Even with a tabloid history that can't be topped by many, Madonna was able to top herself with the number one ticket sales for 2008 for her “Sticky and Sweet” tour. The pop icon reigned in $105.3 million over the course of her two month North American tour, which began in October in East Rutherford, New Jersey and finished in November in Mexico City. Even amid all the personal controversy that the mother and rocker faced this year, “Sticky and Sweet” finished up its final performances in Brazil last week to total $281.6 million internationally, according to the music trade publication Pollstar. The tour, which visited 17 countries, was promoting Madonna's 11th studio album Hard Candy, which emerged on the pop charts in April with her number one international hit “4 Minutes.”



“Sticky and Sweet” incorporated Madonna's love for everything vaudeville-esque, with a Ukrainian gypsy band, a vintage racing car and a virtual duet with Justin Timberlake (though Timberlake appeared in 3-D version for her Los Angeles show – and to incorporate Madonna's love for drama, she also had a conservative ex, Britney Spears, pop on stage as well). The show, directed by Jamie King, topped her last big tour, which came in 2006 with Confessions, earning her a total grossing of $193.7 million. Always trying to top herself, Madonna tickets have outlasted every other pop star and will continue to be hot items on http://www.stubhub.com/madonna-tickets.

Following close behind was Celine Dion, who drew in nearly just as much in North American ticket sales this year and who had geared toward retirement earlier this year but instead launched her first world tour in eight years. Her total missed the top spot by a mere fifty million, reaching $236.6 million from 24 countries with North America earning about $94.

“Sticky and Sweet” initially had its fair share of skeptics, as the 50 year old “Material Girl” strutted her stuff scantily clad in tight leather and underwear garments. But after her athletic dance routines and veteran conceptions impressed even the most skeptical of critics, the Grammy award winner easily viewed the economic crisis as an uphill battle of her own. According to Pollstar, the least amount of concert goers went to big events this year, though those who did opened up their pocket books like never before. “We've had a better year than we really should have expected given the economic environment,” Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar's Fresno, California publication, told Reuters. The average ticket price rose nearly eight percent while the number of tickets sold fell three.

This year marks the first that Pollstar incorporated international numbers into their data. Madonna's concert numbers, which currently ranks her at eighth overall for North American tours, wasn't the only monetary data collected. As one of the highest ranking performers of all time, Madonna's donations to her Kabbalah religion were also of high discussion at the end of 2008, with high profile news sources discussing her over $3 million donation, which particularly went to her own Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles.

Even with a Hollywood psychic predicting a publicity romance stunt between Madonna and Alex Rodriquez, the Yankees player she's most recently been “attached,” and media relations that follow her every move, Madonna's 2009 will unforgivably be brighter than the last.