via UCR 2018 proved to be another blockbuster year of great, live music. Dozens of the top bands and artists in every genre hit the road (and the friendly skies) to entertain the masses. Norman Records looked at the 1,000 most popular artists on Songkick and created a formula that factored in the number of gigs played and how many miles they traveled. They then broke down the artists into six "loosely defined" categories -- rock, metal, dance, electronic, hip-hop and singer-songwriters -- and published the Top 10 for each. You can get full details on this study HERE.
The Rock category belonged to Shinedown. They topped the list in terms of the number of gigs but didn't travel as far to perform them. Meanwhile, Foreigner finished fourth in the rock category, playing 105 concerts across 60,949 miles, while Foreigner finished fourth in the rock category, playing 105 concerts across 60,949 miles, while Def Leppard (86 shows, 50,500 miles), Judas Priest (86 shows, 38,814 miles) and Marilyn Manson (86 shows, 38,333 miles) took the last three spots on the metal list. Bob Dylan (68 concerts, 61,226 miles) finished in ninth place in the singer-songwriters category.
One last, cool stat: All 60 acts on the lists toured enough in 2018 to circumnavigate the globe at least once.