Sticky & Sweet Tour - Commercial Reception

Commercial Reception

The Sticky & Sweet Tour broke many records in terms of its ticket sales, commercial gross and audience attendance. On September 11, 2008, Madonna performed to a sell-out crowd of over 74,000 fans and grossed over $12 million USD, surpassing all previous grosses at both the old and the new Wembley Stadiums. Since that date U2 and their 360° Tour has broken the attendance record at Wembley Stadium with a crowd of 88,000 people. This performance followed the Zurich performance, which was in front of 72,000 people, the largest audience ever for a concert in Switzerland. The September 20, 2008 concert at the Stade de France sold 80,000 tickets in less than ten days, prompting Live Nation to announce a second and final show at the venue. 50,000 tickets for Madonna's Vancouver concert were sold in 29 minutes. Due to instant sellouts in Toronto at Air Canada Centre on October 18 and Montreal at the Bell Centre on October 22, second shows in both markets were added on October 19 in Toronto, at the Air Canada Centre, and October 23, at Montreal's Bell Centre. The two shows in Mexico City sold out in less than three hours. Madonna's show in Montenegro was performed to almost 70,000, the biggest-ever event held in the small Adriatic republic. In New York City, Madonna's four sell-outs at Madison Square Garden shows added up to a record breaking 23 sold out performances since 2001 at that venue – a record for most appearances for a single artist in this decade. Madonna's performances at Stade de France, Wembley Stadium, Madison Square Garden and Military Airfield ranked at numbers 3, 13, 15 and 20 on Billboard's Top 25 Boxscores of 2008, respectively. The tour ranked third in Billboard's "Top 25 Tours", with a gross of over U.S. $162 million (by mid-November 2008). Pollstar ranked the tour the leading North American grosser for 2008 at $105.3 million. On December 2008, Live Nation announced that the U.S. leg of the tour sold 550,000 tickets and grossed $91.5 million. Together with the European and Mexican dates, the tour grossed a total of $282 million, making it the highest grossing tour of 2008. It also became the biggest selling tour by a solo artist, breaking the record previously held by her own Confessions Tour in 2006.

After the announcement of the 2009 extension of the tour, tickets were sold-out immediately. Second shows were confirmed for July 5 in London and July 8 in Manchester, marking Madonna’s final UK dates in 2009. The Oslo (July 30), Tallinn (August 4), Helsinki (August 6) and Gothenburg (August 9) concerts all sold out on the same day tickets went on sale. In Helsinki, the August 6 performance was the biggest show by one artist ever organized in Finland. In Oslo, all 40,000 tickets available for the July 30 concert were sold in 34 minutes, prompting Live Nation to announce an extra concert on July 29. In Tallinn, all 70,300 tickets available for Madonna's concert at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds were purchased in just over 24 hours, a record for Estonia. The record previously belonged to Metallica, who sold all of the tickets available for their concert at the same venue in three days. In Tel Aviv, all 50,000 tickets available for the first date were sold out in a few days, causing Live Nation to add a second and final date to wrap up the tour. As expected, after the final show, Sticky & Sweet became the highest grossing tour by a solo artist, earning $408 million from 85 shows in 32 countries, with an attendance of 3.5 million. It is the second highest grossing tour of all time, behind The Rolling Stones' 2005–2007 A Bigger Bang Tour which earned $558 million. At the 2009 Billboard Touring Awards, the Sticky & Sweet Tour won the Top Tour and Top Draw prizes, which acknowledge the highest-grossing and highest-attended tours of the year, respectively. Madonna's manager Guy Oseary won the Top Manager award. Additionally, in 2009 Billboard magazine announced that Madonna placed second (behind U2) in the "Top 25 Tours of 2009" with a gross of $222,017,248. The article also mentioned "Into the Groove" as one the many highlights during the show.