Biggest of 2012: Pollstar’s Year End Top 50 Worldwide Concert Tours

Story by Greg Haymes
Photograph by Kirsten Ferguson

The concert industry bible Pollstar has announced its round-up of the biggest grossing concert tours of 2012, and the list makes for some fascinating reading.

Here are a few tidbits that we gleaned from the list:

Only three of the Top 10 acts made tour stops in the Capital Region – Bruce Springsteen, Roger Waters and Cirque du Soleil – all of which played at the Times Union Center. No Top 10 acts played at SPAC.

Three Cirque du Soleil shows – “Michael Jackson: The Immortal,” “Varekai” and “Alegria” – ranked in the Top 20 concerts. And a grand total of eight – count ’em, 8 – different Cirque shows all landed in the Top 50.

Not So Road Weary: Paul McCartney played only 16 shows, but he still managed to rake in $56.9 million, ranking him #11. And Barbra Streisand played a dozen shows, but pulled in $40.7 million (#22). But the Rolling Stones (#33) scored the biggest average gross, hauling in $35.5 million in just five concerts.

Of course, the Stones also had the highest average ticket price, too – $529.51.

Half of the Top 10 concerts had an average ticket price in excess of $100.

The highest ranked hip-hop act was Drake (#19), who pulled in $43.4 million.

The highest ranked country act was the Kenny Chesney & Tim McGraw double-bill (#7), which raked in $96.5 million.

Biggest surprise: Andre Rieu – the Waltz King – hauled in $55.6, landing him at #12, in between Paul McCartney and Jennifer Lopez.

Here’s Pollstar’s list of the Top 10 highest grossing tours with the gross (in millions):

1. Madonna – $296.1
2. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band – $210.2
3. Roger Waters – $186.4
4. Coldplay – $171.3
5. Lady Gaga – $161.4
6. Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson: The Immortal – $140.2
7. Kenny Chesney & Tim McGraw – $96.5
8. Metallica – $86.1
9. Elton John – $69.9
10. Red Hot Chili Peppers – $57.8

Go here for Pollstar’s complete list of the Top 50 tours…