The 10 highest grossing tours of all time: Could Beyoncé break Elton John’s record?

William Mata

15 May 2023 at 4:57 am·2-min read

Beyonce will be playing in London in May (Es)

Beyonce’s 57-date Renaissance world tour could make £1.7 billion from ticket sales, Billboard has reported.

Queen Bey started the tour with shows in Stockholm last week and will be performing five shows in London from May 29 to June 4.

The singer famously crashed the internet when tickets went on sale and created jeopardy amongst fans who rushed for the chance to see her first tour since 2016.

But despite tickets costing from £122 to £842, fans have been more than happy to pay up and it could become one of the highest grossing tours of all time.

Here are the current top ten grossing concert tours of all time. These figures have not been adjusted for inflation.

Adam Clayton (L) and The Edge of Irish rock group U2 perform at Wembley Stadium in their 360 tour (AFP/Getty Images)

10. Metallica - WorldWired Tour (2016-19) $433,838,725

The heavy metal band played a mammoth 143 shows over four years to crack the top ten grossing of all time.

9. AC/DC - Black Ice World Tour (2008-10) $441,121,000

Another hard rock band who packed in an average of 29,024 fans to their shows across the world.

8. Roger Waters - The Wall Live (2010-13) $458,673,798

The former Pink Floyd man was a big draw for this solo tour of the world.

7. Coldplay - A Head Full of Dreams Tour (2016-17) $523,033,675

On the back of their 2015 album, the British band played their biggest ever live shows across all corners of the world.

6. The Rolling Stones - No Filter Tour (2017-21) $546,515,799

The rock legends only played 58 shows to earn the big bucks as an average of nearly 50,000 crammed in to see them.

5. The Rolling Stones - A Bigger Bang Tour (2005-07) $558,255,524

Them again! The only act with two tours in the top ten, this 147-show extravaganza made a then world record half a billion dollars in the mid-2000s.

Elton John on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour (Getty Images)

4. Guns N’ Roses - Not in This Lifetime... Tour (2016-19) $584,200,000

The US rock giants, who are set to headline Glastonbury this summer, played to huge arenas on their biggest tour.

3. U2 - 360 Tour (2009-11) $736,421,584

U2, the long-time record holders, still has the highest gross taking when adjusted for inflation and also a record number of average fans with 66,110 taking their seats per concert.

2. Ed Sheeran - Divide Tour (2017-19) $776,200,000

Off the album that launched The Shape of You and other international megahits, the British singer performed a tour that took the record…

1. Elton John - Farewell Yellow Brick Road (2018-23) $853,000,000

…That was until this year when Elton John claimed the top spot with his goodbye tour that recently took in London’s 02 Arena.