The legendary Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds Tour has outdone Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour in single-night revenue, pulling in a jaw-dropping £10,345,659 per show.
Sir Mick Jagger (81), Keith Richards (80), and Ronnie Wood (77) topped the charts for per-night earnings, according to Pollstar’s annual Voice of Live year-end review, which tracks global concert revenue. The iconic rock band continues to dominate the live music scene, proving that even after six decades, their classic hits still attract massive crowds.
Their 18 shows sold out in record time, and while Swift’s 149 global performances broke box office records—making her the first artist to earn over a billion dollars—her nightly earnings fell about £10k short of the Stones’. Despite this, Swift’s Eras Tour still ended with an astonishing £1.74bn total, more than double the earnings of previous record-holder Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
Swift’s average ticket price was £180, compared to the Stones’ £250. The Rolling Stones finished the year with £235 million in total earnings, while Swift’s figures for 2024 alone nearly matched Elton John’s five-year total of £830 million.
The demand for Swift’s shows was also far greater than any other artist, outpacing Liam Gallagher by 196%. Foo Fighters, Bruce Springsteen, and Pink rounded out the top five, while Coldplay, in third place, earned £6,186,482 per concert on their Music of the Spheres tour—40% less than the Stones and almost five times less than Madonna’s earnings.
Pollstar’s Editor-in-Chief Andy Gensler noted that 2024 has been a record-breaking year for the live music industry, with the top two tours of all time running concurrently. Despite global inflation, the industry continues to thrive.
Swift, recognizing the hard work of her team, quietly distributed over $197 million in bonuses across her Eras Tour, rewarding everyone from truck drivers and caterers to security, band members, and production staff. Her generosity included a $100,000 bonus to truck drivers during the U.S. leg of the tour.
In addition to her successful tour, Swift recently became the world’s richest female musical artist with a net worth of $1.6 billion, according to Forbes. This fortune has been built entirely through her music career, including royalties and concerts. Amid a business dispute over her catalog with music mogul Scooter Braun, she has re-recorded her first six albums, which has proven to be a lucrative decision, further boosting the demand for her music.
With the Eras Tour breaking records and creating demand so high that the U.S. Congress investigated Ticketmaster’s role in ticket sales, Swift’s impact on the live entertainment industry is undeniable. Pollstar editor Andy Gensler referred to her as “the torchbearer for the live industry” and predicted it would be a long time before anyone matches her unprecedented success.