Taylor Swift and Garth Brooks top StubHub’s 2015 concert rankings

Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks and Billy Joel were the hottest concert attractions in 2015, according to ticket broker StubHub, and despite the death of its lead guitarist and singer 20 years ago, the reunited Grateful Dead found interest in the band’s farewell tour to be alive and well.

As part of StubHub’s year-end report on consumers’ ticket-buying habits, which will be released in full Thursday, the company reported that Swift’s 1989 tour more than doubled the sales of No. 2 finisher Brooks. StubHub did not release raw-ticket sales figures.

Following Joel at No. 3 on the ranking, which is based on sales revenue, were U2 and Ed Sheeran. Rounding out the Top 10 were Luke Bryan, The Grateful Dead, Kenny Chesney, One Direction and the Rolling Stones.

“It’s pretty impressive [that] the Grateful Dead landed at No. 7 for the year, despite only five shows, compared to other artists who went on full tours,” a StubHub spokesman told The Times.

The big factor there was the average ticket price commanded over the ticket resale outlet for the Dead’s shows: $360, more than 50% higher than the average for Swift’s tour ($237) and the Stones’ average price of $223.

Most artists in the Top 10 also showed significant sales increases over the previous year, with the exception of Joel, whose numbers dropped 12%, U2 (down 11%), Bryan (down 44%) and One Direction (down 63%).

The biggest increases were posted by The Rolling Stones, up 132% over 2014, Brooks (a 178% increase) and Sheeran, whose sales last year jumped a whopping 528% over the previous year.

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