Posted on: November 27, 2024, 08:29h.
Last updated on: November 27, 2024, 09:34h.
With “Weekends With Adele” and more than a full year of Sphere behind us, it’s time to create a new list of the highest-grossing Las Vegas residencies of all time.
Nine of 10 of our statistics come from Billboard magazine’s Boxscore charts. The outlier was “Weekends With Adele” itself, which required guesswork since her sales figures were never reported to the respected music trade.
In case you don’t see your favorite artist/residency on our list and you’re thinking that they might not have reported sales figures to Billboard either, we can tell you that figures were reported by J-Lo’s “All I Have” ($101.9M), Cher’s “Cher” ($97.4M), George Strait’s “Strait to Vegas” ($90.4M), Usher’s “My Way” ($83.6M), Rod Stewart’s “The Hits” ($74.1M), Bette Midler’s “The Showgirl Must Go On” ($71.8M), Aerosmith’s “Deuces Are Wild” ($58.4M), Silk Sonic’s “An Evening With Silk Sonic” ($50.4M), Katy Perry’s “Play” ($46.4M), Backstreet Boys’ “Larger Than Life” ($44.2M), Shania Twain’s “Still the One” ($43.6M), Cher’s “Classic Cher” ($42.9M), Donny & Marie’s “Donny & Marie” ($42.6M), Brooks & Dunn and Reba McEntire’s “Together in Vegas” ($35.1M) and Gwen Stefan’s “Just a Girl” ($28.1M) residencies.
They just didn’t make this new Top 10.
10. Lady Gaga, “Enigma + Jazz & Piano,” Park MGM (2018-2024)
Gross: $110M
Tickets Sold: 377K
Shows: 72
Gross Per Show: $1.53M
Although she ranked 10th in commerce, Gaga was first in creativity. Her residency at the Dolby Live Theater was unique for alternating between two distinct shows. “Enigma” was an arena concert featuring her biggest hits, while “Jazz & Piano” offered stripped-down version of Gaga song alongside covers from the Great American Songbook.
9. Bruno Mars, “Bruno Mars at Park MGM” (2016-2024)
Gross: $124.5M
Tickets Sold: 410K
Shows: 79
Gross Per Show: $1.58M
The “Uptown Funk” singer not only proved his broad appeal by breaking the $100 million mark, but also that creative residency titles are not a thing that’s necessary. Mars’ first Vegas residency was at The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan, for two years beginning in December 2013.
8. Elton John, “The Million Dollar Piano,” Caesars Palace (2011-2018)
Gross: $131M
Tickets Sold: 777K
Shows: 189
Gross Per Show: $693K
For the Rocket Man’s second (and, after his retirement, last) Las Vegas residency, his piano was embedded with 68 LED screens that generated video and lighting effects. And he could have purchased 131 of them with his earnings.
7. Dead & Company, “Dead Forever: Live at Sphere” (2024)
Gross: $131.8M
Tickets Sold: 477K
Shows: 30
Gross Per Show: $4.39M
With only two original members (singer/guitarist Bob Weir and drummer Mickey Hart) and a boost from heartthrob guitarist John Mayer, this residency proved not only the lasting cult status of the Grateful Dead, but also provided the best use of the $2.3 billion venue’s 160K square-foot hi-def screen so far. It’s the shortest residency to make our rankings, with only 30 shows earning an impressive, but not record, $4.39 million each.
6. Britney Spears, “Britney: Piece Of Me,” Planet Hollywood (2013-2017)
Gross: $137.7M
Tickets Sold: 916K
Shows: 248
Gross Per Show: $552K
Well-received by critics and fans, this residency created a successful comeback for the troubled “Toxic” singer. It sold out the AXIS Theater so consistently, its original two-year run was extended multiple times. The AXIS went by the Zappos Theater from 2018 to 2023, the Bakkt Theater in 2023, and is now PH Live.
5. Elton John, “The Red Piano,” Caesars Palace (2004-2009)
Gross: $166.4M
Tickets Sold: 982K
Shows: 247
Gross Per Show: $674K
Originally scheduled for 75 shows over three years, John’s first Vegas residency — directed and designed by David La Chapelle — was also extended several times due to popular demand.
4. Adele, “Weekends With Adele,” Caesars Palace (2022-2024)
Gross: ~$200M
Tickets Sold: ~420K
Shows: 100
Gross Per Show: ~$2M
Neither Live Nation, Adele nor Caesars Entertainment have reported official figures to Billboard on this massive residency, which ended last weekend, so this is the only speculative ranking on our list.
We based it on this 2021 report from Billboard, which stated that first 24 shows of Adele’s originally scheduled residency — the ones she eventually canceled — generated $50 million in ticket sales. (Billboard did not publish a similar report on sales of the rescheduled shows.)
Though extrapolating the gross of 100 shows from those original 24 may not prove astonishingly accurate, it’s probably not far off since Adele continued to sell out all performances throughout her residency.
Adele was able to do so well by tapping into massive demand for the only 4,200 seats available per show. As Billboard reported, tickets for the first concerts started at $860 apiece for the front section of the Colosseum and $600 for the front of the upper balcony. A few dozen seats in the front three rows of the orchestra section were priced at more than $5K per ticket as part of Ticketmaster’s platinum seating program.
As soon as official “Weekends With Adele” figures get released, if they ever do, we will update this article immediately.
3. U2, “U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere”(2023-2024)
Gross: $244.5M
Tickets Sold: 663K
Shows: 40
Gross Per Show: $6.1M
U2 managed the highest per-show gross in this at $6.1 million. (That’s $277,272 per song!) But the most record-breaking part of the Irish superstars’ residency was their astronomical take-home pay. In exchange for playing his guinea pig — and for reluctantly agreeing to perform for the first time without founding drummer Larry Mullen Jr., who was recuperating from shoulder surgery — Sphere owner James Dolan reportedly paid Bono’s boys an unheard-of 90% of the gate, plus a cool $10M to shoot its visuals.
2. Celine Dion, “Celine,” Caesars Palace (2011-2019)
Gross: $296M
Tickets Sold: 1.7M
Shows 427
Gross Per Show: $639K
1. Celine Dion, “A New Day…,” Caesars Palace (2003-2007)
Gross: $385M
Tickets: 2.8M
Shows 714
Gross Per Show: $539K
Celine takes both the No. 1 and 2 spots with her two residencies at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, which was built specifically for her. And if you convert their combined $681 million box-office total into today’s dollars — using the median points of 2005 and 2016 — it would give her a seemingly unmatchable combined take of $1 billion.
