McCartney Tops Hot Tours With $40M Gross From Japan Shows; Kanye Lands in Runner-Up Slot at $25M

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McCartney Tops Hot Tours With $40M Gross From Japan Shows; Kanye Lands in Runner-Up Slot at $25M
By Bob Allen, Nashville
December 27, 2013

Paul McCartney dominates the final Hot Tours tally of the year, earning the No. 1 spot on the weekly recap with more than $40.6 million in ticket sales from the final leg of his Out There! tour. Following jaunts through North and South America and Europe earlier in the year, Sir Paul closed out his world tour with a six-show run through three cities in Japan during November. Returning to the country as a touring headliner for the first time in 11 years, he kicked off the trek with two shows in Osaka on Nov. 11-12. More than 71,000 tickets were sold during the two-night run at Kyocera Dome, the city’s 50,000-seat baseball stadium. With $11.6 million in revenue, the rock legend grossed $3.4 million more than the last time he played the Osaka venue -- also two performances -- during 2002’s Driving World tour.

The Out There! tour’s final shows were held on Nov. 18, 19 and 21 at the Tokyo Dome, marking another return visit for McCartney who also played three concerts at the stadium during the 2002 tour. Ticket prices topped out at $117 during the previous tour’s Tokyo run, generating $14 million at the box office from 120,000 sold tickets, but this year’s concerts included a top ticket in the $165 range. With sellouts on all three nights, the 2013 engagement grossed more than $23.4 million from 146,845 sold seats. The three-show total from the Tokyo Dome was the Out There! tour’s top gross from a single venue. Altogether in 2013, reported grosses from McCartney’s tour surpassed $105.8 million worldwide.

Kanye West lands at No. 2 in the ranking with sales reported from 18 dates on his fall trek through North American markets. The rapper’s Yeezus tour began on Oct. 19 in Seattle and wrapped in Toronto with a two-night stand on Dec. 22 and 23. Ticket sales from 23 performances during the nine-week run total $25.2 million from 283,241 sold tickets. The top grosser was New York City’s Madison Square Garden with more than $3 million in sales from 28,919 sold seats at shows on Nov. 23 and 24, but the top attendance count came from Toronto. The tour’s final stop at the Air Canada Centre drew a combined total of 31,386 fans for both performances. The other two-show engagement that topped 30,000 in attendance occurred in West’s hometown of Chicago. A total of 30,010 tickets were sold for the Yeezus tour at the Windy City’s 25,000-seat arena, United Center on Dec. 17 and 18.

In order:

Rank, act
Total Gross
Show Dates
Show Venue/City (Shows/Sellouts)
Total Attendance (Capacity)

1 PAUL McCARTNEY

$40,699,470 

Nov. 11-21

Kyocera Dome, Osaka, Japan (2/1)

Fukuoka Yafuoku! Dome, Fukuoka, Japan (1/1)

Tokyo Dome, Tokyo (3/3)

252,690 (256,344)



2 KANYE WEST

$25,213,875 

Oct. 19-Dec. 23

KeyArena, Seattle (1/1)

SAP Center, San Jose (1/1)

Oracle Arena, Oakland (1/1)

MGM Grand Garden, Las Vegas (1/1)

Staples Center, Los Angeles (2/2)

TD Garden, Boston (1/1)

Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y. (2/2)

Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. (1/1)

Madison Square Garden, New York (2/2)

American Airlines Arena, Miami (1/1)

Philips Arena, Atlanta (1/1)

American Airlines Center, Dallas (1/1)

Toyota Center, Houston (1/1)

AT&T Center, San Antonio (1/0)

Honda Center, Anaheim (1/1)

United Center, Chicago (2/2)

Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Mich. (1/1)

Air Canada Centre, Toronto (2/2)

283,241 (286,274)



3 ALEJANDRO FERNÁNDEZ

$10,329,788 

Sept. 6-Dec. 8

Auditorio Telmex, Guadalajara, Mexico (1/1)

MGM Grand Garden, Las Vegas (1/1)

Auditorio Nacional, Mexico City (2/2)

Auditorio Banamex, Monterrey, Mexico (1/0)

American Airlines Arena, Miami (1/1)

Arena at Gwinnett Center, Duluth, Ga. (1/0)

Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y. (1/0)

Sprint Center, Kansas City (1/0)

Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Ill. (1/0)

State Farm Arena, Hidalgo, Texas (1/0)

Verizon Theatre, Grand Prairie, Texas (1/0)

Toyota Center, Houston (1/0)

Laredo Energy Arena, Laredo, Texas (1/0)

El Paso County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas (1/0)

Event Center Arena, San Jose (1/0)

NOKIA Theatre L.A. Live, Los Angeles (2/1)

100,671 (140,625)



4 JUSTIN BIEBER

$4,323,500 

Nov. 29-Dec. 8

Allphones Arena, Sydney (2/0)

Perth Arena, Perth, Australia (1/0)

33,643 (35,653)



5 MUSE

$2,617,160 

Dec. 10-13

Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane (1/0)

Allphones Arena, Sydney (1/0)

25,895 (26,710)



6 ALICIA KEYS

$2,011,026 

Dec. 11-13

Allphones Arena, Sydney (1/0)

Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane (1/0)

17,302 (18,658)



7 TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA

$1,450,876 

Dec. 13-15

Alliant Energy Center, Madison, Wis. (2/0)

BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wis. (2/0)

25,010 (33,286)



8 ZAC BROWN BAND

$1,401,697 

Dec. 12-15

Ervin J. Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio (1/0)

Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky. (1/0)

i wireless Center, Moline, Ill. (1/0)

25,248 (33,948)



9 JOHN MAYER

$969,037 

Dec. 7-9

New Orleans Arena, New Orleans (1/0)

Amway Center, Orlando (1/0)

15,939 (21,942)



10 EASON CHAN

$827,764 

Nov. 30-Dec. 1

Event Center Arena, San Jose (2/2)

8,639 (8,639)


Paul McCartney performs an outdoor concert on Hollywood Boulevard for "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on September 23, 2013 in Hollywood, California. 
John Hill/Getty Images