Madonna tops 2004 tours: Material Girl's tour racked up $125 million

I was there--twice this Tour--it was amazing! Though not a theatrical as the Drowned World Tour--which I saw 5 times. (I was planning a 6th in LA, but paid $300 for a ticket on e-bay and then Sept. 11 occured but the airline assured us that they would be keeping our flight and then the day before--way to late to drive from here--said they were cancelling the flight.)

Madonna's blockbuster Re-Invention tour took all of the drama out of the top tour of the year race, ringing up a year's best $125 million in total box office gross by the time it wrapped in September.

According to Billboard Boxscore, Madonna sold out 55 of 56 performances worldwide, with an average nightly take of $2.23 million.

"My Re-Invention tour was by far the most creatively satisfying experience I have ever had," Madonna told Billboard. "I was able to put everything I love into one entertaining event: film, music and dance."

Prince's Musicology tour drew nearly 1.5 million people, more than any other artist, and grossed $90.2 million, second only to Madonna. Shania Twain was third, reporting grosses totaling $62.5 million and playing to nearly 950,000 fans. The rest of the top 10 included Simon & Garfunkel ($59 million), Metallica ($53.8 million), Bette Midler ($53.3 million), Sting ($52.4 million), Kenny Chesney ($49.3 million), David Bowie ($46 million) and Toby Keith ($44.3 million).

This year, Celine Dion reported more than $77 million from her residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. If Dion's numbers reflected a "tour" per se, she would rank third among all acts. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, with James Brown and Chicks On Speed, headlined the top engagement at the year, three nights at London's Hyde Park that grossed $17,187,324 and drew more than 258,000 June 19, 20 and 25.