It’s official: Madonna tops the Los Angeles Times’ Ultimate Top 10, an annual survey combining sales of concert tickets, albums and digital downloads to measure which acts were most popular with the broadest swath of music lovers.

 

Madonna was the No. 1 concert attraction in North America during the year, according to Pollstar, the concert-tracking magazine, and she enjoyed album sales to the tune of $12.5 million in addition to downloads of $2.3 million.This year there’s also a total split between Nielsen SoundScan’s ranking of the 10 biggest-selling performers of 2008 and Pollstar’s Top 10 highest-grossing North American concert tours. The highest any Top 10 SoundScan act finished in Pollstar’s 2008 ranking was No. 13, where the Jonas Brothers (No. 7 among album sellers) landed after playing to 1.3 million fans last year. Concert revenue hit $4.2 billion in 2008, according to Pollstar, a 7 percent rise over the previous year, even though the number of tickets sold was down. An 8.4 percent increase in average ticket prices was behind the rise, figures that are “astounding considering the economic environment in which they were generated,” Pollstar Editor Gary Bongiovanni said.

 

The road is still where artists tend to make the most money. Only three of the Nielsen SoundScan biggest-selling artists of 2008 — AC/DC, Coldplay and the Jonas Brothers — make the Ultimate Top 10, even folding in their revenue from digital track sales.

 

The best example? Taylor Swift sold more albums than any other act last year: 4 million, giving her $52 million in revenue from album sales using $13 as the average price of a CD. But she placed No. 12 in the Ultimate Top 10 calculations because she played only a handful of concerts as a headliner. She spent most of the year as a supporting act on Rascal Flatts’ tour.

 

That leaves the upper reaches of the Ultimate Top 10 to the veterans, and no one outperformed Madonna, whose combined income of $120 million is a drop from last year’s winner, the Police, which logged $140.7 million.

 

1. Madonna ($120 million). The Material Girl took in $105.3 million from touring, in addition to $14.8 million from music sales. It’s hard to decide what’s more impressive. The average gross at her shows, mostly in stadiums, was $5.5 million, and she drew about 36,000 people per show. Additionally, the average ticket price was $153.88, easily the highest among Pollstar’s Top 50 grossing tours. Worldwide, according to Pollstar, she amassed $281.6 million.

 

2. Celine Dion ($106.8 million). Dion posted her highest finish in a decade after ditching her residency at the Colosseum in Las Vegas for an old-fashioned, if high-tech, tour. She grossed $94 million, added $11.4 million in album sales and $1.3 million in digital tracks. Average ticket price: $119.00. Dion finished at No. 8 last year.

 

3. Kenny Chesney ($95.7 million). This favorite son of Luttrell, Tenn., again proved the most popular country music act on the road last year, pulling in $72.2 million, and was the only artist to sell more than 1 million tickets in North America. Chesney sold $20.8 million worth of albums and $2.7 million in digital tracks. Average ticket price: $71.24. He’s up from No. 4 on last year’s list.

 

4. Eagles ($90.7 million). The group might have taken the long road out of Eden, but it was pretty near paradise on the concert trail with the band’s take of $73.4 million. CD sales added $15.6 million and the veteran act notched $1.7 million worth of downloads. Average ticket price: $128.82.

 

5. AC/DC ($82 million). The new “Black Ice” album took the veteran Australian hard rock band back to the top of the charts and also made its concert tour one of the year’s hot tickets. The band’s tally was almost evenly divided, with $37.5 million coming at the concert box office and $44.5 million from album sales. Like Kid Rock, AC/DC doesn’t do digital tracks. Average ticket price: $99.73.

 

6. Coldplay ($81.6 million). Although finishing sixth, Coldplay is in the enviable position of balancing its power in concert and at retail. About $40.8 million worth of concert tickets were bolstered with $35 million in CD sales and $6 million worth of 99-cent track downloads. Average ticket price: $79.87.

 

7. Bon Jovi ($81.4 million). The New Jersey band posted another good year, with $70.4 million from 45 shows in 31 cities, plus $8.6 million in CD sales and $2.5 million in digital tracks. Average ticket price: $95.39.

 

8. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band ($79 million). This year, the Boss and the E Streeters pulled in $69.3 million on the road and, without a new album, added $8 million in catalog sales and $1.8 million in digital tracks. Average ticket price: $94.17.

 

9. Jonas Brothers ($77.9 million). The newest act to join the Ultimate Top 10 did almost equally well at the box office as at retail: $41.5 million worth of tickets, $30.4 million in albums and $6 million digitally. An average ticket price of $43.69 made theirs the least expensive ticket among Top 10 finishers.

 

10. Rascal Flatts ($77.1 million). This good-time country trio is becoming a concert juggernaut, with $55.8 million on the road, $18.2 million in album sales and $3.1 million digitally in 2008. Average

 

Source: Los Angeles Times

Briliant!!! Coldplay are even more filthy rich!

Thanks for posting. They've certainly had a successful year!

HELL YA!!!!

:o:clap:

:stunned:

That's about $20.4mil for each of them although you've got to remember the price to actually run the concerts as well which I assume isn't taken into consideration in these figures

Are these pre-tax profits?

Are costs and expenses taken into consideration?

I think this is purely the profit minus expenses

That's about $20.4mil for each of them although you've got to remember the price to actually run the concerts as well which I assume isn't taken into consideration in these figures

 

 

Actually, figure in Phil who also gets an equal cut and it's down to a tiny 16 million per.

 

Then you consider that 40% of the world's population lives on less than $2 a day(thank you Oxfam for the factoid)...so any way you slice 80 million, I'd say the boys are doing just fine:D

Actually, figure in Phil who also gets an equal cut and it's down to a tiny 16 million per.

 

Then you consider that 40% of the world's population lives on less than $2 a day(thank you Oxfam for the factoid)...so any way you slice 80 million, I'd say the boys are doing just fine:D

 

I'm sure none of them are complaining.......................... ;)

Actually, figure in Phil who also gets an equal cut and it's down to a tiny 16 million per.

 

Then you consider that 40% of the world's population lives on less than $2 a day(thank you Oxfam for the factoid)...so any way you slice 80 million, I'd say the boys are doing just fine:D

 

Which probably by costs would be down to roughly maybe 10 million I'm guessing.

whoa... :o

Not bad, not bad...

That's great! Actually, the cost might be even lower, not only because of the cost to run their concerts, but because the record company has to take their share from the CD sales.

 

I'm just flabbergasted that the Jonas Brothers made the list. :shocked2:

^^^

That, minus music video expenses, and probably the salaries of all the people around them??? :thinking:

I wonder how much they actually got from that.....

 

But still....... that's way too much money!!!!

 

And to think that we all payed for that!!! :P

Ahhh, the boys deserve it with all the hard work they put in.

^^^

That, minus music video expenses, and probably the salaries of all the people around them??? :thinking:

I wonder how much they actually got from that.....

 

But still....... that's way too much money!!!!

 

And to think that we all payed for that!!! :P

 

But must admit, well deserved!

:uhoh:

 

But at least they donate a part of their earnings to charity.

 

They deserve it anyway :nice:

:uhoh:

 

But at least they donate a part of their earnings to charity.

 

 

I really like that about them, a lot.

Lots of rich people talk about "those poor people in Africa"... And then drive away in their limo's :rolleyes:

Coldplay actually DOES something about it!

Oh...I'm surprised Miley Cyrus didn't make the list!

81.6 million :stunned:

 

And Chris have only two pairs of trousers :rolleyes:

:stunned: w-o-w I so did not make that much money ... Madonna 120 million?

:stunned: Goodness, that's an insane amount of money...

 

 

I'm just flabbergasted that the Jonas Brothers made the list. :shocked2:

My thoughts exactly.

I love the fact that they're not on the top of the list.... a lot of artists tend to ask for ridiculously expensive concert tickets when they get big.. but not Coldplay :)