One Direction had the highest-grossing concert tour of 2014, with $282.2 million in reported ticket gross, according to Pollstar’s 2014 Year End Top 100 Worldwide Tours. Justin Timberlake was second at $184.7 million and The Rolling Stones third at $165.1 million. The ranking counts shows played during calendar 2014 only, and the figures are reported gross rather than audited accounts.
The top ten by reported 2014 gross
Pollstar tabulated every worldwide show worked between January 1 and December 31, 2014, and reports ticket sales in U.S. dollars. The figures below are Pollstar’s gross totals in millions, rounded to one decimal place.
| Rank | Act | Reported 2014 gross (Pollstar) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | One Direction | $282.2 million |
| 2 | Justin Timberlake | $184.7 million |
| 3 | The Rolling Stones | $165.1 million |
| 4 | Katy Perry | $153.3 million |
| 5 | Beyoncé / Jay Z | $109.7 million |
| 6 | Michael Bublé | $105.1 million |
| 7 | Lady Gaga | $88.7 million |
| 8 | Eagles | $86.5 million |
| 9 | Paul McCartney | $84.5 million |
| 10 | Bruno Mars | $84.0 million |
The gap at the top is large. One Direction’s total was $97.5 million more than Justin Timberlake’s, and the margin between the first and tenth acts is $198.2 million.
What the ranking measures
Calendar 2014 shows only
The list ranks ticket gross earned from shows played in 2014. It is not a measure of each tour’s full multi-year earnings, so a tour that continued into later years is credited only for its 2014 dates.
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Gross is not attendance or price
Gross combines how many tickets were sold with what they sold for. Pollstar’s chart also lists average ticket price, average tickets per show, total tickets, cities and shows, and agency for each act. Those measures explain why two tours can rank differently from their attendance numbers, but they are not interchangeable with gross.
Reported figures, not audited accounts
Pollstar describes its amounts as based on reported information and its own extensive research. Treat them as the best published tally for 2014, not as audited final accounts from promoters or artists.
One Direction and the Rolling Stones: scale against price
The top two acts in attendance and the third act in gross show two very different strategies. The Los Angeles Times’ 2014 report on the year’s top grosses contrasted One Direction’s 69 shows with the Rolling Stones’ 25. The table below combines Pollstar’s figures with the LA Times numbers where Pollstar’s chart is not quoted.
| Measure | One Direction | The Rolling Stones |
|---|---|---|
| Reported 2014 gross | $282.2 million (Pollstar) | $165.1 million (Pollstar) |
| Shows | 69 shows in 44 cities (Pollstar) | 25 shows (Los Angeles Times, 2014) |
| Total tickets | 3,439,563 (Pollstar) | Not stated in the Pollstar figures cited here; implied at about 1.8 million by dividing gross by Pollstar’s average price |
| Average ticket price | $82.05 (Los Angeles Times, 2014) | $91.42 (Pollstar); the Los Angeles Times reports $191.42, which conflicts |
| Gross per show (calculated by dividing reported gross by show count) | About $4.1 million | About $6.6 million |
One Direction’s totals fit together arithmetically. Multiplying 3,439,563 tickets by $82.05 gives roughly $282.2 million, matching the reported gross. The Rolling Stones earned more per date while selling fewer shows, which the LA Times attributed to a strategy aimed at making as much as possible from each individual date.
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Why the 78,172 figure needs a footnote
The Los Angeles Times reported One Direction averaging 78,172 tickets per gig across 69 shows, and Pollstar’s chart also records that figure. The numbers do not work that way. Dividing 3,439,563 total tickets by 44 cities gives 78,172, while dividing by 69 shows gives about 49,850. The 78,172 figure is therefore best read as an average per city, not per show.
The Rolling Stones’ average price
Pollstar’s chart gives the Rolling Stones an average ticket price of $91.42, while the Los Angeles Times story gives $191.42. The two cannot both be right. This does not affect the gross ranking, which is based on Pollstar’s reported totals, but it does affect any calculation of per-ticket or implied-attendance figures for the band. The Pollstar number is the one used in this article.
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Pollstar editor Gary Bongiovanni described the prominence of One Direction and Justin Timberlake this way: “There are definitely some cyclic powers at work here.” The phrase points to a pattern in which a small number of acts with large, active fan bases dominate the top of the year-end chart in a given year, rather than to any single cause.
The same LA Times report also noted a wider industry trend in the United States. Billboard figures it cited showed North American attendance fell 1.5% year over year while domestic grosses rose 3.4%. Those figures cover North America only and are not part of Pollstar’s worldwide ranking. They show that gross can rise while attendance falls, which is the same gap between price and volume seen in the One Direction and Rolling Stones comparison.
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For a quick guide to the top three, the scale of One Direction’s lead, the Rolling Stones’ price-driven approach, and Justin Timberlake’s strong second place cover most of what the 2014 year-end figures reveal.
Use the ranking as a snapshot of 2014 earnings, and check the measure behind any claim before comparing acts across years.
For reference, the figures in this article are the reported Pollstar totals for 2014 and the LA Times 2014 report, as published at the time. They have not been revised since.
This article covers the 2014 ranking only and does not compare with later years.
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This is the end of the article.
Gross totals are shown as reported and rounded.
Shows are counted as played during 2014.
Pollstar is the source for the ranking.
Figures in U.S. dollars.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
