Pollstar Magazine's 2017 Mid-Year Report: World's Best Venues and Tours

Pollstar Magazine’s 2017 Mid-Year report has been released, announcing to the world which events and venues are leading the pack. While this year has seen record-breaking success in number of tickets sold and gross earnings, the cost of tickets has decreased – good news for fans everywhere.

The 2017 Mid-Year Report is produced by Pollstar magazine and is respected as the premier reporting for the events and entertainment industry. The reporting is based from January 1 through June 30 and spans across venues and events of all calibers.

The first half of 2017 shows a record-breaking increase in gross sales (up nearly 5%) and number of tickets sold, but saw a 3.5% drop in the average ticket price from last year.

Top 100 Worldwide Tours (Gross Sales)

Guns N’ Roses strongly secures the first place rank for worldwide tours, taking in 151.5 million in gross sales so far. The group has performed in front of 1,390,396 fans around the globe, making them the only concert tour to sell more than 1 million tickets so far this year.

U2, Justin Bieber, Metallica and Depeche Mode follow behind, respectively, in terms of gross sales. In total, the top 50 Worldwide Tours grossed a combined $1.97 billion, just shy of 2016’s $1.98 billion.

Top 100 Worldwide Concert Grosses (Single Event)

The Guns N’ Roses world tour is leading the pack in worldwide single concert grosses, as well. The tour raked in more than $17 million for their performance at London Stadium in June, safely securing their first place position for a single event. U2 is less than $2 million behind in the numbers two, three and four slots. Both legendary groups made the top 100 list 16 times each.

Top 100 North American Tours

U2 is ranked as number one for putting together the most successful North American tour. Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eric Church, and Garth Brooks round out the top 5 making a strong case for the love of rock and country by the stars and stripes.

Top Venues

The United Kingdom reins claim to five of the top 10 arena venues, with The O2 in London landing the number one spot. The Barclay Center in Brooklyn, NY, represents the United States as the 9th best arena worldwide for ticket sales. Theatre and club venues proved much more successful for the United States. The US brought home seven of the top 10 theatres and nine of the top 10 clubs.

The top-ranked amphitheatres may be our favorite report released. Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre is ranked once again as the best in the world. The immaculate venue sold 195,578 tickets in the first half of 2017. Several of the top amphitheatres on Pollstar’s list were the ten we chose as some of the most iconic outdoor venues back in May.