AC/DC @ The Izod Center (more by Ryan Muir)

If anyone had any doubt that touring is where the money is in the music business, a quick look at the top Moneymakers for 2008 should hammer the point home.

Regardless of genre, retail sales or radio play, each of the 20 acts on Billboard's Moneymakers list toured in 2008. (Taylor Swift mostly opened for Brad Paisley but doesn't get credit for that revenue). For almost all of them, touring generated the most revenue. And in a year when recorded-music sales declined yet again, many earned more at the box office than ever before. [Billboard]

I hope Kanye West can handle being below The Jonas Brothers (and Lil Wayne). The whole list below...

Continue reading "the list of musicians who made the most money in 2008"

Bruce Springsteen @ Giants Stadium, July 2008 (more by Eric M. Townsend)

1. Madonna ($105 million)
2. Celine Dion ($94 million)
3. The Eagles ($73.4 million)
4. Kenny Chesney ($72.2 million)
5. Bon Jovi ($70.4 million)
6. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band ($69.3 million)
7. Neil Diamond ($59.8 million)
8. Rascal Flatts ($55.8 million)
9. The Police ($48 million)
10. Tina Turner ($47.7 million)

"According to numbers released by concert trade magazine Pollstar, the Material Girl was the year's top concert draw in North America with ticket sales in excess of $105 million. After launching last summer in Wales, her Sticky & Sweet tour hit North America in early October for nearly eight weeks of concert dates. Worldwide the tour actually grossed more than $280 million, making Sticky & Sweet the highest-grossing tour ever by a solo artist." [EOnline]