The Rolling Stones broke their own 11-year-old record for the highest-grossing North American concert tour of all time in 2005, helping lift overall ticket sales to a new high, trade publication Pollstar said.
The Stones sold $162 million (€137 million) of tickets by playing their golden oldies for 1.2 million concert-goers, while Irish rockers U2 pulled in $138.9 million (€117.4 million) from 1.4 million fans.
U2 worked a little harder for their payday, playing 78 shows in North America, compared with 42 performances by the Stones.
The old record for a tour was $121 million, which the Stones set in 1994.
Canadian pop singer Céline Dion was third on the list, with $81.3 million, thanks solely to her exclusive engagement at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where she belted out her ballads for tourists at 155 performances.
Paul McCartney and the Eagles rounded out the top five, with respective sales of $77.3 million and $76.8 million.
Pollstar said ticket sales for the top 100 shows rose to $3.1 billion, breaking last year's record of $2.8 billion, thanks to a jump in the average ticket price to $57 from $52.39 last year. Indeed, the top 100 acts sold a combined 36.1 million tickets, down 1.5 million from last year.
The relentless rise in ticket prices, combined with the decline in the number of tickets sold was "a little disconcerting", said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the California-based publication.
Promoters say the artists demand too much money, forcing them, in turn, to charge higher ticket prices.
Artists say promoters keep offering more lucrative deals, which they can hardly reject, especially when CD sales are in a tailspin.
New albums by the Stones and McCartney had disappointing sales, while the Eagles have not released a new studio album in decades.
Top acts can generally name their prices with no risk of chasing away customers, with the Stones charging more than $450 in some cities. - (Reuters)