The following is a list of the most-attended concert tours with at least 3.5 million ticketed sold, as well as the tours with the most tickets sold by year and the most tickets sold in a single day. The number of attendance is often considered to measure the success of a tour. However, the most-attended tours do not necessarily generate the largest profit due to ticket pricing. Rankings of most successful tours are generally based on gross revenue instead of number of attendance.[1] Pollstar and Billboard provide boxscores which are the primary data showing the commercial performance of tours. However, since not all concerts are reported to those publications, especially prior to the 2000s decade, the number of tickets sold may rely on estimations by other reliable sources.
Tours may score a very large attendance in total because of their extensive number of shows which can span multiple calendar years. Currently, Ed Sheeran's ÷ Tour is the most-attended tour of all time, with a total of 8.9 million tickets sold in 260 shows across three different years (2017–2019).[2] It also holds the record for the most-attended tour in a year, attracting 4.86 million people in 2018. U2 scored the annual most-attended tours at least six times since 1997, more than any other act. Meanwhile, Tina Turner, Cher, Madonna and Taylor Swift are the only women having a tour attended by 3.5 million people or more. According to Pollstar and Billboard reports, Taylor Swift is the only woman who has ever achieved the largest tour attendance in a single year.[a] Swift also holds the record for the fastest-selling tour of all time, with a total of 2.4 million tickets sold in a single day for the 2023 U.S. leg of the Eras Tour (2023–2024).
† | Indicates an ongoing concert tour |
Year | Artist | Tour title | Tickets sold | Source | Top-grossing tour of the year |
Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1997 | U2 | PopMart Tour | 1.70 million | Pollstar | Yes | [36] |
1999 | NSYNC | NSYNC in Concert | 1.80 million | Pollstar | No | [37] |
2000 | No Strings Attached Tour | 1.65 million | Pollstar | No | [37] | |
2001 | U2 | Elevation Tour | 2.06 million | Billboard | Yes | [38] |
2002 | Dave Matthews Band | Dave Matthews Band 2002 Tour | 1.35 million | Billboard | No | [39] |
2003 | The Rolling Stones | Licks Tour | 3.47 million | Billboard | Yes | [40] |
2004 | Prince | Musicology Live 2004ever | 1.47 million | Billboard | No | [41] |
2005 | U2 | Vertigo Tour | 3.00 million | Billboard | Yes | [42] |
2006 | The Rolling Stones | A Bigger Bang Tour | 3.50 million | Billboard | Yes | [43] |
2007 | The Police | The Police Reunion Tour | 1.85 million | Billboard | Yes | [44] |
2008 | Bon Jovi | Lost Highway Tour | 2.15 million | Billboard | No | [45] |
2009 | U2 | U2 360° Tour | 3.07 million | Billboard | Yes | [46] |
2010 | Bon Jovi | The Circle Tour | 1.90 million | Pollstar | Yes | [47] |
2011 | U2 | U2 360° Tour | 2.88 million | Billboard | Yes | [48] |
2012 | Bruce Springsteen | Wrecking Ball World Tour | 2.28 million | Pollstar | No | [29] |
2013 | Bon Jovi | Because We Can | 2.65 million | Pollstar | Yes | [30] |
2014 | One Direction | Where We Are Tour | 3.43 million | Pollstar | Yes | [49] |
2015 | On the Road Again Tour | 2.36 million | Pollstar | No | [50] | |
2016 | Coldplay | A Head Full of Dreams Tour | 2.67 million | Pollstar | No | [51] |
2017 | U2 | The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 | 2.71 million | Pollstar | Yes | [52] |
2018 | Ed Sheeran | ÷ Tour | 4.86 million | Pollstar | Yes | [53] |
2019 | 2.45 million | Pollstar | No | [54] | ||
2020 | Trans-Siberian Orchestra | Christmas Eve and Other Stories Tour | 0.88 million | Pollstar | No | [55] |
2021 | Harry Styles | Love On Tour | 0.66 million | Pollstar | No | [56] |
2022 | Coldplay | Music of the Spheres World Tour | 3.80 million | Pollstar | Yes | [57] |
2023 | Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | 4.35 million[a] | Pollstar | Yes | [23] |
* | Indicates previous record holder for the fastest-selling tour |
Year | Artist | Tour title | Tickets sold | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2023 | Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | 2.4 million | First North American leg | [58] |
2005 | Robbie Williams | Close Encounters Tour* | 1.6 million | [59] | |
2022 | Coldplay | Music of the Spheres World Tour | 1.4 million | Second European leg | [60] |
2010 | Take That | Progress Live | 1.3 million | [61] | |
2017 | U2 | The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 | 1.1 million | [62] | |
2016 | Guns N' Roses | Not in This Lifetime... Tour | 1.1 million | [63] | |
2000 | NSYNC | No Strings Attached Tour* | 1.0 million | [64] | |
2016 | Bruno Mars | 24K Magic World Tour | 1.0 million | [65] | |
2021 | Coldplay | Music of the Spheres World Tour | 1.0 million | First European leg | [66] |
2023 | RBD | Soy Rebelde Tour | 0.8 million | [67] | |
2017 | Ed Sheeran | ÷ Tour | 0.7 million | Oceanian leg | [68] |
2023 | Madonna | The Celebration Tour | 0.6 million | [69] | |
2009 | AC/DC | Black Ice World Tour | 0.5 million | [70] | |
2023 | Luis Miguel | Luis Miguel Tour 2023-24 | 0.4 million | [71] |