Adele, Justin Bieber Lead StubHub's Top Tours of 2016

StubHub today revealed its second-annual year in live events report, tracking the top events based on sales through the company's secondary ticketing market in 2016. The top 10 events overall were sporting events; the Super Bowl came in first, with Nos. 2-6 on the list all games from this fall's historic World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians. But concerts were the top genre overall in total tickets sales for 2016, while theater (No. 1), music festivals (No. 2) and concerts (No. 5) all landed on the list of top-growing genres year-over-year.

Leading the way among music tours was Adele, followed by Justin Bieber, Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé and Drake, in that order. Billy Joel, at No. 6, and Luke Bryan, at No. 10, were the only two artists from 2015 who made this year's list as well, while rockers Coldplay (No. 7), Guns N' Roses (No. 8) and Pearl Jam (No. 9) rounded out the top 10. Ironically, given the uproar from lawmakers and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman over ticket bots in the secondary marketplace that stemmed from the announcement of his tour, Springsteen's March 28 show at Madison Square Garden was the top-selling single-day music event of the year on StubHub.

The company's announcement, without providing specific numbers, also broke out several other notable facts: a survey conducted by the company, for instance, showed that spending on live events increased by eight percent globally over 2015; Hamilton brought in four times the amount of sales of any other production in Broadway history; Coachella and Lollapalooza remained the top two music events, and top two festivals, of the year; and the month of January saw the lowest ticket sales of the year, with October -- buoyed no doubt by the World Series -- the highest.

Lastly, a fun one: based on crossover purchases in the United States with respect to music events and sports games, StubHub pulled out with which artists each of the four professional sports fan bases were most associated. Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League both went for Springsteen; the National Football League went for Super Bowl Halftime performer Beyoncé; while the National Basketball Association went with Toronto Raptors team ambassador and frequent court side presence Drake.

Check out the list of the Top 10 Music Tours of 2016 (and compare it to the Top 10 of 2015) below.

2016 Top 10 Music Tours
1. Adele
2. Justin Bieber
3. Bruce Springsteen
4. Beyoncé
5. Drake
6. Billy Joel
7. Coldplay
8. Guns N Roses 
9. Pearl Jam
10. Luke Bryan

2015 Top 10 Music Tours
1. Taylor Swift
2. Garth Brooks
3. Billy Joel
4. U2
5. Ed Sheeran
6. Luke Bryan
7. The Grateful Dead
8. Kenny Chesney
9. One Direction
10. Rolling Stones

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