NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
The controversy over anti-war remarks by Natalie Maines has not diminished the ability of the Dixie Chicks to attract fans to the band's concerts.
In fact, judging by sales figures from the group's ongoing tour, the Chicks may be more popular than ever. The band has joined a rarefied group of top-selling artists -- including long-established superstars like the Rolling Stones, Elton John and Billy Joel.
The Dixie Chicks tour was the third-highest-grossing concert series in the world during the first half of 2003, according to figures recently released by Pollstar, the concert industry's leading trade publication.
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 CNNfn's J.J. Ramberg takes a closer look at what is behind the 26% jump in concert ticket sales.
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The female trio took in $35.1 million in box-office revenues. Since the Chicks charge much lower prices than the Stones and Elton/Billy tours, they actually sold more tickets -- about twice as many as the Stones and 25 percent more than Sir Elton.
"Nobody would say it's a good career move to do what they did," says Gary Bongiovanni, Pollstar's editor-in-chief. "But it may have inadvertently had a positive net result for the Dixie Chicks, because it exposed them to a much broader audience than just country music fans."
Some 582,000 people went to see the Chicks during the period. That's more than any other band besides Kenny Chesney, a country-music star who played nearly twice as many shows, and Tim McGraw, who sold 8,000 more tickets but performed 13 more times to do so.
Maines made her now-famous comments in early March. Most of the concerts measured by Pollstar -- 27 out of 35 -- took place after May 1. Many tickets were purchased prior to the row. Even so, the band reported few empty seats at most venues, suggesting any furor had subsided with ticket-buyers.
A pretty good year
Pollstar's research shows that the Dixie Chicks are just one highlight of what is shaping up to be one of the best years in the recent past for the concert industry.
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| | Performer | | Gross receipts | | Elton John/Billy Joel | $52.7 million | | Rolling Stones | $37.4 million | | Dixie Chicks | $35.1 million | | Celine Dion | $33.2 million | | Cher | $31.7 million | | Tim McGraw | $30.6 million | | Fleetwood Mac | $28.3 million | | Eagles | $27.2 million | | Bon Jovi | $26.9 million | | Kenny Chesney | $24.4 million |
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The 50 top-grossing tours collectively took in $678 million in ticket sales during the first six months, which is 26 percent more than last year.
Some of that gain is the result of higher prices for the most popular shows. The average price of attending one of the Top 10 shows rose 11.5 percent.
Price hikes were not broadly distributed, however. The average ticket among the top 50 tours rose only about 2 percent.
The economics of a high-end tour, however, are enough to make an accountant party like a rock star. The average ticket price for the Rolling Stones was $157, the highest on the list. Celine Dion's Las Vegas gig commands an average price of $135, followed by Elton/Billy and the Eagles, at $113 and $103, respectively.
Who's paying these prices? Baby boomers, mostly.
About a decade ago, "the biggest acts like the Rolling Stones changed their pricing models to charge significantly higher prices for the best seats," Bongiovanni explains. "Obviously, they're catering to a pretty well-heeled audience."
Since then, the cost of admission to a top show has spiraled. "People were paying a lot of money for seats anyway," Bongiovanni says. "The artists decided they were being schmucks to let that money go to ticket brokers instead of themselves."
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