Ed Sheeran’s Divide Tour which ran throughout 2018 earned more money than any other artist in Pollstar’s 30 year history.
Sheeran, who mostly toured alone but occasionally performed alongside stars like Elton John and Beyoncé made $432 million from his tour. Taylor Swift came in second with earnings worth $345.1 million, nearly $90 million less than the English song writer.
Beyoncé and Jay Z came in third with combined earnings of $254. Million while Pink earned $169.2 million for the fourth position. Bruno Mars’ tour grossed $167.6 million, ranking him one spot ahead of the Eagles band. Justin Timberlake, Roger Waters, U2 and The Rolling Stars completed the top 10 highest grossing tours by bands and individual artists.
Despite leading the gross earnings in 2018, Pollstar described Sheeran’s tour as a mix of medium-priced tickets.
“The Divide Tour was a perfect storm of medium-priced tickets, future classic singles that exploded globally, a compelling solo performance that embraced audience participation, a productions that was successfully upgraded from arenas to stadiums, and having an online presence that connected him directly with fan,” Pollstar’s Andy Gensler said.
Ed Sheeran’s tour started in mid-2017 and will conclude later in 2019. So far, the highest grossing tour ever was U2’s 360 tour that grossed $736.4 million in the course of two years (2009-2011).
