2018.01.04 - Billboard - Guns N’ Roses’ Not in This Lifetime Tour Now Fourth-Biggest Tour Ever: $475 Million Earned (and Counting)

Guns N’ Roses’ Not in This Lifetime Tour Now Fourth-Biggest Tour Ever: $475 Million Earned (and Counting)

By Bob Allen

Guns N’ Roses’ Not In This Lifetime… Tour topped the $475 million mark in gross sales with the wrap of the band’s 2017 touring schedule on Nov. 29. The tour – set to resume in Europe on June 3 – has played to more than 4.3 million fans worldwide at 123 headlining performances on five continents – and that does not include the crowds at various festival appearances during the first two years of the run.

The ongoing tour now ranks as the fourth-highest grossing tour of all time, based on Billboard’s Boxscore archives, surpassing Roger Waters’ The Wall Live tour that earned $459 million from 2010 through 2013. U2 heads up the all-time list with $736 million from its 360° stadium tour (2009-2011) followed by The Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang at $558 million (2005-2007). Coldplay is third with its recently completed A Head Full of Dreams trek that grossed $523 million (2016-2017).

Among the highlights of the Guns N’ Roses tour so far: The highest-grossing engagement was a two-night stint at London Stadium in June 2017 that racked up $17.6 million at the box office from 140,877 sold tickets. In July 2016, the band logged its top North American gross of $11.6 million at MetLife Stadium in the metropolitan New York City market. Two other headlining runs have topped the $10 million mark in sales: $11 million in Buenos Aires and $10.7 million in São Paulo – both with two-show runs in November 2016 during the tour’s first Latin American leg.

The most recent shows reported to Billboard from the Not In This Lifetime… tour were the final 11 concerts of 2017 that occurred in November. The $17.7 million in grosses from those shows earns GN’R the top slot on this week’s Hot Tours recap (see list below).

Meanwhile, Lady Gaga also lands on the Hot Tours tally this week with the final 2017 box office counts reported from her Joanne Tour. Sold ticket revenue from six venues, all hosting shows in December, totaled $10.2 million – bringing the tour’s overall gross to $85 million since its August 1 launch in Vancouver. From two separate treks through North American cities – August/September and November/December – the pop diva has performed for more than 700,000 fans in both arenas and stadiums.

Her 2018 schedule begins on Jan. 14 with a two-night run at Barcelona’s 16,000-seat arena, Palau Sant Jordi, the first stop on a six-week trek through Europe. She is set to perform 18 concerts in 10 countries before wrapping in Berlin on Feb. 23.
HOT TOURS – Jan. 2, 2018
Ranked by Gross. Compiled from Boxscores reported Dec. 26-Jan. 1

Rank ACT
Total Gross
Show Date Range
Venue/City (Shows/Sellouts)
Total Attendance (Capacity)

1 GUNS N’ ROSES
$17,725,922
Nov. 7-28
BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wis. (1/0)
Toyota Center, Houston (1/1)
Bridgestone Arena, Nashville (1/1)
BOK Center, Tulsa, Okla. (1/1)
T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas (1/1)
Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, Calif. (1/1)
Oracle Arena, Oakland (1/1)
Staples Center, Los Angeles (1/0)
The Forum, Inglewood, Calif. (2/1)
Valley View Casino Center, San Diego (1/0)
122,314 (128,234)

2 LADY GAGA
$10,201,013
Dec. 8-18
American Airlines Center, Dallas (1/1)
Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City (1/1)
Pepsi Center, Denver (1/1)
Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City (1/1)
T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas (1/1)
The Forum, Inglewood, Calif. (1/1)
85,419 (85,419)

3 MUSE
$1,293,990
Dec. 18
Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne (1/1)
12,780 (12,780)

4 TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA
$1,106,290
Dec. 6-8
Richmond (Va.) Coliseum (1/0)
INTRUST Bank Arena, Wichita, Kan. (1/0)
17,818 (20,328)

5 PENTATONIX
$799,360
Dec. 9-10
Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Conn. (2/0)
13,080 (13,436)

6 SEBASTIAN MANISCALCO
$679,972
Nov. 24-Dec. 8
Broward Center, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (4/4)
W.L. Lyons Brown Theatre, Louisville, Ky. (1/0)
11,013 (11,708)

7 MICHAEL BALL & ALFIE BOE
$617,445
Dec. 10
SSE Hydro, Glasgow, U.K. (1/0)
8,120 (8,218)

8 STEPS
$603,840
Dec. 7
SSE Hydro, Glasgow, U.K. (1/0)
11,027 (11,190)

9 HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS IN CONCERT
$591,690
Nov. 25-Dec. 9
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami (2/0)
SSE Hydro, Glasgow, U.K. (1/0)
8,576 (9,300)

10 CASTING CROWNS
$450,435
Dec. 9
Target Center, Minneapolis (1/1)
12,070 (12,070)

https://www.billboard.com/pro/guns-n-roses-not-in-this-lifetime-tour-fourth-biggest/