Rolling Stones
Pay $90 million
Power Rank 2
R 2005 Rank: NR
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Last year's A Bigger Bang tour grossed $162 million by the end of 2005, besting the band's prior record of $120 million grossed from 1994's Voodoo Lounge tour. In February, the band appeared in Rio before an estimated 1.5 million fans, its largest audience ever. Three months later the Stones performed for the first time in China, where government officials banned the group from playing provocative classics like "Brown Sugar" and "Beast of Burden." But the biggest shocker came in May when guitarist Keith Richards fell from a tree while on vacation in Fiji, prompting emergency brain surgery. But the show will go on: new tour dates for the Stones' Bigger Bang tour already have been announced.
Earnings estimates are for June 2005 to June 2006. Figures rounded off where appropriate. Exact figures available on Forbes.com. Includes dollars earned solely from entertainment income. Management, agent and attorney fees have not been deducted. Estimates by forbes; sources include Billboard, Pollstar, Adams Media Research, Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen BookScan. Rankings are generated by combining earnings with other metrics: Web mentions on Google press clips compiled by LexisNexis; TV/radio mentions by Factiva; and number of times a celebrity's face appeared on the cover of 26 major consumer magazines.
