Solo's stars soard in 2008.

John Giddings claims three of last year's top five tours

By Gordon Masson

LONDON-BASED AGENT AND PROMOTER John Giddings is hoping that 2009 will be a repeat of the past 12 months after his company, Solo Agency & Promotions, claimed no fewer than three of the world's top five-selling tours, including Madonna's record-breaking Sticky and Sweet tour. That was 2008's highest earner, raking in $281.6m (#194m) globally, according to a report by Pollstar, with Solo also claiming top five slots thanks to the second-highest earner of 2008, Celine Dion, and The Police's tour at number five.

Giddings says, "We were more than happy with 2008 and we're just hoping that we can have a similar time in 2009."

Dion's tour pulled in $236.6m (#163m), followed by Bon Jovi in third with total grosses of $176m (#121.3m), Bruce Springsteen was fourth with takings of $166m (#114.4m) and The Police sold tickets amounting to $120.6m (#83.1m) for their reunion tour.

The Madonna outing broke the record for a solo tour, smashing her previous best of $193.7m (#133.5m) for her 2006 Confessions jaunt.

Despite these huge numbers, however, fewer concert tickets were actually sold in North America during 2008. But gig-goers have beenprepared to pay more to see live music, which helped bolster the figures.