One Direction may be the first boy band to log $1 billion in a year. According to the math over at Business Insider, the fivesome is expected to generate about half that big-number revenue from ticket sales alone: they’ll play about 120 shows this year, and maybe 60 in 2014, though the latter will upgrade to stadium-sized stops and all dates have not yet been announced. All in all, averaging out audience and ticket sale prices, BI said $457.5 million is the magic number there.
According to 1D’s record labels Syco and Columbia, they’ve moved 30 million albums worldwide for a total $300 million gross.
On Aug. 30, their Morgan Spurlock-directed 3D concert movie “This Is Us” heads to theaters, which may yield an estimated $150 million. How? Justin Bieber’s “Never Say Never” did $125 million. And, hey, there’s at least five cute boys in this one and 3D amplifies ticket sale grosses.
Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson are also featured in their very own “Up All Night: The Live Tour” DVD, out in June this year, which sold more than a million, and DVD prices hang out around $15: that’s $15 million there.
Adding together estimated sales and costs of the One Direction fragrance Our Moment (really), action figures, t-shirts, branded jewelry, backpacks, sleeping bags, posters and other merchandise, BI came up with about $67.500,000 for that amalgam.
The article didn’t specify if this was a count from June to June (when those tour dates end next year), so the division of those album sales may be over time that exists outside the bounds. But you get the picture. Estimates push the “X-Factor” stars up and over $1 billion for a year’s worth of revenue.
One Direction are on tour in the U.S. now.