Following the Garth Brooks concert Croke Park debacle, last year is likely to be a year Aiken Promotions would want to quickly forget.

Sell-out gigs by pop superstars, Beyonce and Ed Sheeran at the 3Arena last year were not enough to prevent pre-tax profits at the firm that operates the venue declining by 50% to £2.5m (€3.6m).

Pop megastar Beyonce generated a cool €1m a night in box office receipts during her four-gig stint at the 3Arena in Dublin last year.

One Direction’s sell-out gigs at Croke Park last year helped ticket sales by MCD Productions to grow by 12.5% to 1.5m in a bumper year for the promoters.

The Script’s success story of adoring fans, sold-out concerts and number one albums now adds to the mix — loads of cash.

New figures show that Niall Horan’s all-conquering One Direction grossed concert box office receipts totalling $114m (€83.78m) last year.

Sellout shows by One Direction and Beyoncé helped generate a 6% increase in box office receipts — to $43.7m (€32m) — at the O2 in Dublin last year.

Performers Paul Simon and Olly Murs contributed to Dublin-based promoters, Aiken Promotions maintaining profitability last year.

Sold-out concerts by One Direction and Van Morrison at Dublin’s O2 last year were not enough to prevent the group that operates the venue incurring a 17% drop in pre-tax profits to £4.99m (€5.83m).

Lady Gaga has cancelled the rest of her tour dates because of a hip injury.

Concert promoters MCD Productions recorded “strong” profits last year in spite of a 22% drop in ticket sales to 1.2m.

Sold-out gigs by Rihanna, Katy Perry, and George Michael at Dublin’s O2 last year contributed to the arena’s co-owners recording a 5% increase in pre-tax profits to £6m (€7.45m).

Concert promoters MCD Productions returned to profit last year after recording an 8% increase in the number of concert tickets sold to 1.54m.

GEORGE MICHAEL and Rihanna helped Dublin’s O2 gross over $50 million (€39m) and beat the likes of New York’s Madison Square Garden to be the 5th best attended music arena venue in the world last year.

LADY Gaga’s top grossing three-night run at the O2 in Dublin last year contributed to the co-owners of the venue recording pre-tax profits of £5.7 million (€6.5m) for 2010.

U2 enjoyed the most successful tour of 2009 in the lucrative north American market, according to the music trade publication Pollstar.

MADONNA and Celine Dion were the biggest worldwide concert draws in 2008, each selling more than $200 million (€143m) worth of tickets to their slickly produced shows, trade publication Pollstar said yesterday.

VETERAN performers The Police produced the biggest-selling concert tour in the US last year.

The Examiner’s football correspondent Liam Mackey is taking a well-earned break floating along the Nile on a dhow to discuss tactics and the riddle of the diamond with the Sphinx. So for the next few weeks we’ve called Allan Prosser from the subs’ bench to mediate over your opinions and give the controversy pot a stir.

THE King of Pop lives like a billionaire but earns like a millionaire - spending 20 to 30 million dollars more per year than he earns.

Bruce Springsteen was the boss of the concert business in 2003, raking in €95.4m to rank second only to the Rolling Stones for the most money ever earned by a concert act in a year.