2017: A Bumper Year For Live Music

While recorded music has seen something of a rebound thanks to the popularity of streaming, it's not the only segment of the music industry seeing a boost, as live entertainment continues to become a bigger and bigger part of the entertainment for both artists and fans.

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Guest post by William Glanz of SoundExchange

The recorded music industry isn’t alone in its resurgence.

Live entertainment is growing right along with it as live music becomes a bigger part of the music industry – for fans and artists.

U2, Guns N’ Roses Lead the Way

With the books closed on 2017, the top touring bands of year were U2, Guns N’ Roses and Coldplay, according to music industry trade publication Pollstar.

Bruno Mars and Metallica round out the top five.

U2 sold more than 2.71 million tickets and grossed $316 million for its Joshua Tree tour.

Guns N’ Roses was right on the heels of Bono and the boys, selling 2.67 million tickets and grossing $292.5 million for its Not in This Lifetime tour.

The Rolling Stones had the highest gross revenue per show in 2017, grossing an average of $9.99 million per concert, according to Pollstar.

Digging a little deeper, Garth Brooks was the year’s top country music act, reaching number 10 on the list of top tours.

Celine Dion came in at number 11, making her the highest-ranking female artist on the list.

The Mother of All Tours

For a little perspective, the highest-grossing tour ever was U2’s 360 Degree tour. Over two years, U2 sold 7.2 million tickets and grossed $736 million.

The Rolling Stones are second on the list. Their 2005 Bigger Bang Tour grossed $558 million.