U2 world tour continues to smash records

(AFP PHOTO MEHDI FEDOUACH)

Irish rock band U2's massive 360° tour in support of the band's last album, No Line on the Horizon, is still breaking records as the highest-grossing tour ever. Box office stats reveal that the more than 100-show run has so far raked in more than $675 million.

Announced last week by Billboard Boxscore, which tracks sales for concerts and albums, the tour passed the $558 million top-earning record set by the Rolling Stones' tour of 2005-07.

When the tour wraps up this summer, it will have sold more than seven million tickets to 110 shows, meaning it also ranks as the most attended tour in history, according to Boxscore. Rolling Stones sold 6.4 million tickets with their Voodoo Lounge tour of 1994-95.

The massive, seven-leg tour launched two years ago in Barcelona. In 2011, the band kicked off its South African tour in Johannesburg on February 13 followed by a slew of shows in Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, Mexico, the US, and Canada, wrapping up on July 30 in Moncton, Canada, at the Magnetic Hill Music Festival.

According to Billboard Boxscore's report earlier this year, rockers AC/DC earned the third highest grossing tour of all time with their Black Ice World Tour, while Madonna comes in fourth with her Sticky and Sweet Tour, which took home $408 million in just 85 shows.

Artists with the year's top ten grossing tours, according to Billboard Boxscore's report:

1. U2
2. Kylie Minogue
3. Kenny Chesney
4. Justin Bieber
5. Miley Cyrus
6. Rascal Flatts
7. Mötley Crüe
8. James Blunt
9. John Fogerty
10. Rush

Get a taste of U2's 360° tour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLDbyNSChUw