Highest-Grossing Tours of 2011

January 2, 2012, 12:09 pm

It's not teenagers driving what is fast becoming the record industry's most important source of revenue as album sales head south.


HIGHEST GROSSING CONCERTS OF THE YEAR


U2 and Taylor Swift had the highest-grossing tours of 2011. U2 raked in $156 million from 25 shows in 21 North American cities in 2011, making the band the highest-grossing touring act of the year, according to Pollstar. Worldwide, the group pulled in $231.9 million for the year.

Taylor Swift just missed the $100 million mark in North America, earning $97.7 million over 80 dates in 59 cities on her "Speak Now" tour. Other top-grossing acts were Kenny Chesney ($84.6 million), Lady Gaga ($63.7 million) and Bon Jovi ($57.1 million), who were the biggest earners of 2010.

Rounding out the top 10 were Elton John, Sade, Jay-Z and Kanye West's "Watch the Throne" tour, Lil Wayne and Celine Dion. Worldwide, the reunion tour of British teen-pop act Take That finished a close second to U2 with $224 million earned, followed by Bon Jovi, Swift and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, who took in $103.6 million. The top 25 acts in North America for the year grossed a total of $1.19 billion, down a fraction from $1.24 billion in 2010.

Pollstar, the concert-business trade magazine, tracks ticket sales by calendar year, while Billboard uses a slightly different calendar, this year from November 1st, 2010 through November 8th, 2011. According to Billboard, the highest-grossing worldwide tours for the year were U2 ($293.3 million) and Bon Jovi ($192.9 million), followed by Take That, Waters and Swift.


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