The final numbers are in for Madonna’s “Rebel Heart Tour.” As the curtains close on her tour, the iconic pop star is not only the No. 1 solo artist, she’s moved up to No. 3 among all touring acts, even with groups taken into account.
With a total of over $1.31 billion in ticket sales sold over the course of her career, she’s managed to overtake Bruce Springsteen, who surpassed her during his successful Wrecking Ball and High Hopes tours from 2012 through 2014.
With this tour, Madonna has taken back the title thanks to the success of her Rebel Heart dates and claim the throne of third top-grossing touring act behind The Rolling Stones and U2 ever since tracking began in 1990.
Madonna’s Rebel Tour explodes
Produced by Live Nation Global Touring, the Rebel Heart Tour kicked off last September 9th, 2015 in Montreal and visited arenas in 55 cities on four continents over seven months.
In total, Madonna performed 82 shows, plus a special fan club show in Melbourne. According to the Billboard Boxscore, the Material Girl closed her 2015-16 tour last week in Australia with a total gross of $169.8 million and 1,045,479 in attendance.
Madonna also visited several cities for the first time ever, including Bangkok, Hong Kong, Macau, Manila, Auckland, Taipei, Nashville, Omaha, and Louisville.
She performed multiple shows in several cities, including three shows apiece in New York, Turin, and Melbourne. She played two shows in Miami, Berlin, Barcelona, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Sydney, to name a few.
Madonna’s long career
The Material Girl’s set list spanned decades of the iconic superstar’s illustrious career.
This included songs from Rebel Heart (the No. 1 Dance hits “Living for Love” and “Bitch I’m Madonna,” to classic fan favorites like “Material Girl” and “Holiday” and a “Dress You Up” medley that included “Get Into The Groove,” “Everybody,” and “Lucky Star.”
Highlights included her moving tribute to her idol David Bowie during a show in Houston, Texas, and her tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris during her show in Sweden on November 14.
Meanwhile, she brought a string of famous fans up onstage for her performance of Unapologetic B**ch including Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Idris Elba, Jessica Chastain, and Amy Schumer, who opened for the Madonna in New York.
Acclaim for Madonna
The Rebel Heart Tour also attracted raves for the Material Girl, with the New York Times calling her “unstoppable” and Rolling Stone remarking that “there’s nobody else near her throne.”
Entertainment Weekly plain and simply summed it up proclaiming: “Madonna reigns.”
Music maestro Arthur Fogel, the CEO of Live Nation’s global touring division, summed up Madonna’s four-continent, seven-month outing as “another amazing chapter in her touring career.”