Report: Australia held ten of the world’s Top 100 grossing concerts this year

In a remarkable display of Australians’ big spend on live music, Pollstar’s global mid-year showed that ten of the Top 100 grossing concerts were held on Australian soil.

Admittedly, the figures are skewed because of the Ed Sheeran phenomenon and his 1 million ticket stubs in ANZ. But it is nevertheless a very strong showing.

Among the ten were two festivals: Bluesfest and CMC Rocks Queensland.

In the Top 100 promoters list, Frontier Touring rated #6 after moving 1.5 million tickets.

The Corner Hotel in Melbourne was deemed the 17th most successful club in the world during this period.

In the Top 200 arenas, Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney also had a strong showing, sliding in at #11 after drawing 369, 942 patrons in the first six months of the year.

The ten were:

#2: Ed Sheeran at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium (US$20.8 million)

#4: Ed Sheeran at ANZ Stadium, Sydney ($19.9 million)

#14: Bluesfest Byron Bay ($10 million)

#20: Bruno Mars, Qudos Ban Arena, Sydney ($9.2 million)

#21: Ed Sheeran, Olympic Stadium, Perth ($9.1 million)

#42: Bruno Mars, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne ($6.5 million)

#64: Ed Sheeran, Adelaide Oval ($5.1 million)

#65: CMC Rocks Queensland ($5 million)

#72: Foo Fighters, ANZ Stadium, Sydney ($4.7 million)

#83: Foo Fighters, Etihad Stadium, Melbourne ($4.5 million)

Bluesfest Director Peter Noble OAM called its #14 ranking “an incredible feat, considering the major artist tours that have been staged so far this year.

“To then be listed as the #1 Australian festival makes me feel proud of the team that make Bluesfest happen.”

In the promoters list, following Frontier Touring’s soaring #6 ranking, were Chugg Entertainment at #39 (223, 723 tickets), Bluesfest Touring at #58 (131, 922), TEG Dainty at #62 (118, 121) and TEG Live at #79 (88, 182).

Live Nation Australia’s figures were part of its parent company, which topped the list with 13.4 million sales.

There were five Australian arenas in the Top 200:

#11: Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney (369, 942)

#54: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne (149, 575)

#66: Brisbane Entertainment Centre (130, 450)

#68: Perth Arena (127,003)

#82: Hordern Pavilion, Sydney (102, 636)

In the Top 50 auditoriums were Brisbane Riverstage at #24 (29, 082) and Melbourne’s Myer Music Bowl at #26 (27, 459).

Sydney’s ICC Theatre (61, 792) was the sole Australian entry in the Top 200 theatrical venues..

The three Aussie entries in the Top 200 clubs were all from Melbourne.

These were, as already reported above, the Corner Hotel at #17 (54, 895), Northcote Social Cub at #82 (16, 357) and the Forum at #95 (13, 054).

Vance Joy was the sole Australian in the Top 100 tours, at #95 after selling 105, 088.

Pollstar called the global live market “robust”.

It reported, “This year’s survey saw a 12% jump in total gross from last year’s $1.97 billion to a record-setting $2.21 billion – a $240 million increase.

“It’s the chart’s biggest rise since 2015-16 and a change from 2017’s mid-year total gross which actually decreased by $10 million.”

Sheeran grossed global $213.9 million  – a whopping 41.2% increase over last year’s No. 1 Guns N’ Roses, which tallied $151.5 million.

Pink was top of the game in North America, grossing $95.6 million.

Ticket prices for concerts around the world were up 14%.