Coldplay, U2 and Ed Sheeran top Pollstar's most popular touring artists of the new millennium

New York (AP) — Much has been made about the global touring economy in the last few years. Take, for example, that tours grossing over a billion dollars is a new phenomenon in the 2020s — a benchmark first crossed by Taylor Swift in 2023 with her landmark Eras Tour and an accomplishment recently reached by The Weeknd. But who are the most popular touring artists of the last two decades based on ticket sales? The results may surprise you.

On Monday, in advance of Pollstar's 2025 year-end issue, the concert trade publication ranked the top 25 “Most Popular Touring Artists of the Millennium,” based on ticket sales from Jan. 1, 2001, to the end of 2025. Leading the list? Coldplay with 24.8 million tickets sold. Next, is U2, with 20.2 million tickets sold, and Ed Sheeran, with 19.6 million.

Rounding out the top five is Dave Matthews Band, with nearly 19.6 million tickets sold, and Swift, with roughly 18.9 million. Keep in mind that her debut album was released in 2006.

Pollstar chart data is pulled from reported and estimated box office data from events that occurred between 2001 and 2025.

Swift is the only woman featured in the top 10. She's followed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Kenny Chesney, Metallica, Bon Jovi and Elton John.

In fact, there are only four women in the top 25: Pink is at No. 11 with nearly 13 million tickets. Beyoncé is No. 13 with 11.8 million tickets sold; Madonna is listed at No. 15 with almost 11 million tickets.

Don't get it twisted: It should be mentioned that numbers of tickets sold is a different metric than money grossed.

As previously mentioned, in 2023, Swift’s Eras Tour became the first tour to cross the billion-dollar mark, according to Pollstar’s 2023 year-end charts. Then she broke her own record: In December 2024, Pollstar announced that the Eras Tour brought in $2.2 billion across its nearly two-year run, extending its lead as the highest-grossing tour of all time.

According to the new chart published Monday, Swift has grossed over $3.1 billion in the new millennium. Compare that to Coldplay, who leads with most tickets sold, and follows with a gross of nearly 2.5 billion.

In September, Pollstar reported that cumulative grosses from Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour reached $1.39 billion. It also launched in 2022 and ran through 2025.

And last month, The Weeknd’s After Hours 'Til Dawn Tour officially crossed the $1 billion mark, according to Live Nation.

FILE - Jonny Buckland, from left, Chris Martin, Will Champion, and Guy Berryman of Coldplay performs a song from the band's 10th studio album "Moon Music" on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in the Williamsburg section of the Brooklyn borough of New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, file)

This combination of images shows Bono, from left, Chris Martin, and Ed Sheeran. (AP Photo)

NEW YORK (AP) — Paramount has gone hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, challenging Netflix which reached a $72 billion takeover deal with the company just days ago.

Paramount said Monday that it is going straight to Warner Bros. shareholders with a bid worth about $74.4 billion, or $30 per share in cash. Paramount, unlike Netflix, is also offering to buy the cable assets of Warner Bros., and asking shareholders of the company to reject the Netflix bid.

It said its offer is worth about $18 billion more than the competing bid from Netflix, which it says is based on an “illusory prospective valuation" of those cable assets.

It is the same bid that Warner Brothers rejected in favor of the offer from Netflix in a merger that would alter the U.S. entertainment landscape.

Paramount criticized the Netflix offer, saying it “exposes WBD shareholders to a protracted multi-jurisdictional regulatory clearance process with an uncertain outcome along with a complex and volatile mix of equity and cash.”

Paramount said it had submitted six proposals to Warner Bros. Discovery over a 12 week period.

“We believe our offer will create a stronger Hollywood. It is in the best interests of the creative community, consumers and the movie theater industry," Paramount Chairman and CEO David Ellison said in a statement. "We believe they will benefit from the enhanced competition, higher content spend and theatrical release output, and a greater number of movies in theaters as a result of our proposed transaction,”

On Friday Netflix struck a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max. The cash and stock deal is valued at $27.75 per Warner share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt. The transaction is expected to close in the next 12 to 18 months, after Warner completes its previously announced separation of its cable operations. Not included in the deal are networks such as CNN and Discovery.

But President Donald Trump said Sunday that the deal struck by Netflix to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share.

The Republican president said he will be involved in the decision about whether the federal government should approve the $72 billion deal.

Paramount's tender offer is set to expire on Jan. 8, 2026, unless it's extended.

Shares of Warner Bros. and Paramount jumped between 5% and 6% at the opening bell Monday. Shares of Netflix edged lower.

The Warner Bros. water tower is seen at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif., Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

The Warner Bros. water tower is seen at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif., Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)