Bruce Springsteens last studio album "The Rising" sold about 4 million copies worldwide. It is certified double platinum in the USA and 1 x platinum in Europe which combined is 3 million in sales. Its likely that the ROW sales outside of Europe and the USA could add another 1 million copies for a total of 4 million sold.
U2's last album, ATYCLB sold 12 million copies worldwide. The current album HTDAAB which was just released in November 2004 has already sold 8.5 million copies worldwide and will likely reach the 12 million mark in under 2 years, just as ATYCLB did.
So from an album selling point, for current original studio work, U2 on average is selling 3 times as many albums as Springsteen. These days, the number of albums Springsteen sales of new material is more in line with REM, Pearl Jam, and Sting's current or last studio efforts on a worldwide basis.
On the Concert ticket selling front, Springsteen is still one of the strongest concert selling artist in the world.
Outside of North America on the Rising Tour, Springsteen played 7 Arena's and 24 Stadiums in Europe. He also played 1 Stadium in New Zealand and 4 Stadiums in Australia. I do not have exact Amusement Business figures for these shows, but it appears that Springsteen did indeed fill up, sellout, most of these shows, some in only a few hours. I do not know the ticket price that was charged for these shows though.
In North America, Springsteen has an unusual amount of popularity in the USA north of the mason-dixon line and East of the Mississippi River. More specifically, the area from Boston to Philadelphia including New York City is Springsteen country. Its unlikely than any other artist could be Springsteen in this area with the exception of U2 in Boston.
Outside of Boston, Philadelphia and New York City, Springsteens popularity in North America drops considerably. Consider that the Los Angeles Dodger Stadium show only had a little over 40,000 people in attendance. There were only single stadium dates in Chicago and San Francisco. Of the 33 stadium shows played on the North America tour, 20 of them were in Boston, Philadelphia and New York City.
Contrast this further with the fact that "single" Arena shows in big cities like Dallas and Tampa did not completely sellout.
On the concert selling front, U2 has a far more balanced level of popularity across the globe.
In Europe, U2 is indeed more popular with all 31 stadium shows for their tour soldout in minutes or hours of going on sale. The average ticket price is $90 US dollars and the GROSS for these 31 shows is $155 million dollars. This is in fact the highest level of demand U2 have ever experienced for a concert tour in Europe. The band could easily sellout more shows in Europe, but are limited to the 31 shows because of the time demands for the extensive Arena tour of North America.
In North America, U2 could outsell Bruce in any city with the exception of New York City, Philadelphia and maybe Boston. While U2 is playing only Arena's in North America on this tour, the rate of sellout especially in the big cities has been unbelievable. All four Philadelphia shows were soldout in minutes. Same with Tampa and Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, San Deigo, Seattle, Vancouver, Washington DC. Whats more, these venues are selling out at an average of 100 dollars a ticket. The North American Tour will likely GROSS 135 million by the end of the tour. If they would just add two shows in Europe, the band would finish 2005 with a worldwide GROSS of $300 million dollars, the first time an artist has GROSSED that much money in just 9 months.
Someone will have to fill me in on Springsteens tour results in South America. U2's last visit there was one of the most successful tours in South American history.
The last time U2 played Japan and Australia, the results were much lower than they had been compared to U2's previous tours there. I'm not sure who would come out on top in these markets, U2 or Springsteen.
So to sum, U2 is 3 times larger than Springsteen as a current album selling artist worldwide.(specifically the ability to sell new material).
On the Concert selling front, things are a lot closer, but U2 is the stronger concert selling act worldwide. It is difficult though to gauge how much stronger U2 is though in this catagory. Clearly in the Southern and western States of the USA, U2 is twice as strong as Springsteen in most cities. In Europe, U2 is probably a stronger draw by at least 25% to 50%.
By the way, here are the actual results from Springsteens 10 night stand at GIANTS STADIUM back in 2003.
GIANTS STADIUM : July 15, 17-18, 21, 24, 26-27, August 28, 30-31 : SHOWS: 10 GROSS: $38,684,050 ATTENDANCE: 566,560
AVERAGE TICKET PRICE: $68.27
Most of these shows still had tickets available in the days and weeks leading up to the show. This combined with the 3 Shea Stadium shows is by far the most impressive Concert drawing performance in the history of New York City.
