2006 Was Record-Setting Year For Tours

Last year was the biggest ever for North American tour revenues, according to live music industry trade magazine, Pollstar.

Ticket sales reached $3.6 billion U.S., up 16 per cent from 2005. Receipts from the top 100 tours totalled $2.3 billion, an improvement of 12.6 per cent from the previous year. There were 37.9 million tickets purchased for the top 100 tours, compared to 36.3 million in 2005. And believe it or not, the average ticket price for those tours actually dropped from $61.45 to $56.88.

"Not only did we set a record for gross revenues, but we did it by selling more tickets rather than more expensive tickets," says Pollstar editor-in-chief Gary Bongiovanni. "That's a good sign for the business."

The North American portion of The Rolling Stones' record-smashing world tour racked up $138.5 million from 1.01 million tickets sold last year. Barbra Streisand charged an average of $298.36 per ticket for her comeback tour, which ranked second with gross sales of $92.5 million. The husband and wife team of country singers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill grossed $88.8 million (with an average ticket price of $80.92) and Madonna brought in $85.9 million (for charging an average of $183.76).

Country star Kenny Chesney sold more tickets than anyone else, with 1.13 million, which added up to $66 million in revenues.

Coldplay, Barry Manilow, Celine Dion and The Who were also among the biggest earners.