4 More of the Richest Concerts in History

If you have ever winced at the price of a ticket to go see your favourite band (and rejoiced when you got to see an underground favorite at a local pub for peanuts!), you might be interested to know exactly how much even the popular artists make per show. We're looking at the figures for some of the highest grossing concert tours in history ... when you read those numbers, remember just how many dollars had to go to trucks,, employees, gasoline costs and venue hire before you get too jealous!

The Rolling Stones Bridges to Babylon and No Security Tour 1997-1999

When you adjust the actual gross for these concerts to 2010 levels, the Rolling Stones actually take up the top 2 spots for highest grossing concerts ever. I can imagine Mick Jagger's head inflating as we speak! The 2010 adjusted gross for the tour was $450 million, and the boys got an average of 39,000 attendees per show, a couple of thousand less than Madonna's impressive 41,000 per show.

U2 360 Degrees Tour 2009-2010

We're actually going to skip the sixth and eight highest grossing concert tours of all time .. because they both belong to the Rolling Stones! We love you Mick ... but there are other artists to celebrate. In fact, this U2 tour is notable for its very high gross rate per concert - it wasn't only that the concert tickets were extra-expensive,, but they played to an average of 69,000 people per night, grossing an average of 7.1 million per show. That'll buy you a lot of Guiness...

Celine Dion Taking Chances Tour 2008-2009

It seems chick pop was the flavour of the year in 2008 and 2009, with both Madonna and Celine Dion making it onto the top selling list. Celine Dion did quite a few shows for her spot as the 9^th highest grossing tour of all time, playing in 132 cities to an average of 17,000 people at a time, for an average take of $2.1 million per show.

Cher Living Proof - The Farewell Tour 2002-2005

It seems that Cher, unlike some other artists, was serious when she decided to have one last final tour ... because she certainly made it a long and comprehensive one! Cher had the lowest per concert gross of any of the top ten artists, making $800,000 per show. She did 325 shows over 3 years, playing to an average of 6,000 people at a time. Ticket brokers pushed these as excellent value tickets for a popular artist.

4 of the Richest Concerts in History

Everybody that has ever been to a concert in their life has wondered at some point exactly how much money the band, the promoters and the venue are making. You mentally recall your own concert ticket cost, look around at how many hundreds of people are standing and sitting all around you, think about how many shows the band has planned across the state and the country ... it all seems to mount up pretty fast! While we can’t really know how much profit the businesses involved make after deducting all of their expenses, we DO know exactly how much money was raked in at some of the richest concerts in history! Here are 4 of the highest grossing performances ever. Note that figures have been adjusted to 2010 levels using inflation figures, to give you a better idea of exactly how much money each made.

Rolling Stones A Bigger Bang Tour 2005-2007

Despite growing populations, the Rolling Stones Bigger Bang tour has kept its record for quite a while! It grossed $608 million in 2010 dollars, played to a total of 4.6 million people and made $3.8 million per show. Not bad for old geezers...

Madonna's Sticky and Sweet Tour 2008-2009

Madonna's most recent tour put her at the second highest grossing concert of all time. She did 85 shows; 3.5 million people worldwide attended (wow!), with an average attendance of 41,000 people per show. The Rooling Stones concert may have come in higher in actual gross figures, but Madonna actually made around $1 million more per show, averaging $4.8 million gross per concert. Sweet indeed!

U2 Vertigo Tour 2005-2006

This is another oldie (well, 5 years old at least!) but a goodie. Overall attendance equalled the Stones tour, but concert tickets for U2 were a little cheaper, so the Dubliners only grossed $420 million total compared to the Stones' $608 million in 2010 dollars.

The Police Reunion Tour

Of all the artists in the top 5 grossing concerts in history, The Police had to work the hardest (although only by a fraction) to get their sales. They did 156 shows, for $362 million dollars in total.