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).