Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones and Metallica ranked among the top 10 worldwide touring acts of 2024, according to a new Pollstar report.
Springsteen and his E Street Band were rock’s biggest earners, landing at No. 5 overall with a gross of $251 million from 44 shows. (Pollstar tabulated this data for all worldwide shows played between Nov. 16, 2023, and Nov. 13, 2024.) With an average ticket price of $150.69, the Boss averaged 37,900 tickets and $5.7 million per night and moved 1.667 million tickets total.
The Stones were hot on Springsteen’s heels, landing at No. 6 overall with $235 million in gross ticket revenue. They played less than half as many shows as Springsteen on their 2024 Hackney Diamonds Tour (20 total, though Pollstar only counted 18), but their tickets cost much more, with an average price of $277.28. Mick Jagger and Co. averaged 47,100 tickets and $13 million per night, and they sold 847,800 tickets total. These figures were also enough to make the Stones the top North American touring act of the year.
Landing at No. 9 on the list of top worldwide touring artists, Metallica grossed $179 million across 24 shows. They had the lowest average ticket price of all three rock acts at $119.64. But the metal legends also had a far higher per-show attendance, averaging 62,512 tickets a night for a total of 1.5 million tickets sold. They grossed an average of $7.479 million per show, landing between the Stones and Springsteen.
READ MORE: Rolling Stones Dazzle at ’24 Hackney Diamonds Tour Kickoff: Review and Photos
And the Top Global Touring Act of 2024 Is …
These are impressive figures for three of rock’s biggest names, but they pale in comparison to the biggest global touring act of 2024. To the surprise of absolutely nobody who pays attention to the concert industry, that honor went to Taylor Swift, whose record-smashing Eras Tour grossed $1.043 billion across 80 shows, extending its reign as the highest-grossing tour in history. The pop superstar averaged 65,126 tickets and $13 million per show, with an average ticket price of $200.27. Coldplay landed at a distant second with $421 million in gross revenue, averaging 60,990 tickets a night across 54 shows.
