Coldplay, U2 and Ed Sheeran Top Pollstar’s Most Popular Touring Artists of the New Millennium

new York:Much has been made about the global tour economy in the last few years. Take, for example, that tours grossing over a billion dollars are a new phenomenon in the 2020s; It’s a benchmark Taylor Swift first surpassed with her groundbreaking Eras Tour in 2023, and a feat recently achieved by The Weeknd. So who are the most popular touring artists of the last two decades, based on ticket sales? The results may surprise you.

On Monday, ahead of Pollstar’s 2025 year-end issue, the concert publication ranked the top 25 “Most Popular Touring Artists of the Millennium” based on ticket sales from Jan. 1, 2001, through the end of 2025. Are you at the top of the list? Coldplay sold 24.8 million tickets. Next in line are U2 with 20.2 million ticket sales and Ed Sheeran with 19.6 million ticket sales.

The top five are Dave Matthews Band with approximately 19.6 million ticket sales and Swift with approximately 18.9 million ticket sales. Remember that his first album was released in 2006.

Pollstar chart data is taken from reported and estimated box office data for events occurring between 2001 and 2025.

Swift is the only woman in the top 10. He is 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 comes in at No. 11 with nearly 13 million tickets. Beyoncé is in 13th place with 11.8 million tickets sold; Madonna ranks 15th with nearly 11 million tickets.

Sold tickets differ from gross money

Don’t get me wrong: It’s important to note that number of tickets sold is a different measurement than gross money.

As previously mentioned, Swift’s Eras Tour became the first tour to surpass the billion-dollar mark in 2023, according to Pollstar’s 2023 year-end charts. Then it broke its own record: In December 2024, Pollstar earned $2.2 billion in revenue over the Eras Tour’s nearly two-year run, maintaining its lead as the highest-grossing tour of all time.

Swift grossed over $3.1 billion in the new millennium, according to a new chart released Monday. Compare this to Coldplay, which leads in most tickets sold, trailing with nearly 2.5 billion in revenue.

In September, Pollstar reported that cumulative grosses from Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour reached $1.39 billion. It was also released in 2022 and runs until 2025.

Last month, The Weeknd’s After Hours ‘Til Dawn Tour officially surpassed $1 billion, according to Live Nation.