U2 have top tour of 2017 as men dominate

U2's The Joshua Tree 30th anniversary trek was the year's top-grossing tour, according to a Pollstar year-end chart. The Live Nation-promoted jaunt, which comprised 50 shows in 38 cities, took in a whopping $316 million (A$405m) and reported a total of 2.71 million tickets sold.

Coming in second were Guns N' Roses, with $292.5 million gross and 2.68 million tickets sold on an 81-date tour that sold nearly as many tickets as U2's, but charged an average of $40 less per head, according to Pollstar. Coldplay were third with a $238 million gross, Bruno Mars fourth with $200.1 million, and Metallica fifth with $152.8 million.

Bruce Springsteen's Broadway residency came in 14th with $87.8 million based on 60 shows in New York's Walter Kerr Theatre, based on its whopping $1500-per-ticket average (the Rolling Stones, at No. 9 with $120 million on just 14 shows, were next with a $158.81 average ticket price). Springsteen's Broadway run is apparently tallied separately from his The River tour, which finished in Australia and New Zealand in January and February.

Unlike most airplay and streaming charts and Grammy nominations, which dominated by hip-hop/R&B and pop acts, the top live-music year-end grosses were dominated by veteran white male rock and pop artists.

Garth Brooks is the highest-ranking country act at No. 10 with an estimated $101.4 million (the only other was Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's co-headlining tour, No. 18 with $79.3 million). Celine Dion was the highest ranking female artist with $101.2 million, a combination of arena dates and her Las Vegas residency. Lady Gaga landed at No. 15 with $85.7 million and Ariana Grande No. 20 with $68.5 million.

Similarly, the chart is dominated by veteran acts, with just 7 of the top 20 - Coldplay, Mars, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Gaga, The Weeknd and Grande - having released their debut albums in this millennium.

Overall, the Top 20 grossed $2.66 billion in 2017, a record high and increase of more than $264 million from 2016.