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Live & Ticketing

Ed Sheeran Tops Pollstar 2018 Global Touring Chart, Taylor Swift Dominates US

Tour trade publication Pollstar tracked more than 44,000 live concerts in 2018 logging in a record-setting $10.4 billion total gross and 152.1 million tickets sold.  Ed Sheeran topped the year. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2018/12/ed-sheeran-tops-pollstar-2018-global-touring-cha

,   and  Bruce Houghton
image from cdn.pixabay.comTour trade publication Pollstar tracked more than 44,000 live concerts in 2018 logging in a record-setting $10.4 billion total gross and 152.1 million tickets sold.  Ed Sheeran topped the year grossing a whopping $432 million, an all time touring record.Pollstar's Top 100 World Wide tours totaled $5.6 billion U.S. dollars with 59.8 million tickets sold to 3,691 events.  The Top Ten of the Worldwide Tour chart surpassed $2 billion in grosses for the first time.The Top 100 North American tours totaled $3.7 billion U.S. dollars with 40 million tickets sold to 3,025 event records

• Ed Sheeran set the all-time touring record in a calendar year with an astronomical gross of $432 million. Sheeran’s 2018 tour numbers, when combined with 2017, is already the third highest-grossing tour ($554.6M) behind U2’s "360" ($735 M) and the Rolling Stones’ “A Bigger Bang” ($558M) tours.

• Taylor Swift’s “Reputation” Stadium Tour is No. 2 on the Top 100 Worldwide tours chart, grossing $345 million.  Swift topped the Top 100 North American tours chart, grossing $277.3 million and nearing a $1 billion lifetime touting gross. 

• Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift’s combined tours grosses of $777.5 million makes up 14% of the overall gross of the Top 100 Worldwide Tours.  Four artists – U2, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, and The Rolling Stones – appear in the Top 10 of the 2018 Worldwide Tours chart also ranked in the Top 10 of 2017’s Worldwide Tours Chart.

Last year, U2 topped the chart, grossing $316m with 2,713,136 tickets sold.  Sheeran came in at #8, grossing $124.1m with 1,525,882 tickets sold. 2018 Top 10 Worldwide ToursGROSS                                                           TICKETS SOLD        432.4              Ed Sheeran                            4,860,482* 345.1              Taylor Swift                          2,888,892      254.1              Jay-Z / Beyoncé                   2,169,050   169.2              Pink                                        1,285,411    167.6              Bruno Mars                           1,290,438*    166.0             Eagles                                    964,245     151.0              Justin Timberlake                1,193,365 131.3              Roger Waters                        1,448,771  126.2              U2                                           927,034*               116.6              The Rolling Stones              750,914*  2018 Top 10 North American ToursGROSS                                               TICKETS SOLD         277.3              Taylor Swift                          1,268,706     166.4              Jay-Z / Beyoncé                   1,298,038 166.0             Eagles                                    964,245 114.4              Kenny Chesney                    1,297,731     110.0              Justin Timberlake                791,780    105.0             Ed Sheeran                            1,136,497     97.8               Journey / Def Leppard        1,000,272 95.3               Pink                                        688,558 88.3               Springsteen On Broadway  173,461     79.0               Drake                                     678,410Top 3 PromotersLive Nation                         49.6 million tickets                          AEG Presents                     11.6 million ticketsMessina Touring Group    5.3 million ticketsTop StadiumsForo Sol                                              Mexico City, Mexico          887,802MetLife Stadium                               East Rutherford, NJ          521,215Gillette Stadium                                Foxboro, MA                       454,383Top AmphitheatersRuoff Home Mortgage Music Center      Noblesville, IN           588,023BB&T Pavilion                                             Camden, NJ              505,287The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion   The Woodlands, TX   467,620Top TheatersAuditorio Nacional                           Mexico City, Mexico          1,325,493     Radio City Music Hall                      New York, NY                     1,004,255     Fox Theatre                                        Atlanta, GA                         704,828Top ClubsThe Anthem                                       Washington, D.C.               391,835House Of Blues Boston                    Boston, MA                         325,7319:30 Club                                            Washington, D.C.               240,156

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