After starting life as Labour's disastrous Millenium Dome development, the arena has been transformed into a world class music venue which last year sold 2,349,952 tickets, outselling its nearest rivals by 75 per cent.The venue in Greenwich last year featured stars including Tina Turner, Beyonce and Sir Paul McCartney and hosted the ATP Tour Finals in November.
It narrowly avoided bankruptcy after losing Michael Jackson's 50-night residency when the singer died last June, and has outstripped its 2008 record of 1,806,447 ticket sales by more than 30 per cent.
David Campbell, president and chief executive of AEG Europe, which owns and operates the O2, said: “Events like the ATP Tour Finals at the O2 really did put the eyes of the world on us. London deserves a world-class entertainment destination and we will keep working hard in the next decade to ensure we remain a world leader.”
In second place on the venues chart, compiled by Pollstar, the live music magazine, was the Manchester Evening News Arena with 1,346,090 ticket sales.
Coming third was the Sportpaleis Antwerpen in Belgium with 1,090,407 sales, followed by the Madison Square Garden Arena in New York with 977,868.
The Wembley Arena In London came eighth with 611,096 sales
