Which band has made the most money from touring?
Touring seems to have become a luxury that few up-and-coming bands can afford in the current music landscape. The reasons for this are wide-ranging, from rising transportation costs to poor ticket sales, and they have led many artists to cancel tours before they even hit the road. But this wasn’t always the case. While new bands struggle to make ends meet on the road, there are some more established artists who have made millions from playing and performing around the world.
However, Taylor Swift is perhaps the most obvious current example. The pop star kicked off the ‘Eras’ tour in Arizona last spring, which spans 149 concerts across five continents in total. So far, the tour has grossed over a billion dollars, sitting comfortably in second position on the list of the highest-earning tours of all time. Swift is quickly rising the ranks of the highest-earning live acts of all time, but she’s yet to take the top spot.
According to Billboard, Elton John is the third-highest-grossing live artist in the world, boasting revenue of just under $2billion. The sunglasses-loving Rocketman has been out on the road for over half a century, completing his first world tour in 1970, so it makes sense that he finds his place in the top three. He sits just behind U2, who have amassed well over $2billion in revenue.
The Irish rockers have reportedly taken in $2.46 billion from live shows. U2 made a couple of hundred million through their live performance just within the last year, taking up a 40-date residency at Las Vegas’ luminous, circular venue, The Sphere. Though they played to hundreds of thousands of people on this tour and delivered one of the most lucrative residencies in music history, this still wasn’t enough to push U2 into the top spot.
So, which band has made the most money from touring?
With $2.6 billion in revenue, 1960s rockers The Rolling Stones are the most successful live band of all time. The band has been touring for even longer than John, and they played their first tour of the United States in 1964. Some 60 years later, they have played thousands of shows across the world and earned billions of dollars in the process.
The band’s highest-grossing tour was the ‘A Bigger Bang’ tour in the mid-2000s, which took the Stones all over the world playing their album of the same name. They earned just over half a billion on this tour alone. Two decades later, the band still have the energy to tour — they played a number of shows across the United States following the release of Hackney Diamonds earlier this year.
Given the band’s almost unparalleled legacy in music history, it’s no surprise that audiences still flock to stadiums to see the Stones perform live. Jagger still gives his all to every performance, as committed to the rock and roll persona as he was back in the 1960s. The band also have six decades worth of material, touring, and fans on their side.
Unfortunately, the current live music landscape is making it almost impossible for budding bands to reach the same heights in their music careers. As smaller venues struggle to stay afloat and new artists are forced to cancel their tours due to unworkable finances, the next Rolling Stones are being lost in the process, unable to develop their sound and find followings in grassroots venues.
While more established artists like Swift and Coldplay take in millions of dollars on tour each year, artists hoping to one day follow in their footsteps are unable to even find their start. Perhaps those more established artists, promoters, and venues who are still finding live music to be a viable landscape should invest in the smaller venues that first allowed them to thrive.
