Ed Sheeran has earned the highest-grossing live music tour of 2018, making $432 million from 4.86 million ticket sales, according to industry analyst, #Pollstar. It’s the highest-grossing tour in a calendar year since Pollstar began its rankings 30 years ago. The previous record was set by #U2 for their Joshua Tree tour in 2017, with $316m.
According to The Guardian, Taylor Swift came in second with $345 million from 2.88 million tickets sold on her Reputation Tour, while Jay Z and Beyoncé’s OTRII tour generated $254 million from 2.16 million tickets. Pink, Bruno Mars, The Eagles, Justin Timberlake, Roger Waters, U2 and the Rolling Stones completed the remaining Top 10.
Pollstar also reported the 2018 Top 10 of the Worldwide Tours chart surpassed $2 billion in grosses for the first time, up from 2017’s $1.8 million. The entire concert industry saw a record-setting amount of $10.4 billion this year. Live Nation dominated the live events industry selling 49.6 million tickets, ahead of AEG Presents with 11.6 million tickets and Messina Touring Group with 5.3 million tickets sold.
