Bon Jovi’s world tour was the most successful one of its kind this year, despite the fact that “The Circle,” their recent album, didn’t have strong sales.  Jon Bon Jovi, along with his band mates, sold $201.1 million in ticket sales for their 80 shows around the world.  The tour was in support of “The Circle.”

Bon Jovi was able to beat out the top grossing acts from 2009, AC/DC and U2.  Last year U2 was at the top of the list, grossing $311 million, while AC/DC was in second place, grossing $227 million.  This year U2, with their 32 shows and gross of $160.9 million were in third place, behind AC/DC who performed 40 shows and grossed $177 million.

Lady Gaga is next.  The outrageous singer, who  scored the biggest-selling album this year, also was the fourth highest tour earner this year.  Gaga’s long “Monster Ball tour” brought in $133.6 million from her 138 gigs in 2010.

Also appearing on the top concert list were the Eagles, Paul McCartney, Michael Buble and Metallica.  The tough economy overall caused ticket sales this year to slide.  Ticket sales on the top 50 worldwide tours, at $2.93 billion, dropped a total of 12 percent.  In North America they dropped to $1.69 billion, a decrease of 15 percent.

The top selling album in 2010 was “The Fame Monster” by Lady Gaga.

The set is the extended version of Gaga’s “The Fame,” her debut album from 2008.  Over the past year “The Fame Monster” has sold almost six million copies worldwide.

Eminem came in second, selling 5.7 million copies of his album “Recovery.”

On Twitter Lady Gaga said “The Fame Monster” has been named 2010′s best selling album.  I’m really excited about the future.  You can achieve your dreams with belief and hard work.

In addition Gaga revealed she is planning a special announcement regarding “Born This Way,” her upcoming second album, on New Year’s Eve at midnight.

Gaga earlier this year made it to the top of the Spotify most listen-to albums and tracks for 2010.

Fans of Lady Gaga in Paris once again were fresh out of luck.  The elaborate concert show of the U.S. pop star’s was postponed again, this time because of the weather.

On Twitter the singer posted that the French government had detained over two dozen trucks that were carrying equipment and sets for Gaga’s “Monster Ball Tour” for over 26 hours.

Gaga continued, I am devastated and furious.  It’s unfair to me and my fans.  She added that two crew members had been arrested because they continued to drive towards Paris in extreme weather conditions.

Large trucks have been banned by French authorities from driving through Il-de-France, which includes Paris, due to the icy and snowy weather that is affecting Europe.

Bercy Stadium officials in Paris said the Sunday night concert had to be postponed due to the trucks not being able to reach the venue on time.

Stadium officials and Lady Gaga vowed that the show on Monday would proceed as planned.  The canceled Sunday gig is being replaced with a Tuesday concert.

The singer tweeted, I promise I will give you the best night of your life.  Lady Gaga is the stage name for the singer’s real name, Stefani Germanotta.

The concerts on Sunday and Monday were dates that had been rescheduled to make up two shows in October that were postponed due to countrywide protests and strikes against the plan by the government to raise their retirement age.

In 2010 Lady Gaga didn’t really release a full length album.  However she managed somehow to develop into an even greater star.  Mostly this had to do with her continuing to work with what she already had- her incomparable videos and endless tour- as much as her being able to harness her well deserved and hard fought stardom while trying to be a forceful presence for social change.  Gaga spoke out proudly and loudly to show her support for gay rights and opposed the policy “don’t ask, don’t tell.”  In the process, Lady Gaga became the type of superstar that hasn’t been seen in decades: someone who isn’t afraid to offend despite having a lot to lose.

Her fearlessness, along with her continued success on the charts and pushing the envelope with her event videos, is the reason Lady Gaga was chosen as the Woman of the Year by MTV News.  It’s the second year in a row she has won the award.  It seems quite fitting.  No one, after all, has dominated the pop culture as well as musical landscape the way she has during the last two years.  She dominated this year a bit differently.  To honor her reign, here’s a retrospective of 2010 for Lady Gaga, the year where she transformed from being a pop icon into a genuine social force.

Highlights From 2010: Gaga started 2010 the way she closed out 2009: being on tour.  She wowed audiences in January with a four night, triumphant run at Radio City Musical Hall in New York City.  Then at the Grammys she stole the show with her duet with Elton John and outrageous wardrobe.  Her and Cyndi Lauper teamed up on the campaign MAC AIDS Fund VIVA Glam.  Her Brit Awards performance paid tribute to Alexander McQueen, the late fashion designer.  In February, Gaga started to revamp her Monster Ball Tour as well as her forthcoming video for “Telephone,” which helped to catapult her into even greater fame.

The Jonas Akerlund directed “Telephone” was full of lightning fast nods to popular culture as much as it was to near nudity and wanton violence.  It made its premiere on March 11, developing into the event video that all other of its kind would become judged against.  Fans as well as celebrities loved it.  The clip inspired countless tributes on YouTube.  Talk about a sequel followed quickly.

In April, it was announced that Gaga would be one of the headliners at Lollapalooza.  She also made Time magazine’s list as one of their “100 Most Influential People.”  She had her fans in a panic in June when she informed Larry King she had been tested for lupus and was borderline positive.  She then wowed the fans with the video “Alejandro which mixed religious symbolism with German Expressionism.  Some thought she went a bit too far.

Then she informed Rolling Stone that her new set was finished.  She premiered “You and I,” the first song off the album at the White Tie and Tiara Ball by Elton John.  Another leg on her Monster Ball tour kicked off in Montreal.  At a show of hers in Arizona, Gaga encouraged her fans to protest Arizona’s immigration law.  In April she won a record breaking and whopping 12 nominations from the Video Music Awards.  At Lollapalooza she delivered with a set that was surreal.

In September at the VMAs Gaga won eight awards, including one for Video of the Year.  She announced the title of her new album was “Born this Way.”  However all that people were talking about was Gaga’s infamous “meat dress.”  For the rest of the month it dominated celebrity gossip.  Another thing of note was Gaga’s dates at the show: women and men from the Service Members Legal Defense Network.  They had all been discharged or prohibited from serving in the Armed Forces due to the fact that they were gay.

Gaga, inspired by the stories, started a loud campaign for having the long standing military policy “don’t ask, don’t tell” overturned.  Gaga called on Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, to vote to repeal the measure.  She posted an impassioned plea on video, encouraging her fans to contact their senators to demand they also vote.  In Maine she hosted an impromptu rally that grabbed the attention of Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe.  Her efforts ultimately failed.  Senate Democrats weren’t able to gather enough votes to start a debate on the issue.  However Gaga continued her adamant support of gay rights.   RedOne, the producer said the theme of her album “Born This Way” would be freedom.

Lady Gaga capped 2010 off by surpassing 1 billion views on YouTube and was also named as one of the 100 Most Power Women by Forbes and Artist of the Year by Billboard.  She was nominated for six Grammys, had two songs on the Top 25 countdown on MTV News, including “Telephone” in the No. 10 spot.  Madame Tussauds made eight wax figures in her honor.  Then there is “Born This Way.”  The new album is due to be released early next year.  By all accounts the set is shaping up into something great.  It does raise a question: next year at this time will we be awarding Gaga with her third consecutive award as Woman of the Year?  We aren’t going to bet against it.  As Lady Gaga proved in 2010, anything is possible.

Lady Gaga on Thursday was named Artist of the Year by Billboard magazine, capping off an incredible 2010 year for her.  She became just the seventh woman to ever be honored since the magazine started to give out the award in 1981.

The Artist of the Year award for Lady Gaga, illustrating her meteoric rise on the music charts, came only one year after being named Top New Artist by Billboard.  She is just the third act to have ever accomplished that feat.  The other two were Whitney Houston and Chris Brown.

Gaga beat other heavyweights for Artist of the Year such as Lady Antebellum, Eminem and Taylor Swift.  According to Billboard, the honor was given to Lady Gaga to thank her for the chart performance of “The Fame Monster” and “The Fame,” her first two sets, which rank at number 13 and 4 on Billboard’s year-end Top 200 Albums, as well as four singles appearing on their Hot 100 Songs chart.  “Bad Romance” leads the way in the No. 8 spot.

Other previously named women for Artist of the Year by Billboard are Madonna in 1985, Whitney Houston in 1986, Mariah Carey in 1991, Alanis Morissette in 1996, LeAnn Rimes in 1997 and Taylor Swift in 2009.

The honor from Billboard came one week exactly after Lady Gaga received six Grammy nominations.  Early Friday morning Gaga sent a tweet in praise of her fans, after being digitally dead for almost a week.

She tweeted, monsters we have Billboard’s Artist of the Year and 6 Grammy nominations.  Thank you all for fighting for self-invention and artistic freedom.