By Gordon Deegan
Sellout shows by Drake, Ariana Grande, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder helped the 3Arena in Dublin to post box office revenues of €58.6m last year.
That meant that the 3Arena, which is owned by international firm Live Nation, was once again in the top 10 venues by box office sales in the world, according to figures by trade industry journal Pollstar.
It was ranked ninth in the world after attracting 827,690 fans between December 2018 to the start of last month. Worldwide, the top-ranked venue was New York’s Madison Square Garden, with 1.66 million fans.
The Pollstar figures which are based on returns by the 3Arena show that the venue’s most lucrative gigs were Drake and Ariana Grande. Drake generated €3.52m at the box office from 31,054 fans at three gigs in March, while Grande generated €3.13m from her 38,379 fans at three gigs, in September.
The single most lucrative gig last year was Stevie Wonder who generated €1.6m for a night in September. Canada’s Michael Bublé’s two gigs generated over €2m in June, while Take That took over €2m in sales from its sellout shows.
