Over 700,000 Irish music fans paid a record €60m last year to top acts including Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, and U2.
Figures from the trade journal Pollstar show eight events staged by U2, Ed Sheeran, Billy Joel, Michael Bublé, Taylor Swift and The Rolling Stones were in its world’s top 100 largest box office events in 2018.
The concerts by Ed Sheeran at Phoenix Park in Dublin were the ninth most lucrative in the world last year, generating €14m.
The Pollstar figures show that 184,187 fans paid €14.12m to see Ed Sheeran over three nights at Phoenix Park in May.
Ranked 17th, Sheeran’s three gigs at Páirc Uí Chaoimh were seen by 128,969 fans and generated €10m in ticket sales.
And Mr Sheeran’s two gigs that attracted 63,991 fans to Pearse Stadium in Galway generated €4.9m in sales.
In total, Sheeran’s gigs in Dublin, Cork, and Galway generated €28.9m at the box office from 377,147 fans.
However, the single most lucrative gig of the year was by ageing rockers, The Rolling Stones.
Mick Jagger’s energetic performance attracted 64,823 fans to Croke Park and earned €7.2m at the box office.
U2 series of gigs at the 3Arena generated €5.6m in sales from 46,529 fans. It was part of the band’s world tour of 59 gigs in 30 cities that generated $126m (€110.5m).
The Pollstar figures show that the two gigs played by Taylor Swift at Croke Park in June generated €7.3m.
Michael Bublé’s concert at Croke Park in July was the world’s 62th largest box office of 2018 after 46,935 paid €5.4m.
