Top five music acts of 2013, by StubHub ticket sales

Can you guess the top five music acts of 2013? Not in terms of music critiques, but purely by sales. (Maybe your favorite talents are the top-sellers, as well.) Before we reveal the list we'll tell you how it was determined.

StubHub collected data in major cities across the United States by ticket sales. If you're not one of the 8.5 million visitors who visit the site daily, you may not know they are the planet's largest ticketplace.

In the infographic, they're able to depict which artists dominate certain regions of the United States. The big marketplaces for music: the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minnesota, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa and Washington D.C. These are regions that also have at least three major league sports teams.

There are some obvious artist dominations on the map. Beyoncé is Queen Bey in her Houston hometown in the state of Texas, but also in Washington D.C. Taylor Swift is big just about everywhere. Did we give it away too soon? Yes, Swift's number one. One Direction is close behind (they're big in Philadelphia). Old school boy band singer turned solo act Justin Timberlake is at #3, followed by Beyoncé and pop rocker Pink.

This is not to say who's big around the world, but all the top acts do international tours as well. And we think just about every major country hosting tours shows Taylor Swift some big love. So here's the shortlist:

The Top Music Artists in 2013:

1. Taylor Swift

2. One Direction

3. Justin Timberlake

4. Beyoncé

5. Pink

Are there any musicians you're surprised didn't make the top 5 list? Tell us below. They might just make some of Music Times' end-of-the-year lists!

Tags

Taylor Swift, One Direction, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Pink