Demonstrating that there’s no substitute for the live concert experience, U2 has once again taken the crown in Calendar’s (LA Times) annual Ultimate Top 10, a ranking that combines concert revenue with sales of recorded music.
U2 amassed $160.8 million for 2011, well ahead of runner-up Taylor Swift, whose combined earnings came to $126.8 million. Lady Gaga was the only other act to top $100 million, posting $109.4 million to place third.
Figures are drawn from Pollstar’s recently published tallies of North American box-office revenues and Nielsen SoundScan’s tracking of retail music sales in the US. The Ultimate Top 10 uses figures from North America because they are tracked more reliably than in many other parts of the world.
Most of these musicians pulled in even more than these totals with ever-expanding ancillary income sources such as tour merchandise, product endorsements, video game sales, ring tones and clothing and jewellery lines. Two major income streams, however, demonstrate where bread is buttered for different acts, and those most generously compensated typically do it on the road.
Here are the numbers:
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1. U2
$160.8 million. The Irish quartet wrapped up its stadium tour in grand fashion, leaving behind the highest-grossing tour of all time, according to Pollstar. With just $3.2 million last year from album sales and $1.6 million from track downloads, the band piled on an additional $156 million in the final round of shows on its 360 Tour.
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2. Taylor Swift
$126.8 million. Swift turned 22 last month, but she’s already become an international star, selling out arenas and stadiums across the globe. Her $97.7-million North American tour gross was topped with $20.4-million worth of album sales and $8.7 million in digital track revenue. |
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3. Lady Gaga
$109.4 million. The chameleonic pop chanteuse burst out of the gates last year with the fastest-selling album in nearly six years, ultimately yielding
$31.1 million in revenue from album sales, plus an additional $14.6 million from 12.8 million digital downloads. That was still considerably less than the $63.7 million she earned while playing 39 shows for her Little Monsters in arenas and amphitheatres around the continent. |
4. Kenny Chesney
$98.5 million. It wasn’t a big year at retail for the favourite son of Luttrell, Tenn., who logged just a shade over $9 million in album sales, plus $4.9 million in downloaded tracks. But Chesney keeps packing them in on the concert trail as one of only three acts — along with U2 and Swift — to sell more than 1 million concert tickets last year. That brought him $84.6 million in concert revenue. |
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5. Adele
$92.8 million. Adele’s throat troubles left her with just 15 concerts in North America that grossed $2.5 million. So the vast majority of her Ultimate Top 10 take is the result of the stunning numbers posted by 21 and Rolling in the Deep. Her album sales figure out at $74.1 million, with nearly $16.2 million more from sales of 14.2 million digital tracks. |
6. Lil Wayne
$87.6 million. New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne divided things nearly evenly last year, posting $44.4 million on the road and about $43.2 million from album and singles sales. He also bucked the long trend of rap faring poorly in the concert business; with the success of the Kanye West/Jay-Z tour, other rappers may now reason that success isn’t utterly dependent on record sales. |
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7. Glee cast
$65.7 million. OK, so the cast of Glee isn’t technically a performer, but the collective from Fox’s hit show delivered solidly at the cash register and the ticket sales window. The group tour brought in $27.1 million, while sales of albums and tracks added an additional $38.6 million, nearly half of that from individual song downloads. |
8. Kanye West/Jay-Z
$65.6 million. The hip-hop dream team came together and stayed together long enough to craft a hit album, The Throne, and a tour that overflowed with chemistry — and hits. As a duo, they rallied for $48.3 million in concert and an additional $17.3-million worth of album and track sales. |
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9. Bon Jovi
$63.1 million. This New Jersey outfit keeps on rocking and rocking and rocking .... There was no new album last year, and just $6 million in album and single sales. But on the road, the band had another nice day with $57.1 million at the box office. |
10. Katy Perry
$58 million. Santa Barbara’s cheerleader-turned-pop queen led the field in sales of downloads, posting a record 15.2 million tracks last year, which allowed her to slip past some tight competition from Britney Spears and Elton John to take the No. 10 slot. Her tour gross of $28.4 million, combined with album revenue of $12.3 million and $17.3 million in downloaded hits, ought to offer some comfort in light of her recent split with hubby Russell Brand. |
(Los Angeles Times)
Who among these do you want to see performing in Calcutta?
Tell t2@abp.in
EHSAAN NOORANI takes t2 through 10 music trends he hopes will emerge in 2012.
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Indian bands find a place on the international music map
It’s a huge picture to be a part of. What Raghu Dixit (in picture) has been doing, performing all over the world in his own language — from US, Japan and Russia to Glastonbury. These guys have taken their sound out on their own and invested their own money. I hope that there will be more to follow this route because it works and has good returns. . |
More OSTs and collaborations in Bollywood
After Akon (Chammak challo), we’ve got a lot of enquiries from a lot of foreign musicians and music producers who would like to collaborate and put their song into a Bollywood film. But that also depends on the kind of investment people here are willing to make. |
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More international music festivals in India
We hope to see more international acts trooping in and being organised in a proper manner, unlike the Metallica fiasco. A lot more bands I believe are interested in coming to the country but we are yet to put the infrastructure in place. I want to see the infrastructure develop, which is not just about investments but also technology and detailing, like it happens at concerts abroad. That is still missing here. The F1 has helped the scene grow a little bigger. It’s a respected platform everywhere in the world with big bands performing. Lady Gaga (in picture) and Metallica helped raise the bar for India. |
Internet radio or e-radio webcast
Internet radio will eventually be the most accessible platform for music. With Internet accessibility on practically every phone, Internet radio will be a good contender. It will help make way for independent artistes to emerge and generate greater revenue. |
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Amendment of the music copyright law
Every time it comes up, there’s some other bill that topples it. The proposed amendment of the 1957 copyright act has already been presented once in Parliament and I hope it is presented soon. It will ensure music rights and us getting paid royalties, for once. Online music stores and labels will have to share their revenues with artistes and any distribution will require the creator’s consent. |
SEL going non-filmi
As Shankar Ehsaan Loy we want to move out of films a little bit. We have a lot of films lined up in 2012 for which we will be doing a lot of collaborations but on a non-film level. Now, making videos is not expensive. You can put your stuff out on YouTube and VH1 is interested, although not yet in stuff that is Hindi. They might be if they receive material that is non-film. We want to go into the studio, record material and put it out. |
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YouTube as a bigger marketing tool
Now that YouTube has started monetising video streams, one can go commercial on YouTube. It makes a lot of sense for musicians to put out their music assured of royalty to artistes and content owners. Look at what happened to Kolaveri di. |
Non-film music becomes more popular
Indian pop and rock is likely to become bigger because music labels have started smaller operations to promote non-film music. Music channels are expected to step up live and unplugged shows. Move away from film songs
and source other sounds. |
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The music instrument market grows
Fender has plans of going big in India with promotions, gigs, shops, getting more guitar players on board and presenting it all over the country. With more people using Fender guitars, more big brands should follow suit. There are a lot of places in the Northeast like Shillong where this would give the music scene a real boost. After Delhi, there will be more Fender Music Academies coming up with lessons on guitar, keyboard, drums and vocals and a faculty comprising the best musicians. |
More live venues
All over, be it Bombay or Calcutta. Someplace Else is a working model of what works and does well. Cities like Bangalore should get rid of all these rules of packing up by 11.30 at night. It’s against creativity. It’s against the youth. Governments have to see that people need to enjoy themselves. It’s normal. |
1. U2
$160.8 million. The Irish quartet wrapped up its stadium tour in grand fashion, leaving behind the highest-grossing tour of all time, according to Pollstar. With just $3.2 million last year from album sales and $1.6 million from track downloads, the band piled on an additional $156 million in the final round of shows on its 360 Tour. |
