U2's PopMart Top Grossing Tour In First Half Of '97

Someone's claiming that PopMart is a failure? Well whoever is doing the talking obviously isn't doing their homework. The numbers have come out for the highest grossing concert tours for the first six months of 1997 and guess who's sitting on top? Well, it ain't Journey! Even though U2 has only been on tour since April 24, when they launched their world tour in Las Vegas, the band has already grossed nearly $50 million. U2 still has the entire European leg of their tour facing them and then they return to North America to finish up.

The rest of the Top 10: 2) Metallica, $34 million; 3) Phil Collins, $16.6 million; 4) Kenny G with Toni Braxton, $15.8 million; 5) Bush, $14.8 million; 6) Tina Turner, $14.7 million; 7) Jimmy Buffet, $12.5 million; 8) Ozzfest '97, $12.3 million; 9) John Mellencamp, $12.2 million; 10) Kiss, $12 million.

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Song Stories

“The A Team”

Ed Sheeran | 2011

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.

More Song Stories entries »

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