For the fifth time since launching the Because We Can tour last February, Bon Jovi owns the No. 1 ranking on the weekly Hot Tours tally based on reported box office revenue. This week the legendary rock band tops the chart with $41.8 million in ticket sales from the tour’s final leg through Japan and Australia that kicked off in early December. Performances at two Japanese stadiums were first on the itinerary during the tour’s last month on the road. The opener was a Dec. 3 concert at Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, followed the next evening by a performance at the Tokyo Dome. Attendance at both stadiums surpassed 61,000 with ticket sales nearing the $7 million mark in both cities.
The tour’s final jaunt was a run through five cities in Australia, the sixth and last continent played during the tour’s 11-month span. The first Aussie engagement was a two-show stint at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium on Dec. 7 and 8. With 91,505 tickets sold for both nights, the total box office take was more than $12.1 million, the highest gross from a single venue during the tour’s entire run. In addition to Melbourne, the tour also stopped in Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and Brisbane with 259,000 fans in attendance at six venues.
With a final performance at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on Dec. 17, the Because We Can tour wrapped with an overall gross totaling $247 million from 2.5 million sold tickets since the tour launched in February. Bon Jovi was the only touring artist in Billboard’s 2013 Year In Music to top $200 million in ticket sales for the year. The band easily took the No. 1 ranking on the year-end touring chart listing the Top 25 Tours of 2013.
Justin Timberlake scores the No. 2 ranking with $29.8 million in ticket sales reported from 18 U.S. arenas on his 20/20 Experience world tour that began on Nov. 6. This week’s Hot Tours tally begins with the Nov. 13 concert in Raleigh and continues through the Dec. 19 Orlando date, the tour’s final performance before breaking for the holidays. By the end of 2013, the tour had grossed over $36.6 million from 324,252 sold tickets at 23 concerts. Timberlake just recently resumed the North American leg of the tour with the first 2014 performance on Jan. 13 in Edmonton. U.S. and Canadian dates are booked through early March, and a European leg will kick off on March 30 in England.
No. 3 in this week’s Hot Tours recap is Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson the Immmortal world tour with a multiple-show run in the Middle East beginning on Dec. 30 through Jan. 14. Ticket sales totaled more than $7.1 million from 50,540 sold tickets at Dubai’s World Trade Centre Arena. Revenue from the 20-show engagement brings the tour’s overall gross to $332 million since it began in October 2011. More than 3 million tickets have been sold during the tour that already ranks ninth on Billboard’s list of top-grossing tours of all time. The Cirque du Soleil touring production will begin its final 10-city trek through North America at the end of February and is set to wrap in April.
