Here Are The Musicians, Entertainers Who Made The Most Money Touring In 2022

After not being able to consistently see live music for years due to Covid-19 chaos, fans went up and beyond to support their favorite bands this past year.

Billboard has released the top touring acts for 2022 and it may contain some surprises. The music publication analyzed Boxscore chart data for a 12-month period that ended on Oct. 31, 2022.

Coming in at the No. 1 spot is the world's most streamed Spotify artist for the third year in a row -- Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny. Honestly he could walk right by me and I probably would have no idea what he looks like. I was thinking about it and I think I know some of his songs from the radio? But apparently I'm an exception to the rule because Bunny absolutely dominated the touring world bringing in over $373 MILLION in total gross revenue. Forget Bad Bunny, call him Bad Ass Bunny with those profits.

Elton John is the second highest grossing touring artist of 2022 according to Billboard. (Getty Images)

Elton John came in second at $334 million as over 2 million people went to see the Rocket Man as he continued his farewell tour that has been going on for three years now. The 75-year-old planning to halt touring once this global run is up this coming July.

Not sure what the legendary performer is going to do with all his spare time. He won't be playing live music anymore and he just announced he's leaving Twitter in protest of Elon Musk .

Billboard's Year-End Boxscore Charts (Billboard.com)

PEOPLE ARE STILL SEEING COLDPLAY FOR SOME REASON

After Bunny and Elton, there is a pretty significant drop to third place's Ed Sheeran. He "only" brought in $246 million followed by Harry Styles at $214 million and Chris Martin and Coldplay rounding up the top 5 with $208 million.

Personally I'm not a big Coldplay fan. Kind of find their whole vibe to be annoying but I absolutely LOVE this live version of "Fix You," from years ago. One of my favorite concert videos of all time. Chris Martin literally bolts it into the crowd and runs around singing. Jump to 3:20 into this video and appreciate it:

KENNY CHESNEY WAS THE HIGHEST GROSSING COUNTRY ARTIST

For the country fans out there Kenny Chesney was the highest grossing musician at $135 million and nearly 2 million fans came to see him perform 41 different U.S. shows. Morgan Wallen wasn't too far behind, two spots below at number 11 and cashing in $128 million after doing a full U.S. run.

And for those that love themselves some distortion and guitar riffs, a number of iconic rock bands proved that they still have staying power decades later.

The Rolling Stones were the highest grossing rock band at No. 6 and making $179 million from just TWENTY shows. That's impressive as hell.

Guns N' Roses Axl Rose and Slash were able to entertain over 1 million of their fans during the last year and bring in nearly $94 million. They have not announced any tour dates for next year, but when they do, Axl won't be doing his customary tossing of his microphone into the crowd. Last week he absolutely wrecked a female fan's face who wasn't paying attention and issued an apology afterwords.

COMEDIANS BROUGHT IN BIG BUCKS

Elsewhere in the rock world Def Leppard & Motley Crue made a combined $173 million thanks to their coheadlining tour while the Red Hot Chili Peppers proved they can still draw as they did a stadium tour promoting their newly released Unlimited Love album.

And because I'm a HUGE emo and pop punk fan, I gotta give a shout out to My Chemical Romance who returned for the first time in years and absolutely crushed 2022 by racking in nearly $88 million. I got to check out multiple shows by them and had an absolute blast.

Finally, Kevin Hart apparently had a comedy tour this past year? Not sure I would have went to see it either way but he came in at No. 32 for highest grossing touring act this past year. Hart collected a nice $66 million over 151 shows. Fellow comedian John Mulaney continues to justify leaving the unfunny that Saturday Night Live has become. Fans spent over $50 million to see him in 2022.

We'll see if more people will attend concerts next year.

Taylor Swift tickets on Ticketmaster were being resold for thousands of dollars

Based on the chaotic rollout of Taylor Swift's presale for her Midnights Tour and how high of a demand those tickets are, you can expect to see her towards the top of next year's chart. Keep in mind however that the artist and the official touring gross doesn't include the massively inflated secondary ticket market sites such as StubHub where scalpers are reselling for tons of money more. The artist will never see that money.

The full Billboard list can be found here.

Billboard.com