Every year the Rolling Stones go touring, and every year their tour is one of the highest grossing tours of the year.

Which shouldn't be so surprising – they're living legends after all. However, a closer look reveals that the Rolling Stones only perform approximately 16 shows per year. More specifically 14 in 2016, and 18 in 2015.

Every Rolling Stones show attracts tens of thousands of people who are willing to pay a lot to see them live.

How much a tour grosses over a year is only based on those two numbers: how many people are in the audience, and how much they pay for the ticket.

For the sceptics – here are the numbers.

2014

In 2014 they had 21 dates. They were the third highest grossing tour of 2014. Because at each show:

• They played for a lot of people, that year their 'fan per show' was the third highest of all
• With the highest average ticket price, average $184
• Meaning their gross per show was the highest of all tours in 2014.

2015

In 2015 they had 18 dates

• They played for a lot of people, 40k per show to be exact
• For the highest average ticket price, average $185
• Making their gross per show over $7 million, topped only by The Grateful Dead ($10 million, which is nuts).

2016

In 2016 there were 14 shows, attended by 1.229 million people, that grossed $84 million. That's an average of 87,785 people per performance which means their gross per show in 2016 is $6 million (most top acts are in the $1-3 million range per show).