Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters ranks as 2012's top tours

Credit: AP Photo/Alexander Demianchuk, Pool

Madonna stirred up plenty of controversy on the MDNA tour by bearing arms and baring body parts in 2012, but it turns out she also brought in a ton of cold hard cash.

Her MDNA outing grossed $228.4 million to make it the top-grossing tour of 2012, according to Billboard. The tally come from 72 shows, all of which, according to Billboard, were sell out.

Coming in at No. 2 is Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. They grossed $199.4 million, also from 72 shows.  Springsteen’s ticket price was considerably lower than Madge’s: His 72 shows drew 2.165 million people, compared with the Material Girl’s 1.63 million.

Rock relics continued to rule the top 10:  Roger Waters’ tour, also with 72 shows (we’re sensing a theme here) comes in at No. 3 with a gross of $186.5 million.

Proving that his legacy goes on and on even after his death,  “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour by Cirque Du Soleil” claims the No. 4 slot with a tally of $147.3 million, based on 183 shows reporting.

Coldplay rounds out the top 5 with $147.2 million from 67 shows. That should tied them over nicely during the band’s recently announced hiatus.

One has to go to No. 6 to find an act that first started releasing music in this millennium. Lady Gaga’s 65 sell-outs register at No. 6 with a gross of $124.9 million.

That’s the end of the $100 million club. Coming in at No. 7 are Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw’s Brother of the Sun tour, which shone brightly enough to raise $96.4 million from only 23 shows (they were all stadiums).
Van Halen’s thwarted reunion tour ended with a slate of cancellations due to band burn-out (or any other reason you want to believe), but it still managed to gross $54.4 million from 46 shows to come in at No. 8.  Coming in at No. 9 is Jay-Z and Kanye West’s The Throne tour with $46.9 million from 31 shows. And rounding out the top 10 is Andre Rieu, the Dutch composer/violinist who is astonishingly popular throughout the world even though you’re probably never heard of him. He brought in $46.8 million from 99 shows.

To see the list of the Top 25 tours, ranked by Billboard, go here.