Madonna’s tour gross exceeds $1b, reclaims solo title from Springsteen

When Madonna’s Rebel Heart world tour wrapped up in Sydney on March 20, it had grossed US$169.8 million from 1,045,479 tickets sold at 82 performances in 56 cities, according to Billboard Boxscore. It began on Sept. 9, 2015, in Montreal, spanned over seven months and visiting four continents.

Its top-grossing venue was the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo with $9.6 million for sold out shows on February 13 and 14. The biggest North American shows were at New York City’s Madison Square Garden with $5.2 million in sales on September 16 and 17.

As a result, and based on Billboard’s Boxscore archives that stretch back to 1990, Madonna’s overall concert grosses since then have reached $1.31 billion. That extends her status as the highest-ever grossing solo touring artist.

She beat Bruce Springsteen who has grossed $1.25 billion, and Elton John at $1.05 billion. Madonna is third highest grossing act of all time, behind The Rolling Stones with $1.84 billion and U2 with $1.67 billion.

Madonna first became the top solo touring act in 2009 after the conclusion of her 2008-2009 Sticky & Sweet tour, her most successful yet. It grossed $408 million for 3.5 million tickets sold, and continues to hold the record for the biggest tour ever for a female artist.

She then lost the crown to Springsteen after the Wrecking Ball ($340.6 million from 124 shows, his biggest ever) and High Hopes ($64.9 million from 554,032 sold seats at 32 shows) tours from 2012 through 2014. The two tours drew a total of 4 million fans and notched up a gross of $411.9 million from 157 concerts.

During the past decade, Springsteen’s tours with The E Street Band have grossed more than $800 million according to Billboard’s Boxscore archives, with 8.3 million fans in attendance at more than 330 concerts.

Although Madonna has now surged forward, the Boss is currently on tour through North America (31 venues through to late April over 14 weeks behind the 4CD box set The Ties That Bind: The River Collection) and heading to Europe during the northern summer. It is expected he will reclaim the crown by end of this year.

Madonna is also one of only six artists – and the only woman – who have topped the $1 billion mark in overall concert grosses since 1990.

Of Madonna’s other tours, the MDNA run in 2012 grossed $305 million and moved 2.2 million tickets to 88 shows. The 2006 Confessions tour grossed $194 million and had 1.2 million tickets sold to 60 shows.