Any music fan will agree that streaming music is great but nothing can compare to the experience of hearing your favourite songs being performed live. Live music events allow you to really feel the emotion in a singer’s vocals, dance with friends as part of a huge crowd and appreciate the expertise of the band’s musical ability.
We looked at the top 50 music acts who are currently on tour or have toured UK within the last year and compared their average ticket prices.
Top Ranking Artists
We scored each artist out of 100 against different data points to determine if the average ticket prices have a good Value for Money (VfM) and if their tours are worth it.
The data points included the artists’ UK #1 single, chart topping album and much more. Each criterion was given a weighted rank in our algorithm.
| VfM Ranking Factors | 100% Total |
|---|---|
| Monthly Spotify Listeners | 25% |
| Number of Albums | 10% |
| Number of Top 10 Albums | 20% |
| Number of Awards | 20% |
| Number of UK #1 Singles | 25% |
| Name | Genre | Concert Ticket Price (£) |
No. of Streams | Awards | No. of Albums | #1 UK Singles | Albums in UK Top 10 |
VfM Score (0 to 100) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ed Sheeran | Pop | 63.98 | 78,475,632 | 34 | 6 | 13 | 5 | 91.31 |
| Elton John | Pop | 100.92 | 50,280,160 | 35 | 49 | 10 | 33 | 68.61 |
| ABBA | Pop | 70.54 | 17,550,348 | 8 | 22 | 9 | 10 | 47.10 |
| Dua Lipa | Pop | 62.48 | 66,307,571 | 38 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 55.81 |
| Olivia Rodrigo | Pop | 40.15 | 42,395,404 | 23 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 54.76 |
| The Weeknd | R&B/Soul | 94.45 | 78,850,860 | 100 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 53.03 |
| Pet Shop Boys | Pop | 75.03 | 5,083,890 | 17 | 27 | 4 | 17 | 36.18 |
| Westlife | Pop | 130.25 | 5,314,716 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 29.97 |
| McFly | Pop | 62.50 | 1,449,874 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 29.21 |
| Olly Murs | Pop | 48.68 | 6,769,625 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 29.95 |
| Diana Ross | R&B/Soul | 92.87 | 7,221,808 | 15 | 54 | 2 | 14 | 29.15 |
| Craig David | R&B/Soul | 44.87 | 4,826,150 | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 28.32 |
| Shawn Mendes | Pop | 65 | 43,570,519 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 34.51 |
| Alicia Keys | R&B/Soul | 70.95 | 26753938 | 90 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 39.08 |
| Lorde | Alternative/Indie | 44.75 | 16,289,381 | 25 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 30.99 |
| Simply Red | Pop | 72 | 4,858,975 | 16 | 19 | 1 | 14 | 25.33 |
| Lady Gaga | Pop | 167.50 | 38,337,821 | 95 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 27.86 |
| Avril Lavigne | Pop | 46.43 | 17,836,247 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 29.86 |
| Charli XCX | Pop | 31.93 | 17,505,005 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 29.84 |
| Imagine Dragons | Alternative/Indie | 75.90 | 56,722,741 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 31.54 |
| Stormzy | Hip-Hop/Rap | 50.98 | 8,345,406 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 21.66 |
| Years & Years | Pop | 41.95 | 11,166,960 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 21.82 |
| Justin Bieber | Pop | 282.22 | 78,098,425 | 110 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 22.17 |
| The Killers | Alternative/Indie | 77 | 17,459,007 | 20 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 21.16 |
| Billie Eilish | Pop | 111.18 | 48,220,685 | 41 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 23.65 |
| Andrea Bocelli | Classical | 79.36 | 4,344,648 | 7 | 22 | 0 | 12 | 17.64 |
| Eric Clapton | Rock | 213 | 10,975,377 | 75 | 41 | 1 | 19 | 17.84 |
| Little Mix | Pop | 161.75 | 23,265,974 | 18 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 15.53 |
| Guns N' Roses | Rock | 78.70 | 20,247,010 | 19 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 19.05 |
| Alanis Morissette | Alternative/Indie | 61.73 | 5,692,861 | 23 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 17.61 |
| James Arthur | Pop | 110.43 | 24,328,159 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 13.74 |
| Ashanti | R&B/Soul | 59.86 | 6662552 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 13.73 |
| Bon Iver | Alternative/Indie | 55.10 | 11,962,028 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 16.37 |
| Conan Gray | Pop | 32.95 | 17,961,179 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17.84 |
| Michael Kiwanuka | R&B/Soul | 34.27 | 3625864 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 13.47 |
| HAIM | Alternative/Indie | 39.20 | 4,990,952 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 13.34 |
| Lea Salonga | Pop | 41.70 | 2,609,115 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 13.09 |
| Florence and the Machine | Alternative/Indie | 99.42 | 13,718,585 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 11.45 |
| My Chemical Romance | Alternative/Indie | 72.23 | 11,672,502 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 11.74 |
| Coldplay | Alternative/Indie | 342.05 | 57,605,442 | 78 | 12 | 2 | 9 | 12.77 |
| The Script | Pop | 121.80 | 14,297,596 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 10.03 |
| Sigrid | Pop | 34.62 | 3,840,492 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11.58 |
| TLC | R&B/Soul | 51.73 | 7,401,562 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10.43 |
| Dave | Hip-Hop/Rap | 92 | 7926448 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8.37 |
| Harry Styles | Pop | 155 | 32,800,850 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9.59 |
| Kacey Musgraves | Country music | 90 | 7,349,936 | 24 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 9.61 |
| Sting | Rock | 226.50 | 9,625,660 | 25 | 21 | 0 | 11 | 8.01 |
| Incubus | Rock | 50 | 5,557,786 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7.70 |
| Queen + Adam Lambert | Rock | 170.05 | 39,247,220 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7.78 |
| Trey Songz | R&B/Soul | 59.86 | 7,268,698 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 6.32 |
| Louis Tomlinson | Pop | 38.93 | 3,787,243 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5.58 |
| Girl in red | Alternative/Indie | 79 | 12,122,935 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5.87 |
Gigs By Genre
When grouping our touring artists by music genre, there were some noticeable differences in the cost of gigs.
Upcoming Rock gigs and events were found to be the most expensive gigs to attend and would set you back an average of £147.65 per gig.
Meanwhile, R&B and Soul concerts were found to be the cheapest gigs to attend despite being the most respected genre at mainstream award ceremonies.
Pop music artists were found to have the best Value for Money gigs, with the top Value for Money touring acts all taken up by Pop acts. Music fans should check out Olly Murs’ All Star Slots, a new Olly Murs themed game exclusive to Heart Bingo.