Thanks to their tours down under

Daniel Sloss and Bill Bailey have been named the world’s best selling live comedians in the first six months of 2021.

Bailey netted the most money at the box office $1.72million (£1.25million) compared to Sloss’s $1.53million (£1.1million).

But the Scottish comic sold a lot more tickets, 40,460, compared to Bailey’s 26,480.

Both made the top 20 chart of all live acts across the world, published by box office specialists Pollstar, thanks to their tours of Australia and New Zealand - virtually the only part of the world to resume live gigs. 

Bailey played 17 shows in 13 New Zealand venues and Sloss 32 shows in 13 venues in Australia.

The Pollstar chart was topped by New Zealand band Six60, which sold 167,000 tickets and grossed £14.5million, followed by a drive-in theatre tour from Christian musical concert promoter Awakening Events, which  sold almost 73,000 tickets.  

Rankings will be upended as venues open in the second half of the year. The In Real Life comedy tour fronted by Mike Epps has announced events in just two US arenas and already sold  20,744 tickets for a gross of $2.1 million.

Published: 1 Jul 2021