The numbers are in for 2013’s highest grossing tours and the top two slots belong to two fellas whose newest albums couldn’t be more different: Paul McCartney and Kanye West. While the Beatles co-founder charmed the world with his melodically bright, thematically optimistic New, the shape-shifting Chicago rapper/producer had one of the bleakest and most aggressive major-label hip-hop records ever in Yeezus, which also happened to be SPIN’s Album of the Year.
Neither was a huge seller, but the artists who created them had no problem posting major gains on the road. Macca led by a massive margin with $40.7 million grossed over six nights in three Japanese cities that served 252,690 fans in total, according to Billboard. West trails with $25.2 million racked up across the 18 dates of his somewhat troubled North American run, bringing Yeezus (and Jesus) to 283,241 show-goers. Also, McCartney’s costs were likely significantly less.
Behind those two, the No. 3 slot goes to Mexico’s Alejandro Fernández, pulling in the final eight-figure sum: $10.3 million. Then comes Justin Bieber at No. 4 with $4.3 million; Muse at No. 5 with $2.6 million; Alicia Keys at No. 6 with $2 million; Trans-Siberian Orchestra at No. 7 with $1.45 million; Zac Brown Band at No. 8 with $1.4 million; John Mayer at No. 9 with $970,000; and Hong Kong’s Eason Chan at No. 10 with $830,000.
Worth noting: These tallies reflect individual legs of tours, and not the overall gross of a single artist across all of 2013.
