Music

U2 tops as biggest earning band of 2010

by Ciaran Thompson

In a recent Top-Earning musicians list of 2010 by Forbes, U2 came ahead of the others with an estimated $130 million made over the past year. Despite having postponed half of their world tour due to Bono suffering a back injury, which saw them pull out of the popular Glastonbury festival, ticket prices for shows were sold at a average $94 a pop in North America and sold an overall 1.3 million. Fellow aging rockers AC/DC came in second earning $114 million.

Most of the artist and bands on the top half of the list have been around since the ’80s, such as Bruce Springstein and Madonna, however one of the newer artist to make the list was Lady Gaga, where her numbers speak for themselves. Gaga earned roughly $62 million over the past year and went from playing small gigs in New York to selling out arenas within 30 months.

Forbes’ Top-Earning musicians of 2010:

1. U2 ($130 million)

2. AC/DC ($114 million)

3. Beyonce Knowles ($87 million)

4. Bruce Springstein ($70 million)

5. Britney Spears ($64 million)

6. Jay-Z ($63 million)

7. Lady Gaga ($62 million)

8. Madonna ($58 million)

9. Kenny Chesney ($50 million)

10. Black Eyed Peas/Coldplay ($48 million)