While festival season may be in full swing, it's also that time of year when we get a peek inside the highest grossing tours of the year, so far. And the numbers don't lie — you've been going to a lot of live concerts!
Let's start with the big numbers. The top 50 worldwide tours have grossed a combined $1.97 billion in ticket sales, according to Pollstar's mid-year report. Even more exciting are the North American numbers, where the top 100 tours and their gross profit of $1.64 billion topped last year's industry record of $1.47 billion by 11 percent.
But I'm sure you're really wondering who took the top spot on the highest grossing tours list, and if you guessed Guns N' Roses, you would be correct. Their worldwide tour has earned the GRAMMY-nominated rockers $151.5 million from a total of nearly 1.4 million individual ticket sales.
Coming in at No. 2 was U2's worldwide tour, which grossed the GRAMMY winners $118.1 million, and No. 3 was GRAMMY winner Justin Bieber at $93.2 million in sales.
The rest of the top 10 is dominated by GRAMMY winners and nominees, including Metallica (No. 4), Depeche Mode (No. 5), Red Hot Chili Peppers (No. 6), Adele (No. 7), Ed Sheeran (No. 8), Eric Church (No. 9), and Bruno Mars (No. 10).
