Bon Jovi #3 Tour for Year
 

Considering the difference in ticket prices between the Stones and Madonna, #3 isn't too bad:

Stones' Bigger Bang Is Top-Grossing Tour Of 2006


December 14, 2006, 12:45 AM ET

Ray Waddell, Nashville
The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang trek, which re-captured the top-grossing tour ever title from U2's Vertigo, was the top grossing tour of the year, according to numbers reported to Billboard Boxscore.

The Stones, which began the tour in the fall of 2005, sold out arenas in America, stadiums all over the world and then stadiums in America before calling it a year in late November with a tally of about $437 million.

That total is "not bad," longtime Stones tour producer Michael Cohl tells Billboard.com. "And not done, eh?," he continues. "There are still a lot of cancellations in Europe that the band feels obligated to try and make up. So I wouldn't be surprised if it keeps going next year."

Second to the Stones in 2006 was Madonna, whose global Confessions run became the top-grossing tour ever by a female artist. Confessions took in just under $195 million from 60 shows that drew more than 1.2 million in paid attendance.

Rounding out the top 10 tours were Bon Jovi ($131 million), U2 (wrapping up Vertigo tour with $96 million), Tim McGraw/Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul II tour ($88.8 million), Cirque du Soleil's Delirium ($78.5 million), Barbra Streisand ($76 million), Kenny Chesney ($66 million), Dave Matthews Band ($58 million) and Aerosmith ($58 million), with the latter touring for much of the year with Motley Crue.


All year-end rankings are based on numbers compiled from Boxscores Nov. 16, 2005-Nov. 14, 2006. For more information, check out Billboard's Year End issue, which hits newsstands Friday (Dec. 15).

Quite extraordinary .... U2's tour lasted 18 months or something. Jovi's tour was fairly short. I can't imagine how it all added up. Must have been all those signed Soul shirts ....

I'd imagine they just include the parts of the tours that happened in 2006 ...

Pretty much, the article says the time frame is:

"All year-end rankings are based on numbers compiled from Boxscores Nov. 16, 2005-Nov. 14, 2006"

And the numbers, I believe, is based soley on box office revenue which means just ticket sales. Merchandise, such as the Soul jerseys would not be included in that number.

deb

Clearly they would be in the #1 spot if they charged $250.00 per ticket as some acts do. I am so pleased that they don't - I get to see a lot more shows this way - and so do my kids. Even at their prices it's not cheap to buy them 4 at a time.

Katheen

Kathleen, I agree with you!

In Canada, Madonna was charging $450 for top tickets, and Rolling Stones were charging $350! Bon Jovi charges $125...

I'm pretty sure that the Stones sold the most concert tickets this year, cause their box office is more than triple Bon Jovi's, but still, I think they outsold tickets over Madonna...

And really!, shouldn't the number of people who went to shows matter more than the grosses they make?

Seriously, if one band made the most money, but another played to more people in the world than anyone else (possibly Bon Jovi, in this case), shouldn't that matter more? IMO, yes...

I love RS's and Madonna, but I hope Bon Jovi sold more tickets.

I'm going to check Billboard magazine - cause once we find out how many shows they played between Nov. 2005-Nov 2006, and the ticket prices for the shows, THEN we can find out who the clear victor is...lol

I'm rambling. Congrats on being #3.

Don't forget, a stadium houses more than an arena. You'll have to take into consideration who played in what kind of venues for the tour.

There was something released earlier this year that gave the monetary numbers and attendance numbers and Bon Jovi sold the most tickets. Like everyone had said, they just charged less money per ticket so their gross wasn't as much.

Yep, Becky, I think when Billboard announced the nominees for the touring awards they showed the tickets sold, number of people played to, etc. From what I remember the Stones had more shows but Bon Jovi actually played to more people.

deb

Indeed.

Shows
Bon Jovi: 89
Stones: 117
Madonna: 60


Tickets sold
Bon Jovi: 2,002,000
Stones: nearly 2 million
Madonna: 1,200,000


Tour gross
Bon Jovi: $109 million
Stones: $256 million
Madonna: $195 million