What rock band has earned the most money from ticket sales?
This group has been around since the early ’60s. Despite that longevity, these monetary totals date back to just over 40 years ago, meaning the classic rock legends have sold in excess of this number with well more than a decade of performances under their belts prior to the record-keeping.
They’re also one of two artists who have grossed more than $2B in box office ticket sales!
How Are the Ticket Sale Earnings Tabulated?
Pollstar published a report on Box Office Grosses and Tickets Sold for all musical acts, compiling the data into Top 150 rankings, which was last updated in July of 2022. One important note here is that these totals date back to 1981, when Pollstar began tracking this information.
Below, we’ve recapped some other top-earners, singling out just the rock and metal acts that populate Pollstar’s chart.
What Rock Band Has Earned the Most Money From Ticket Sales?
Not only are The Rolling Stones the top grossing rock act at the box office in the Pollstar Era, they are No. 1 overall for the entirety of live music.
The rock legends take the top spot with $2,165,280,638 in box office ticket sale earnings, which is just under $30 million more than runners-up, U2.
Kevin Mazur, Getty Images
READ MORE: 10 Bands Who Had Final Tours That Weren’t Final
What Other Rock + Metal Artists Have More Than $1B in Ticket Sales?
Eight other rock and metal acts have grossed more than $1B at the box office, which are truly staggering totals. Of this crop, just one band joins the Stones in eclipsing the gargantuan $2B tally.
Also, just one metal artist breathes this rare air, raking in even more than Beatles legend Paul McCartney!
Billy Joel ($1,187,103,345)
Paul McCartney ($1,193,812,645)
Metallica ($1,219,599,179)
The Eagles ($1,314,544,780)
Bon Jovi ($1,329,891,400)
Bruce Springsteen ($1,527,407,373)
Elton John ($1,748,183,036)
U2 ($2,127,771,684)
The 49 Rock + Metal Songs With Over One Billion Spotify Streams
Recapping the rock and metal songs that have eclipsed one billion streams on Spotify.
NOT INCLUDED: The definition of rock is incredibly broad today and, in this list, we’ve elected not to include pop/rock acts such as Imagine Dragons, Maroon 5, Twenty One Pilots, 5 Seconds of Summer, Coldplay, Goo Goo Dolls, Gym Class heroes and Train.
Gallery Credit: Joe DiVita
