Coldplay, U2 and Ed Sheeran top Pollstar's most popular touring artists
of the new millennium
[December 09, 2025]
By MARIA SHERMAN
New York (AP) — Much has been made about the global touring economy in
the last few years. Take, for example, that tours grossing over a
billion dollars is a new phenomenon in the 2020s — a benchmark first
crossed by Taylor Swift in 2023 with her landmark Eras Tour and an
accomplishment recently reached by The Weeknd. But who are the most
popular touring artists of the last two decades based on ticket sales?
The results may surprise you.
On Monday, in advance of Pollstar's 2025 year-end issue, the concert
trade publication ranked the top 25 “Most Popular Touring Artists of the
Millennium,” based on ticket sales from Jan. 1, 2001, to the end of
2025. Leading the list? Coldplay with 24.8 million tickets sold. Next,
is U2, with 20.2 million tickets sold, and Ed Sheeran, with 19.6
million.
Rounding out the top five is Dave Matthews Band, with nearly 19.6
million tickets sold, and Swift, with roughly 18.9 million. Keep in mind
that her debut album was released in 2006.
Pollstar chart data is pulled from reported and estimated box office
data from events that occurred between 2001 and 2025.
Swift is the only woman featured in the top 10. She's followed by Bruce
Springsteen and the E Street Band, Kenny Chesney, Metallica, Bon Jovi
and Elton John.
In fact, there are only four women in the top 25: Pink is at No. 11 with
nearly 13 million tickets. Beyoncé is No. 13 with 11.8 million tickets
sold; Madonna is listed at No. 15 with almost 11 million tickets.
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Jonny Buckland, from left, Chris Martin, Will Champion, and Guy
Berryman of Coldplay performs a song from the band's 10th studio
album "Moon Music" on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in the Williamsburg
section of the Brooklyn borough of New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP,
file)
 Tickets sold differs from money
grossed
Don't get it twisted: It should be mentioned that numbers of tickets
sold is a different metric than money grossed.
As previously mentioned, in 2023, Swift’s Eras Tour became the first
tour to cross the billion-dollar mark, according to Pollstar’s 2023
year-end charts. Then she broke her own record: In December 2024,
Pollstar announced that the Eras Tour brought in $2.2 billion across
its nearly two-year run, extending its lead as the highest-grossing
tour of all time.
According to the new chart published Monday, Swift has grossed over
$3.1 billion in the new millennium. Compare that to Coldplay, who
leads with most tickets sold, and follows with a gross of nearly 2.5
billion.
In September, Pollstar reported that cumulative grosses from
Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour reached $1.39 billion. It also
launched in 2022 and ran through 2025.
And last month, The Weeknd’s After Hours 'Til Dawn Tour officially
crossed the $1 billion mark, according to Live Nation.
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