Pollstar Releases Ranking of the Highest Selling Tours of the Millennium so far
Coldplay, U2, Ed Sheeran, Dave Matthews and Taylor Swift crown the list of artists who've sold the most tickets to shows since 2000.
Pollstar has released a ranking of the 25 highest-selling tours of the millennium, comparing global artists based primarily on tickets sold, but also on gross revenue, number of shows and average ticket price in USD.
We already know some of the key highlights, as Taylor Swift crushed the tour revenue record with the Eras Tour, which drew in $2 billion USD from 10.2 million tickets sold between 2023 and 2024. But Pollstar has cast a very wide net, covering shows over the last 25 years, not just the last decade, so Taylor ranks only fifth on the whole list — despite having the most expensive average ticket, averaging $165 USD per head.
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Taking the top spot in the list was Coldplay, selling over 24.8 million tickets to 731 concerts worldwide — that’s a gross of over $2.48 billion USD. Those figures span a tour supporting their debut, Parachutes, to the most recent Music of the Spheres tour, which was behind 13.1 million of their total tickets sold to date. It also holds the title of the highest attended tour in history, and the second highest revenue so far at $1.52 billion USD since beginning in 2022.
The other top two spots on the podium went to U2, for over 20 million tickets sold to 594 shows, grossing over $2.18 billion USD, and Ed Sheeran in third place with over 19 million tickets sold to 641 shows — grossing over $1.74 billion USD.
Reporting from inside the Australian music business since '94.
In fourth place was Dave Matthews Band, one of the few artists with over 1000 shows played since 2000, 1171 to be exact — which saw 19.5 million tickets sold and $1.13 billion USD grossed.
Australian audiences helped put several other bands on the map. Metallica, who just toured Australia last month, came in eighth place with 15+ million tickets sold across 562 shows, to the tune of $1.45 billion USD. Elton John, who’s made a habit of performing in Australia in recent years, sits just below them in tenth for his 13.8 million tickets sold across a whopping 1242 concerts, but a surprisingly slim $1.74 billion USD.
A significant part of the driving force behind the live music industry’s growing revenue is a combination of increasing ticket sales and rising ticket prices. According to Pollstar, in 2001, the average ticket price for all events reported that year was $36.68; in 2025, it was $90.27. That’s an increase of 146%. The number of concert tickets sold increased even more, rising by 214% in the last quarter century, while grosses leapt a massive 673%.
A rising tide floats all boats when it comes to revenue in the live music industry, as recent tours for headline artists are becoming more and more locked into arena-scale tours. Specifically, Pollstar reported an 11% increase in tickets sold at stadiums between 2024 and 2025 alone.
Of the most popular artists of the last 25 years, only five of them sold more than 10 million tickets, but 19 artists made more than $1 billion USD from their tours, proving touring continues to be one of the most lucrative arms of the music industry. For the full ranking, visit the Pollstar website.
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Reporting from inside the Australian music business since '94.
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