U2’s €1bn ticket sales makes band world’s top live act of the decade

U2 were the top grossing live act of the last decade and the only one to exceed a billion dollars in ticket sales.

The band grossed $1,038,104,132 (€960,113,466.62) between 2010 and the end of 2019.

U2 had an extremely busy decade with five separate tours, the 360 Tour (2009-2011), Innocence + Experience (2015), The Joshua Tree Tour (2017), Experience + Innocence (2018)and The Joshua Tree Tour 2019.

Their total gross does not include some of the Joshua Tree 2019 dates which have not been collated yet.

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U2’s status as the top grossing band was boosted by the record-breaking 360 Tour which was the largest ever in music history and grossed more than $735 million (€679.98 million).

The figures have been collated by American live music website Pollstar which collects box office data on a daily basis.

The next highest grossing live artist are The Rolling Stones who earned $929 million from live touring over the decade

At number three Ed Sheeran is the first contemporary artist on the list with a tour gross of $922 million followed by Taylor Swift, the first female on the list with almost $900 million.

Bon Jovi ($868 million), Beyoncé ($857.4 million), former Beatle Paul McCartney ($813 million), Coldplay ($731 million), Bruce Springsteen ($729.8 million) and former Pink Floyd bass player Roger Waters ($702.2 million) make up the top 10.

The artists who make up the top 20 are Elton John, Metallica, Guns N'Roses, Eagles, One Direction, Pink, Jay-Z, Kenny Cheney, Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars.

Guns N’Roses at number 13 managed to enter the list despite only reforming in 2016. Their tour entitled, Not in this Lifetime, was intended to convey the likelihood in the past that the band would reform given the antipathy between the members involved.