Overview
- Pollstar’s 25-year list, based on worldwide reported and estimated box-office data, ranks Coldplay No. 1 with about 24.8 million tickets, followed by U2 (20.2 million) and Ed Sheeran (19.6 million).
- The 25 headlining acts collectively sold more than 340 million tickets from 2001 through 2025, generating grosses exceeding $35.7 billion before costs.
- Ticket counts and grosses diverge: Swift is fifth by tickets at roughly 18.9 million but has grossed over $3.1 billion this millennium, compared with Coldplay’s nearly $2.5 billion.
- Women remain underrepresented in the top tier, with Swift the only woman in the top 10; Pink ranks No. 11 (nearly 13 million tickets), Beyoncé No. 13 (about 11.8 million) and Madonna No. 15 (almost 11 million).
- The live sector expanded sharply over 25 years as the average ticket price rose from $36.68 in 2001 to $90.27 in 2025, with tickets sold up 214% and grosses up 673%.