In January 2018, Elton John announced his impending retirement from touring, but only after a multi-year farewell world tour to say goodbye. started the round Goodbye Yellow Brick Road tour in September of that year and began an unprecedented career that has yet to end.
According to data reported by Billboard Boxscore, the tour Goodbye Yellow Brick Road tour grossed $817.9 million from 278 performances to date, more than any other tour in Boxscore history. bypassing The journey of division Of Ed Sheeran ($776.4 million), is the first tour on file for board to surpass the $800 million benchmark.
Sheeran set the record in 2019 towards the end of his racing career. 258 performances, replacing The 360° Tour from U2 ($736.4 million).
Both tours were lengthy, playing six and five continents respectively, spending most, if not all, of their time in arenas.
In contrast, Elton John spent 2018-2020 and the first quarter of 2022 in arenas across North America, Europe and Oceania, before advancing to arenas on every continent for the tour’s final year.
rain of dollars
That breakthrough paid off. Elton’s first three spells in America were combined with $268.2 million in 116 performances. Its run from July to November 2022 brought in $222.1 million, or 83% of gross receipts, from just 33 performances.
Likewise, its European stage has surpassed its sand stages, $69.2 million to $49.9 million, despite playing 12 fewer shows. And more recently, his per-show average gross in Australia and New Zealand has soared from $2.5 million in 2019-20 in stadiums to $5.1 million in stadiums.
In total, the January 23 Oceania leg grossed $40.9 million and sold 242,000 tickets. Combined with updated North American receipts to account for previously unreported platinum increases, total tour revenue increases goodbye exceeded $800 millionwith 51 European shows still to play until 8 July.
Around the world
While the stadium tour’s first two years certainly set the stage for Elton John to top the all-time leaderboard, it took three full stops in North America and Europe. to enter the all-time top 40, with $217.8 million after 108 performances.
His return to the United States and Canada in the fall of 2019 brought his tour total to $292.3 million, climbing to number 20.
Oceania’s next tranche, from November 2019 to March 2020 (thank goodness, it was due to end days before the global lockdown began) brought its total gross to $385.4 million, climbing to number 13.
John’s post-COVID North American arena run adds $100 million, climbs into top 10 all-time at number 6 with $485.7 million.
The stadium run in Europe took it to No. 4, followed by a push to No. 2 with shows in North America, eventually climbing to the all-time crown with a short run in Oceania from January 8-24.
The Rolling Stones in the sights
Ranking by tickets sold, Elton John still has a long way to go in the all-time rankings.
The yellow brick road of farewell sold 5.3 million tickets, behind previous record holders sheeran and u2in addition to the tour Voodoo room tour Of The Rolling Stones (1994-95), the tour A tour full of dreams Of Coldplay (2016-17) and the Not in This Lifetime… Tour (2016-19) of the Guns N’ Roses.
The split turn Sheeran it remains at the top of the all-time attendance charts with 8.9 million in attendance.
While it is nearly impossible for John to break the ticket sales record with just one leg of performances, his European dates will allow him to move to Coldplay and Guns N’ Roses, allegedly ranked fourth on the all-time list.
Returning to the “intimate” arenas for the final stretch, John may set his sights on yet another unprecedented landmark, which is sure to come close and it will likely cross $900 million for its final performance.
Returning to the reports of John’s Ice on Fire tour (1986), and including his co-headlining part with Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Tina Turner and, many times, Billy Joel, John grossed $1.863 billion and sold 19.9 million tickets from 1,573 reported performances.
This is the race and the highest attendance for a solo artist in history of Boxscore, having passed Bruce Springsteen and Madonna during this round.
In the summary of board 2019 Top 125 artists of all time, John finished in third place, behind the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
CJL extension
Source: Clarin
