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Identifying Guns N’ Roses as the most popular global concert act of 2017, Pollstar’s Top 50 Mid-Year Touring Report shows that Australasia's outdoor concert venues have eclipsed ticket sales at indoor arenas during the first half of the year.

With a range of heritage acts accounting for the lion’s share of the top 50 global concert tours, the veteran rock act have sold more concert tickets than any other act in the world this year and have been the only concert act to sell more than a million tickets in 2017.

Guns N’ Roses' eight date Australian and New Zealand tour was exclusively staged in outdoor venues, as was Adele's record breaking Australasian tour.

As a result, Sydney's ANZ Stadium has been the top performing Australasian venue with 150,113 ticket sales - ranking in eighth spot on Pollstar's Outdoor Stadiums Festival Sites chart.

Ticket sales at Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena, normally the region's highest performing venue, dipped to 113,437 sales for the half year.

This contrasts with 446,553 ticket sales in the 2016 calendar year, seeing the venue, which has figured in the top 10 highest performing venues globally in recent years, fall to 80th spot on Pollstar's Arenas Venues chart.

Perth Arena, with 116,240 ticket sales in the first half of 2016, is Australia's top ranked indoor arena, sitting in 77th spot of Pollstar's chart.

Ticket sales at Australasia's other top performing venues have been:

Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, Byron Bay, NSW - 105,123 ticket sales, 14th on Pollstar's Outdoor Stadiums Festival Sites chart
Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne - 90,247 ticket sales, 97th on Pollstar's Arenas Venues chart
MCG - 73,114 ticket sales, 27th on Pollstar's Outdoor Stadiums Festival Sites chart
Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne - 90,247 ticket sales, 97th on Pollstar's Arenas Venues chart
Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park, Sydney - 70,984 ticket sales, 117th on Pollstar's Arenas Venues chart
Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland - 69,372 ticket sales, 33rd on Pollstar's Outdoor Stadiums Festival Sites chart
Brisbane Entertainment Centre - 66,067 ticket sales, 124th on Pollstar's Arenas Venues chart
Etihad Stadium, Melbourne - 54,821 ticket sales, 45th on Pollstar's Outdoor Stadiums Festival Sites chart
Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne - 27,985 ticket sales, 198th on Pollstar's Arenas Venues chart

Globally, the top 50 tours grossed US$1.97 billion combined, just down from the record high of $1.98 billion reported last year, on 23.4 million tickets sold, up 3.5% and a new all-time benchmark.

Live Nation, which reported sales of nearly 18.7 million tickets, remains by far the world’s largest concert promoter.

AEG remains a solid second with nearly 6.6 million and that’s without reporting the numbers from Coachella and their other festivals.

The O2 London continues to dominate the Arena Venues chart with more than 1 million tickets sold as it becomes what is increasingly recognised as the most important venue play in the world.

As a note of caution, Pollstar highlight that the terrorist attack at Ariana Grande’s concert at Manchester Arena in May was "yet another shock for an industry already on high alert".

The report adds that "concert events represent some of the ultimate 'soft' targets and venue managers and concert promoters have to remain vigilant.

"Everyone needs to do their best to anticipate the worst, and be ready to deal with it when it happens."

Click here to view Pollstar's Top 200 Arenas

Click here to view Pollstar's Top 50 Outdoor Sites

Images: Guns N’ Roses at ANZ Stadium (top) and Adele at Etihad Stadium (below).

2nd June 2017 - AUCKLAND STADIUMS’ MT SMART STADIUM TRIPLE SELL-OUT 

24th May 2017 - VENUES ASSESS SECURITY IN WAKE OF MANCHESTER ARENA TERRORIST ATTROCITY

21st April 2017 - RECORD SUMMER CONCERTS DELIVER $37 MILLION BOOST FOR AUCKLAND

8th April 2017 - ADELE TOUR MAKES AUSTRALASIAN CONCERT HISTORY

20th January 2017 - AUSTRALASIAN VENUES STRONG PERFORMERS IN POLLSTAR 2016 TICKET SALES CHART

21st November 2016 - AUSTRALASIAN VENUES STRONG PERFORMERS IN POLLSTAR GLOBAL TICKET SALES RANKINGS

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