If this is any indicator of how the landscape of the music industry is changing, I'm not sure what is. Massive international acts now measure their success, not in record or download sales, but with earnings from touring. This recently published list from Billboard magazine show, just how much cash can be made from hitting the road. All the acts featured in the list were touring last year, and interestingly, although Madonna has the highest figure by some way, her album Hard Candy only managed to scrape into the top 50 best selling albums of last year. By the end of her Sweet and sticky tour in the Autumn, which is the only one ever to be extended, Madge will have been playing a significant number of stadiums, meaning a ker-ching factor of serveral million $ per night in earnings with a large portion coming from merchandising.

Top 20 Earners
1. Madonna: $242,176,466
2. Bon Jovi: $157,177,766
3. Bruce Springsteen: $156,327,964
4. The Police: $109,976,894
5. Celine Dion: $99,171,237
6. Kenny Chesney: $90,823,990
7. Neil Diamond: $82,174,000
8. Rascall Flatts: $63,522,160
9. Jonas Brothers: $62,638,814
10. Coldplay: $62,175,555
11. The Eagles: $61,132,213
12. Lil Wayne: $57,441,334
13. AC/DC: $56,505,296
14. Michael Buble: $50,257,364
15. Miley Cyrus: $48,920,806
16. Taylor Swift: $45,588,730
17. Journey: $44,787,328
18. Billy Joel: $44,581,010
19. Mary J. Blige: $43,472,850
20. Kanye West: $42,552,402

Source: Billboard

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