Celine Dion, Cher and then Madonna have the Top Grossing tours by solo artists
Some Top Grossing Tours according to Ray Waddell and Billboard
$558,255,524 Rolling Stones "A Bigger Bang"
August 21, 2005 to August 26,2007 -144 Worldwide shows -4,680,000 sold
$389,047,816 U2 "Vertigo"
March 28,2005 to Dec 9,2006 - 131 shows - 4,619,021 tickets sold
$109.7 million (from Pollstar) U2 "Elevation" Tour
3-24,2001 to 12-2,2001 - 113 shows
$385,115,516 "Celine Dion:A New Day"
March 25,2003 to Dec 15,2007 - 714 reported shows, of 717 shows - 2,814,577 tickets sold
$340 Million estimated gross (Billboard 2-14-2008)
$212,227,302 The Police -from Billboard Boxscore Year End Chart 2006
May 28,2007 continuing into 2008 - 66 shows - 1,858,456 tickets sold
$320 million Rolling Stones "Voodoo Lounge"
August 1, 1994 to August 30, 1995 - 130 shows
$299,520,230 Rolling Stones "Licks" tour
September 3,2002 to Oct 2,2003 - 115 shows - 3,470,945
plus 2 shows in Hong Kong-11-7&9, 2003 not included in this earnings tally
$194,683,927 "Cher:The Farewell Tour"
June 15,2002 to April 30,2005 - 280 North American shows - 2,880,726 tickets sold
she did an additional 45 shows Worldwide which are not counted in this earnings tally "Cher played 325 dates,grossing well over $200 million and playing to more than 3 million people" 5-28-2005 Ray Waddell Billboard
$221.5 million Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band "Rising Tour"
August 7,2002 to Oct 4,2003 - 121 shows - over 3 million tickets sold
$194,754,447 Madonna "Confessions Tour"
May 21,2006 to Sept 21,2006 - 60 shows - 1,209,618 tickets sold
--9-20-2006 Billboard reports that Madonna has the Top Grossing tour by a female artists, grossing 193.7 million, besting Cher's Farewell tour gross of 192.5 million from 273 shows. (Cher's tour DID have 325 shows)
Wikipedia has Madonna's Confession's tour gross at $260,119,588.
$192.8 Million The Rolling Stones "Bridges To Babylon Tour"
Sept 4 1997 to Sept 19 1998
According to Nielsen Media Research:
"Celine Dion:A New Day" CBS 3-25-2003 9.1 rating and 13.8 million viewers
"Cher:The Farewell Tour" NBC 4-8-2003 11 rating and 16.6 million viewers
*Cher had Three Variety shows from 8-1-1971 to 8-31-1977, the shows ended when Sonny and Cher chose not to renew their TV contract (according to Robert Wussler CBS-TV President April 1977)
Bruce Springsteen CBS 2-28-03 3.7 rating and 5.4 million viewers
Madonna Confessions Tour" 11-22-2006 NBC 4.6 million viewers
"U2 Beautiful Day" CBS 11-29-02 2.2 rating and 3.6 million viewer |