldplay – $731,805,591 gross
9 Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – $729,789,815 gross
10 Roger Waters – $702,231,419 gross
Top-Grossing venues
1 The O2, London – 15,579,691 tickets sold
2 Radio City Music Hall, New York – 13,715,654 tickets sold
3 Auditorio Nacional, Mexico City – 13,257,170 tickets sold
4 Manchester Arena, England – 10,084,262 tickets sold
5 Madison Square Garden, New York – 9,615,706 tickets sold
6 MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. – 8,015,609 tickets sold
7 Foro Sol, Mexico City – 7,258,783 tickets sold
8 Scotiabank Arena, Toronto – 6,490,847 tickets sold
9 Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany – 6,430,861 tickets sold
10 3Arena, Dublin – 6,413,131 tickets sold
For venues ranked No. 4-15 on all six Top Stops of the Decade lists and all tickets sold, visit www.venuesnow.com/venues-of-the-decade
Both Pollstar and VenuesNow are part of parent company Oak View Group’s (OVG) Media & Conferences Division helmed by President Ray Waddell with Andy Gensler serving as Executive Editor of both publications.
“The preceding decade saw the live entertainment industry undergo a remarkable renaissance, emerging from the lows of the ‘great slump’ of 2009-2010 to achieve unprecedented levels of box office success,” said Ray Waddell, president of media & conferences for parent company Oak View Group. “The artists and venues represented here in Pollstar and VenuesNow are a testament to what works in live entertainment, regardless of decade: give the fans what they want.”
Andy Gensler, executive editor of both publications, added, “The decade’s growth, as chronicled by Pollstar Boxoffice and the editorial team, is incredible by every available live metric. Between 2010 and 2019 the live industry grew by double digits including the average gross per show on Top 100 Worldwide Tour Chart jumping a whopping 87%.”
