The following is a list of the most-attended concert tours in history, with at least 3.5 million tickets sold. There are also two more lists: most attended tours annually since 1997 and tours with most tickets sold in a single day.
Pollstar and Billboard provide boxscores, which are the primary data showing the commercial performance of tours, but since not all concerts are reported to them, especially before 2000, the number of tickets may rely on estimations by other sources. Tours may score large total attendances because of their number of shows, which can span multiple calendar years. The success of a tour is measured by both the number of attendances and it’s gross revenue, since it’s not necessary that the most-attended tours generate the largest profit due to ticket pricing. [1]
Coldplay is the first act to reach 10 million attendance on a tour (Music of the Spheres World Tour between 2022 and 2025) [2] and is the only act to twice sell a million tickets for a tour in a single day. U2 is the only act to achieve highest annual tour attendance six times.
Tina Turner, Cher, Madonna, Taylor Swift and Pink are the only women with a tour attended by 3.5 million people or more. Swift holds multiple records: first solo act to reach 10 million attendance on a tour (Eras Tour between 2023 and 2024); historically highest annual tour attendance (5.21 million in 2024); sole woman to have the highest annual tour attendance, achieving it twice (2023 and 2024); most tour tickets sold in a single day (2.4 million). [3] [4] [a]
| † | Indicates an ongoing concert tour |
| Year | Artist | Tour title | Tickets sold | Source | Top-grossing tour of the year | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | U2 | PopMart Tour | 1.70 million | Pollstar | Yes | [41] |
| 1999 | NSYNC | NSYNC in Concert | 1.80 million | Pollstar | No | [42] |
| 2000 | No Strings Attached Tour | 1.65 million | Pollstar | No | [42] | |
| 2001 | U2 | Elevation Tour | 2.06 million | Billboard | Yes | [43] |
| 2002 | Dave Matthews Band | Dave Matthews Band 2002 Tour | 1.35 million | Billboard | No | [44] |
| 2003 | The Rolling Stones | Licks Tour | 3.47 million | Billboard | Yes | [45] |
| 2004 | Prince | Musicology Live 2004ever | 1.47 million | Billboard | No | [46] |
| 2005 | U2 | Vertigo Tour | 3.00 million | Billboard | Yes | [47] |
| 2006 | The Rolling Stones | A Bigger Bang Tour | 3.50 million | Billboard | Yes | [48] |
| 2007 | The Police | The Police Reunion Tour | 1.85 million | Billboard | Yes | [49] |
| 2008 | Bon Jovi | Lost Highway Tour | 2.15 million | Billboard | No | [50] |
| 2009 | U2 | 360° Tour | 3.07 million | Billboard | Yes | [51] |
| 2010 | Bon Jovi | The Circle Tour | 1.90 million | Pollstar | Yes | [52] |
| 2011 | U2 | 360° Tour | 2.88 million | Billboard | Yes | [53] |
| 2012 | Bruce Springsteen · E Street Band | Wrecking Ball World Tour | 2.28 million | Pollstar | No | [54] |
| 2013 | Bon Jovi | Because We Can | 2.65 million | Pollstar | Yes | [55] |
| 2014 | One Direction | Where We Are Tour | 3.43 million | Pollstar | Yes | [56] |
| 2015 | On the Road Again Tour | 2.36 million | Pollstar | No | [57] | |
| 2016 | Coldplay | A Head Full of Dreams Tour | 2.67 million | Pollstar | No | [58] |
| 2017 | U2 | The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 | 2.71 million | Pollstar | Yes | [59] |
| 2018 | Ed Sheeran | ÷ Tour | 4.86 million | Pollstar | Yes | [60] |
| 2019 | 2.45 million | Pollstar | No | [61] | ||
| 2020 | Trans-Siberian Orchestra | Christmas Eve and Other Stories Tour | 0.88 million | Pollstar | No | [62] |
| 2021 | Harry Styles | Love On Tour | 0.67 million | Pollstar | No | [63] |
| 2022 | Coldplay | Music of the Spheres World Tour | 3.80 million | Pollstar | Yes | [64] |
| 2023 | Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | 4.35 million [a] | Pollstar | Yes | [65] |
| 2024 | 5.21 million [a] | Pollstar | Yes | [4] |
| * | Indicates that the tour sold the most tickets in a single day, in history, up to that point |
| Year | Artist | Tour title | Tickets sold | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour * | 2.4 million | First North American leg | [66] |
| 2005 | Robbie Williams | Close Encounters Tour * | 1.6 million | [67] | |
| 2024 | AC/DC | Power Up Tour | 1.5 million | First European leg | [68] |
| 2022 | Coldplay | Music of the Spheres World Tour | 1.4 million | Second European leg | [69] |
| 2025 | Oasis | Oasis Live '25 Tour | 1.4 million | First British leg | [70] |
| 2010 | Take That | Progress Live | 1.3 million | [71] | |
| 2017 | U2 | The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 | 1.1 million | [72] | |
| 2016 | Guns N' Roses | Not in This Lifetime... Tour | 1.1 million | [73] | |
| 2000 | NSYNC | No Strings Attached Tour * | 1.0 million | [74] | |
| 2016 | Bruno Mars | 24K Magic World Tour | 1.0 million | [75] | |
| 2021 | Coldplay | Music of the Spheres World Tour | 1.0 million | First European leg | [76] |
| 2024 | Shakira | Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour | 0.9 million | First Latin American leg | [77] |
| 2024 | Coldplay | Music of the Spheres World Tour | 0.8 million | Third British leg | [78] |
| 2023 | RBD | Soy Rebelde Tour | 0.8 million | [79] | |
| 2024 | Coldplay | Music of the Spheres World Tour | 0.7 million | Third North American leg | [80] |
| 2017 | Ed Sheeran | ÷ Tour | 0.7 million | Oceanian leg | [81] |
| 2025 | Bad Bunny | Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour | 0.6 million | Spanish leg | [82] |
| 2023 | Madonna | The Celebration Tour | 0.6 million | [83] | |
| 2009 | AC/DC | Black Ice World Tour | 0.5 million | [84] |
[The Voodoo Lounge Tour] played only stadiums, selling out 123 out of 128, and drew a remarkable 6.4 million people.
Cher embarked on her three-year, 326-show Living Proof: The Farewell Tour […] Her average audience was 10,800, totaling 3.5 million attendees…