Ozzy Osbourne & Black Sabbath’s Final Show Is the Highest-Grossing Charity Concert of All Time
Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath‘s “Back to the Beginning” raised more money than any charity concert since George Harrison and Ravi Shankar‘s 1971 Concert for Bangladesh popularized the very idea of an all-star benefit show, according to a review of Billboard‘s coverage over the years.
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The heavy metal show, billed as Osbourne’s final stage performance, will donate roughly $190 million (140 million British pounds) to charity, according to an Instagram post from the event’s musical director, Tom Morello.
According to statements from the group and its charity partners, the concert, watched by 40,000 ticketholders and 5.8 million individuals online, will distribute funds equally to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Acorn Children’s Hospice and Cure Parkinson’s — an organization dedicated to finding a cure for the disease Osbourne has lived with since 2019. It is unclear yet what the final donation to each charity will be.
Each of those charities said they were able to raise tens of thousands of pounds in additional donations by raffling off tickets to the show, auctioning off iconic art and band photographs donated by Black Sabbath, and through individual contributions from fans as they streamed into the concert, which took place at Villa Park in Birmingham, England on July 5.
While impossible to fact-check so soon after the event, that figure surpasses the amount raised by many of the highest-profile charity concerts of all time, according to a review of Billboard’s coverage over the years, not adjusted for inflation. Notably, reports from Billboard and other media outlets have relied on figures provided by people affiliated with these concerts, as promoters are not required to publish the total funds raised or how much is deducted to cover expenses. We will strive to update this list with more and better information as we get it. Email ediltsmarshall@billboard.com with any tips.
Here’s a list of some of the highest-grossing charity concerts of all time not adjusted for inflation, according to each event’s organizers.
Update: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Morello also posted on Instagram that the show raised $140 million. Morello’s earlier Instagram post stated the event raised 140 million British pounds. A line has also been added to clarify that the funds raised at prior charity concerts is not adjusted for inflation.
America: A Tribute to Heroes
America: A Tribute to Heroes was a charity telethon held less than two weeks after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentago on September 11, 2001. The event raised $129 million–no money was deducted for expenses– for the September 11th Fund, which worked to help “meet the immediate and long-term needs of victims, families, and communities affected,” according to the fund’s archives. With performances from artists like Bruce Springsteen, U2, Sting and Stevie Wonder, the telethon was shown on 35 separate broadcast and cable networks simultaneously in the U.S. and watched by just under 60 million viewers there.
FireAid
FireAid, the five-hour-long mega-concert that featured performances by Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga and Green Day in January 2025, raised more than $100 million for victims of the Los Angeles wildfires that killed 29 people and destroyed more than 16,000 homes earlier that same month. The group began distributing the first $50 million worth of grants to community-based organizations in February.
Live Aid
Live Aid festival, held on July 13, 1985, at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia and broadcast live to an estimated 1 billion viewers in 110 countries, raised roughly $100 million for famine relief in the countries of Ethiopia and Sudan. Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof raised another $10 million for those ravaged by famine before the festival through the release of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, the best-selling British single that featured U2 and Phil Collins. An additional $60 million was raised for the cause through the release of “We Are The World,” written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.
Farm Aid
Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid, the music industry’s longest-running charity concert that launched in 1985 to support family farmers hurt by the downturn in the market value of American crops, has raised more than $80 million to support family farmers over the past 40 years. In the 1980s, hundreds of thousands of American farms filed for bankruptcy, with the bankruptcy rate among farmers in 1987 topping the rate just before the Great Depression, U.S.D.A. filings show. According to Billboard, among the first funds dispersed from the charity was a $100,000 check Nelson wrote to a church group that used the money to feed farm families.
Hope for Haiti Now
Organized by George Clooney and Haiti-born rapper Wyclef Jean, “Hope for Haiti Now” was a telethon that raised more than $57 million for the island country after the devastating magnitude-7 quake that killed some 200,000 people and left 3 million hurt or homeless in January 2010. Artists like Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z and Chris Martin performed songs as celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicole Kidman took donations by phone. Proceeds from the fundraiser were distributed through the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, the U.N. World Food Program, Oxfam America, the Red Cross, UNICEF and Yele Haiti Foundation.
Concert for Bangladesh
The Concert for Bangladesh was actually a pair of sold-out Madison Square Garden shows organized by former Beatles guitarist Harrison and Indian sitar player Shankar, intended to raise funds for refugees of the conflict in East Pakistan during its fight for independence. Held on Aug. 1, 1971, the concert raised close to $250,000 from the 40,000 tickets sold to the event. However, by 1985, the event had sent, via UNICEF, an estimated $12 million to Bangladesh through revenue raised from a live album and film, Concert for Bangladesh.
One Love Manchester
One Love Manchester, Ariana Grande‘s all-star benefit concert held for the victims of the May 22, 2017, terror attack after the singer’s show at Manchester Arena, raised $12 million when it was held the month following the event. That amount included $3 million (£2.35 million) raised for the British Red Cross and $9 million (£7.3 million) raised for the Manchester Emergency Fund.
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