Madonna and more Earns Lotsa Da Cash
by Tim Cashmere

24 December 2004

What better way to recap 2004 years since the birth of Jesus than a good old fashioned rich list? So here you go, the top five highest grossing tours of 2004 according to music industry rag Billboard are:

5. Metallica. Their St. Anger world tour earned them a cool $US53.8 million ($AU70.3 million). It was their first tour with new bassist Robert Trujillo and saw them traverse the globe, playing on six continents.

4. Simon and Garfunkle. It had been their first tour together for years and they managed to score $US59 million ($AU77.1 million)

3. Shania Twain. This pop country superstar captured the world's attention as she effortlessly combined two of the world's most popular genres. The resulting tour landed her with $US62.5 million ($AU81.7 million)

2. Prince. While the world was shaking its big natural booty to 'Musicology', one of the catchiest funk songs released in years, Prince was raking in $US90.2 million ($AU117.9 million).

1. Madonna. What a career! What a performer! This forty six year old superstar proved she still had it when her reinvention tour managed to make her $US125 million ($AU163.4 million).

Other honorable mentions include French Canadian pop star Celine Dion, who would've qualified for third place, earning $US77 million ($AU100.4 million), but since her entire "tour" consisted of a residency at Las Vegas' Caesar's Palace casino, it could not be included as a "tour". The Red Hot Chili Peppers earned $US17.2 million ($AU22.4 million) from just three shows in London's Hyde Park in June.







For those who need sources:
Top Tours 2004

And to think that Prince did it with top ticket prices 1/4 of what Madonna charged.

Where's kenny in this list? Other sources had him around the nr 3 spot all the time?

"guitars, tiki bars...and a whole lotta love"

kev1n said:

madonna topped the list on a 'global' basis, prince topped us/canada

TOP US/CANADA TOURS
1) Prince $87.4m (£45.5m)
2) Celine Dion $80.4m (£41.8m)
3) Madonna $79.5m (£41.3m)
4) Metallica $60.5m (£31.4m)
5) Bette Midler $59.4m (£30.9m)
6) Van Halen $54.3m (£28.2m)
7) Kenny Chesney $50.8m (£26.4m)
8) Sting $50.1m (£26m)
9) Toby Keith $43.7m (£22.7m)
10) Elton John $43.3m (£22.5m)
Source: Pollstar