Coldplay top touring artist

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Pollstar announces the 25 most popular touring artists of the millennium, led by Coldplay with 24.8 million tickets sold since 2001.

Pollstar has announced the “25 Most Popular Touring Artists of the Millennium,” led by Coldplay, U2, Ed Sheeran, Dave Matthews Band, and Taylor Swift. The list is based on worldwide ticket sales reported to Pollstar from 2001 through the end of 2025.

Collectively, the 25 headlining acts sold more than 340 million tickets over the past 25 years, generating grosses exceeding $35.7 billion. The list showcases the most popular artists worldwide based on pure ticket sales.

Coldplay came in at the top spot with over 24.8 million tickets sold at 731 concerts since 2001. That year, the band toured in support of their debut, Parachutes (2000); seven tours later, their “Music of the Spheres World Tour” has sold a whopping 13.1 million tickets since launching in 2022. It holds the record for the best-attended tour of all time and has the second-highest gross of any tour on record with $1.52 billion reported during its multi-year run, and hasn’t yet officially wrapped.

U2 is ranked at #2, selling 20.2 million tickets. The group’s “360° Tour,” from 2009 to 2011, reigned as the highest-grossing tour of all time for eight years. Ed Sheeran, the #3 artist with 19.6 million tickets, broke that record with his “÷ (Divide) Tour” that wrapped in 2019 after a two and a half year run.

U2’s “360°” gross hit $736 million, while Sheeran’s “Divide” ended at $776 million. Sheeran has since broken his own record with the “+-=÷x (Mathematics) Tour,” which wrapped earlier this year with $807 million.

The highest-ranked American headliner in the top 25 is Dave Matthews Band, which made its way to #4 with a 25-year ticket count reaching an impressive 19.5 million. 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 at #10 and orchestra conductor André Rieu at #14.

Taylor Swift rounds out the top five with 18.9 million tickets sold and a $3.1 billion gross, most of which came from “The Eras Tour,” which now holds the record as the highest-grossing tour of all time. It grossed over $2 billion from 10.2 million tickets sold in 2023 and 2024. That tour, the sixth of her career, set numerous venue attendance records worldwide.

Elsewhere on the list, Kenny Chesney is the highest-ranked country headliner at #7 with 18.2 million in ticket sales. Beyoncé came in at #13 with a sales total of 11.8 million.

The average ticket price among all 25 artists collectively is $104.83, but Swift has the highest average at $165.54, followed by The Rolling Stones (#12) with $162.96.

Together, ticket prices and higher ticket sales are two of the primary driving factors behind the live industry’s unprecedented level of growth over the last 25 years. In 2001, the average ticket price for all events reported that year was $36.68; by 2025 it had risen to $90.27—a 146% increase. The number of tickets sold jumped 214% in the last 25 years.

Of the 25 most popular artists this century, all but five have topped 10 million in ticket sales worldwide, with 19 of them surpassing the $1 billion threshold.