Entertainment data company Pollstar has released the most popular touring artists of the millennium ranked by total number of tickets sold between 2001 through to the end of 2025.
Coldplay, U2, Ed Sheeran, Dave Matthews Band and Taylor Swift have come out on top, with the collective 25 headlining acts selling over 340 million tickets over the past 25 years, amassing over $35 billion in ticket sales.
Coldplay holds the number one spot, with over 24.8 million tickets sold at over 700 concerts since 2001. Their most recent Music of the Sphere World Tour holds the record for best-attended tour of all time, and has the second-highest gross of any tour, with $1.52 billion reported during its multi-year run.
U2 have been ranked number two, with their 2009 - 2011 360º Tour reigning as the highest-grossing of all time for eight consecutive years. Ed Sheeran, who is the third most popular touring artist, beat this record with his ÷ (Divide) Tour that wrapped in 2019 after running for two and a half years and ending at $776 million. Sheeran has since broken this with the +-=÷x (Mathematics) Tour that wrapped earlier this year with $807 million.
The highest ranking American headliner is the Dave Matthews Band. With a 25-year ticket count reaching 19.5 billion, the band is one of only three artists in the top 25 with more than a thousand shows recorded in the box-office archives since 2001. The other two are Elton John and orchestra conductor André Rieu.
Taylor Swift rounds out the top five, with 18.9 billion tickets sold and a $3.1 billion gross, which came from The Eras Tour – the highest-grossing tour of all time. The sixth of her career, the tour set countless venue attendance records around the world.
Elsewhere in the top 25, Beyonce represents the R&B genre at number 13 and The Rolling Stones are still selling out stadiums ranking at number 12.
Ticket prices and higher ticket sales are driving the live industry’s growth over the past 25 years. In 2001 the average ticket price for all events reported that year was $36.68; in 2025 it rose to $90.27, a 146% increase. The number of concert tickets sold increased even more, 214% in the last 25 years, while grosses leaped a staggering 673%.
