Ed Sheeran‘s Divide tour was the highest-grossing tour of all time — until now. Billboard reports that Ed’s pal Elton John has just taken over the world record.
Billboard reports that Elton’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road has taken in $817.9 million across 278 shows — and the tour isn’t done yet. Billboard says it’s the first tour in its archives to earn more than $800 million. By comparison, Ed’s tour took in $776.4 million.
According to Billboard, it was Elton’s run of shows from January 8 through January 24 in Australia and New Zealand that allowed him to cross the finish line to the record-breaking milestone. Billboard notes that by the time the entire tour wraps up this summer in Europe, he’ll likely cross the $900 million mark.
Right now, Elton’s career total when it comes to concerts stands at $1.863 billion grossed and 19.9 million tickets sold. That’s the highest for any solo artist in Billboard Boxscore history.
The one record Elton doesn’t currently hold is most tickets sold for one tour. That record is still held by Ed’s Divide tour, with 8.9 million tickets, followed by tours by The Rolling Stones, Coldplay and Guns N’ Roses. Elton’s tour has sold 5.3 million tickets so far. While he probably won’t catch up to Ed by the time the tour is done, Elton might end up passing Coldplay and Guns N’ Roses.
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