by Whitney Pastorek, Entertainment Weekly
Billboard published its list of the Top 25 touring artists of the decade today, documenting those artists and bands who have seen several million faces, rocked them all, and charged handsomely to do it in the years since 2000. The Rolling Stones (watch "Sympathy for the Devil," above) and U2 come in at Nos. 1 and 2 with both bands making over $800 million in live revenue during the past 10 years. Madonna also made upwards of $800 mil; bringing up the rear at No. 25 is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, who took in a paltry $200 million, still enough to confuse those of us who thought they just made Christmas music. (Top 10 located after the jump, and you can check out the full roster at Billboard.com.)
What strikes me about these 25 acts is not how much money they made, but how many of them could have just as easily topped the touring charts of the '90s -- and for that matter, the '80s, too. The Police, the Eagles, Aerosmith, Neil Diamond, Cher, McCartney, Rod Stewart, Metallica... this thing reads like a list of "Bands Most Likely To Inspire A Tribute Night At Your Local Sports Bar." Britney Spears (No. 21, $216,229,560) is the youngest act on the chart by a long shot, unless you count Max Weinberg's son sitting in with Springsteen (No. 4). Celine Dion (No. 6) played the most shows -- 792 -- but then again, she just had to sit in Vegas and let the nice people come to her for most of those. Second in the shows-played category is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (again: confused), followed by the tireless Kenny Chesney (No. 8 ) at 622. And if you do the math on Chesney's shows-played-to-total-gross vs. that of the Rolling Stones, you will learn an interesting lesson about ticket prices.
Got thoughts on this list, Mixers? Any of it surprise you? Given the endurance levels of Mick Jagger and Bono (if perhaps not Steven Tyler), will these same moldy oldies still be ruling the touring charts at the end of the '10s? If not, who might step up? And Billboard's got a nice added feature where they list the "Set Essential" for each tour -- if you saw any of these folks on the road this decade, what was your highlight?
1. The Rolling Stones
Total Gross: $869,471,325
Number of Shows: 264
Total Attendance: 8,236,586
Number of Sell-Outs: 190
2. U2
Total Gross: $844,157,925
Number of Shows: 288
Total Attendance: 9,869,953
Number of Sell-Outs: 288
3. Madonna
Total Gross: $801,299,671
Number of Shows: 248
Total Attendance: 6,387,124
Number of Sell-Outs: 244
4. Bruce Springsteen
Total Gross: $688,136,476
Number of Shows: 403
Total Attendance: 8,605,238
Number of Sell-Outs: 248
5. Elton John
Total Gross: $603,804,670
Number of Shows: 541
Total Attendance: 5,789,833
Number of Sell-Outs: 470
6. Celine Dion
Total Gross: $536,593,262
Number of Shows: 792
Total Attendance: 4,099,963
Number of Sell-Outs: 597
7. Dave Matthews Band
Total Gross: $505,447,901
Number of Shows: 547
Total Attendance: 11,230,696
Number of Sell-Outs: 282
8. Kenny Chesney
Total Gross: $477,931,760
Number of Shows: 622
Total Attendance: 9,210,288
Number of Sell-Outs: 409
9. Bon Jovi
Total Gross: $419,481,741
Number of Shows: 249
Total Attendance: 5,384,747
Number of Sell-Outs: 224
10. Billy Joel
Total Gross: $418,421<266
Number of Shows: 241
Total Attendance: 4,141,287
Number of Sell-Outs: 213
(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)
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