U2 have again trounced their opposition to top America’s Calendar annual Ultimate Top 10 list – a ranking that combines concert revenue with sales of recorded music.
The Irish rock gods earned $160.8 million for 2011 – well ahead of runner-up Taylor Swift, whose combined earnings came to $126.8 million. Lady Gaga was the only other act to top $100 million, posting $109.4 million to place third.
Country music road warrior Kenny Chesney came fourth with $98.5 million, while Adele rounded out the top five with $92.8 million – a figure that certainly would have been higher if vocal cord problems hadn’t forced her to cancel big chunks of her 2011 tour itinerary.
The list – which was published in the LA Times – combines figures from Pollstar’s tallies of North American box office revenues and Nielsen SoundScan’s tracking of retail music sales in the U.S.
However, most of these musicians pulled in even more earnings with ever-expanding income sources such as tour merchandise, product endorsements, video game sales, ring tones and clothing and jewellery lines.
CALENDAR ULTIMATE TOP 10 LIST 2011
- U2 – $160.8 million
- Taylor Swift – 126.8 million
- Lady Gaga – $109.4 million
- Kenny Chesney – $98.5 million
- Adele – $92.8 million
- Lil Wayne – $87.6 million
- The ‘cast’ of Glee – $65.7 million
- Kanye West/Jay Z: $65.6 million
- Bon Jovi – $63.1 million
- Katy Perry – $58 million
