Music is truly a universal language and a gift to the world. For many of us, music is an escape – a great way to get away from the stresses and routines of daily life. Music also carries with it the capacity to transport us back in time, when hearing a song from our past, as what we choose to listen to throughout the years becomes the personal soundtrack to our lives. Beethovenonce said, “Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life,” and he couldn’t have been more right.

Concerts are one of the best ways to enjoy music. The atmosphere that comes from being surrounded by thousands of like-minded people drawn together in one place to enjoy the same thing can be a wonderful experience and the feel of music being played live and in the moment captures us in a way far different than when booming from our stereo. Below is a list of the 10 most successful music tours in terms numbers of people attended. And if you haven’t given yourself the chance, go buy a tikcet for your favorite bands next tour. You won’t regret it!

• 1. The Rolling Stones: A Bigger Bang 2006 -   4.68 million attendees
• 2. U2: Vertigo 2005 – 4.62 million attendees
• 3.  Micheal Jackson: History 1996 - 4.5 million attendees
• 4. Micheal Jackson: Bad 1988 – 4.4 million attendees
• 5. U2: Popmart 1997 - 3.94 million attendees
• 6. Madonna: Sticky Sweet 2008 – 3.5 million attendees
• 7. Cher: Living Proof / The Farewell Tour – 3.5 million attendees
• 8. The Rolling Stones: Licks 2003 – 3.43 million attendees
• 9. U2: 360 2010 – 3.07 million attendees
• 10. Tina Turner: Wildest Dreams 1997 – 3 million attendees

*** The Michael Jackson History tour held nearly 40 fewer shows than any other tour on the list. Advance ticket sales for his ill-fated “This is It” tour scheduled for 2009 suggest he would have more than doubled the attendee numbers for the Rolling Stones Bigger Bang tour if not for his untimely death.