Billboard.com have just reported that Roger Waters, with the ticket sales now in from the final shows of the 2013 European tour, has set the solo artist ticket sales record, eclipsing Madonna and reaching third place in the overall standings (which includes groups). With $81.3 million in ticket sales reported for the final leg through 27 shows in 26 European cities, the tour as a whole totalled an impressive $459 million from 219 performances. For the 2013 show, a total of 830,123 fans attended (from a maximum possible of 915,081)

The tour originally launched in September 2010, and with the amount of equipment, staging, transportation and personnel involved in the complete production, it was never going to be a cheap enterprise to run so we'd be interested to know just how much of this amount ended up as profit. Ticket prices, in particular compared to other performers, were on the whole set at a fair level.

Billboard report that "the $459 million gross surpasses the solo record of $407 million previously set by Madonna with her Sticky & Sweet tour in 2008-09 and grants Waters with the third highest-grossing tour of all time. Only U2 and the Rolling Stones grossed more from a single tour. Sales from U2's 360° tour totalled $736 million (2009-2011) and the Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang tour grossed $558 million from 2005-2007.

As previously reported, Roger Waters will also be giving the Keynote Q&A at the 10th Annual Billboard Touring Conference, scheduled for November 13th/14th at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.