In second place is Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's Magic tour, which grossed $204.5 million for the period. Springsteen reported another $31 million for last year, taking his two-year Boxscore total to more than $235 million.
Rounding out the top 10 are Madonna ($162 million for the still-underway Sticky & Sweet tour), the Police ($150 million on the second leg of their reunion tour), Celine Dion ($91 million), Kenny Chesney ($86 million), Neil Diamond ($81.2 million), Spice Girls ($70 million), Eagles ($56.6 million) and Rascal Flatts ($55.8 million).
The Spice Girls' 17 sellouts at the O2 Arena last December-January were the highest-grossing engagement of the year, taking in $33.8 million and drawing 256,647. Other top Boxscores for the year were Celine Dion at the Bell Centre in Montreal ($23.1 million), Madonna at Stade de France in Paris ($17.6 million), Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn. (about $17 million), and Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. ($14.2 million).
For the overall touring industry, grosses reported to Billboard Boxscore totaled slightly less than $4 billion worldwide, the most ever for a year and up almost 13% over last year.
But global reported concert attendance is virtually flat, with 6% fewer shows. And North American concert attendance is down nearly 2%, after a nearly 20% decrease last year, continuing a troubling trend. Better news is evident on a show-by-show basis; the average box office gross in North America is up 18% and average attendance is up 6.3%, reflecting that some of the attendance decline can be attributed to a decrease in the overall show count.
For more of Billboard.com's 2008 Year in Music special section, please click here.



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