While MBW Review and Pollstar’s figures show some big touring revenues, 2019 is showing a slump overall.

The report analyses the health of the global live music circuit, using new numbers published by industry data source Pollstar detailing the Top 100 highest-grossing tours, both across the world and in North America.

The Pollstar stats show that Elton John was the global highest-grossing act in H1 2019, generating US$82.6m across 56 shows. P!nk was second, with $81.8m, while Justin Timberlake followed with $75.5m, trailed by Metallica ($69.7m) and Fleetwood Mac ($67.7m).

The Top 100 global tours in H1 2018 turned over $2.81bn in gross sales. However, 2019’s half-year worldwide for the Top 100 tours (November 2018 to May 2019, compared to 2018’s January to June) was $2.06bn – falling by 26.8%, or $752m, year-on-year.

Although the sample period’s are different, this indicates that average global live music industry ticket sales generated more than $100m less per month in the first half of 2019 than they did in the equivalent period of 2018.

One possible culprit for this descent is shown by an average ticket cost rise. In H1 2019 the average ticket price of the world’s Top 100 shows was $92.42, up from the $89.85 average price posted in the first half of last year.

What’s more, the amount of money grossed by H1 2019’s Top 50 biggest tours globally ($1.67bn) is the smallest half-year figure since 2014 ($1.65bn).