Elton John rang in the new year in New York City for the first time ever in his legendary five-decade career, selling out Brooklyn's Barclays Center with 16,470 fans joining the party on December 31, 2014.

With ticket sales topping the $3 million mark, the concert earns the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee the No. 1 slot on the weekly ranking of Hot Tours (see list, below).

The New Year's Eve performance closed out a year of touring in North America and Europe in support of the 40th-anniversary reissue of his "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" album, which was released in October 1973. Following its launch last March 2014, the tour hit 21 markets in the U.S. and Canada in two legs and also played 42 cities in 16 European countries during treks in the summer and fall.

Elton ranked No. 15 in Billboard's 2014 year-end list of top-grossing tours, with $59 million in revenue from 632,685 sold tickets at 60 shows.

The December 31, 2014 concert also included a live remote performance on ABC's New Year's Rockin' Eve, with Elton singing "I'm Still Standing" during the live-event cut-in. Barclays Center participated in the annual New Year's Eve television program during the previous year when Billy Joel performed live on the show during his performance at the Brooklyn venue.

HOT TOURS - January 21, 2015
Ranked by Gross. Compiled from Boxscores reported January 14-20, 2015.

Rank ACT
Total Gross
Show Date Range
Show Venue/City (Shows/Sellouts)
Total Attendance (Capacity)

1 ELTON JOHN
$3,090,167
Dec. 31
Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y. (1/1)
16,470 (16,470)

2 FLEETWOOD MAC
$1,837,886
Dec. 15
Toyota Center, Houston (1/1)
12,983 (12,983)

3 TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA
$1,200,040
Dec. 19
Toyota Center, Houston (2/0)
20,338 (23,938)

4 ERIC CHURCH
$769,786
Jan. 14-18
Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City (1/0)
Valley View Casino Center, San Diego (1/0)
16,383 (17,987)

5 THE BLACK KEYS
$604,605
Nov. 15
Toyota Center, Houston (1/0)
9,408 (11,955)

6 ANGUS & JULIA STONE
$449,207
Nov. 9-14
Capitol, Offenbach, Germany (1/1)
Grosse Freiheit, Hamburg (1/1)
Tempodrom, Berlin (1/1)
TonHalle, Munich (1/1)
Palladium, Köln, Germany (1/1)
12,629 (12,629)

7 NELLY
$297,200
Jan. 8
Qantas Credit Union Arena, Sydney (1/0)
3,238 (3,677)

8 ALAN JACKSON
$284,484
Jan. 8
Germain Arena, Estero, Fla. (1/0)
5,159 (5,831)

9 GREGG ALLMAN
$256,158
Jan. 3-14
Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, Fort Myers, Fla. (1/0)
Ryman Auditorium, Nashville (2/0)
5,057 (5,964)

10 FOREIGNER
$181,171
Jan. 12-14
Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Sarasota, Fla. (1/1)
Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts, Melbourne, Fla. (1/1)
3,576 (3,576)

Back to Headlines