Concert Tour Success in North America: An Examination of the Top 100 Tours from 1997 to 2005

Radio airplay, album sales and concerts provide revenues to songwriters, music labels, and musicians. From 1997 to 2005, concert revenues in North America increased from $1.3 billion to $3.1 billion. We analyze concert trends by investigating pricing and attendance, the superstar phenomenon, and structural changes in the way the concert tour industry operates. To conduct this analysis we look at the performance of the top 100 tours from 1997 to 2005. These data comprise a chart of sorts—an annual review of the performance of the concert industry, with performers being ranked in terms of gross concert revenues.