Guns N’ Roses claim best-selling tour title in Pollstar mid-year rankings

Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Not In This Lifetime’ tour is the biggest-selling tour of 2017 so far, according to data released by Pollstar, having shipped more than 1.4 million tickets already.

U2’s 30th anniversary ‘Joshua Tree’ tour came in second place in Pollstar’s mid-year report after shifting 990,000 tickets, with Justin Bieber not far behind on 960,000 tickets for his Purpose tour.

The top 50 worldwide tours totalled combined earnings of $1.97bn (£1.51bn/€1.70bn), just short of last year’s record $1.98bn, Pollstar reports. In addition, a record 23.4 million tickets were sold by the top 50, which is up 3.5 per cent from last year’s numbers.

Other bands included in the top-selling list are Depeche Mode, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bruno Mars. Ariana Grande shifted 600,000 tickets for her ‘Dangerous Woman’ tour, and The Weeknd made 570,000 sales.

Ed Sheeran, who has been active in fighting touts during his ‘Divide’ tour, was next in the 2017 list with 565,000 tickets sold. On Monday, Sheeran cancelled 10,000 tickets that were being offered for hundreds of pounds on resale websites. Sheeran’s team warned buyers ahead of the launch of sales for his 2018 tour earlier this month that action would be taken against those who did not purchase tickets for personal use.

Pollstar reports that The O2 Arena in London has remained the busiest in the world, selling more than one million tickets. Glasgow’s The SSE Hydro was in second place, having shifted a total of 660,000 tickets, with Manchester Arena hitting the No.3 position with 620,000, despite being closed since the May 22 terror attack at Ariana Grande’s gig. The First Direct Arena in Leeds and Genting Arena in Birmingham reached No.6 and No.8, respectively.

Outside of the UK, the Lanxess Arena in Cologne was the highest placed at No.4 with more than 585,000 sales.

Meanwhile, Live Nation sold 18.7 million tickets, making it the dominant promoter, selling almost three times as many tickets as second placed AEG Presents with 6.5 million. The UK’s SJM Concerts shifted 1.4 million, while Ireland’s MCD Productions sold 775,000 tickets.

Image: Saad Faruque