Marketers typically target people under age 40, but concert ticket sales reveal that Baby Boomer artists topped last year’s most popular concerts. Don’t get it twisted, last year was a bad year for concerts overall with ticket sales dipping 12 percent. However, acts such as Paul McCartney, and Roger Waters were among the most popular on the tour circuit. The median age of the performers in the most popular concerts was age 51.
According to the trade magazine Pollstar, Bon Jovi earned more than $201 million worldwide to make it 2010’s top tour. AC/DC was next ($177 million), followed by U2 ($160 million), Lady Gaga ($133 million) and Metallica ($110 million) rounded out the top five.
Although ticket sales decreased, ticket prices rose by nearly $3 a ticket last year. How ironic. Only a handful of black acts topped the list for North American ticket sales, The Black Eyed Peas – do they count? – (No. 9), Usher (25), Jay-Z (No. 29), Alicia Keys (48) and Rihanna at No. 50.
