Touts charged extortionate prices on the resale market in the last year, with fans paying huge sums for the biggest bands including Linkin Park, Dua Lipa and Black Sabbath
Oasis, Coldplay and Billie Eilish have topped a list of the most touted gig tickets of 2025.
Seats for the Gallagher brothers’ epic comeback shows last year topped demand from desperate fans trying to nab a spot form a tout. Some folk spent £800 a ticket to be at places like Wembley and Cardiff to see the Wonderwall rockers in action, experts said.
A probe found around 7million Brits have used uncapped resale sites in the last year – despite more than a third of people being unaware of how they work – leaving them vulnerable to significantly marked up prices.
O2 has now set up a Stamp It Tout campaign to tackle touts after the government outlined its intention to ban the resale of tickets for profit last month. The telecoms company – which sold 1.7 million tickets in 2025 to live events throughout the UK via its Priority Tickets platform – is calling for swift action to outlaw the resale of tickets for profit, and has collated a list which highlights how touts have continued to cash in on demand for both home-grown talent and international superstars’ shows throughout the year.
Across 2025, touts charged extortionate prices on the resale market, with those surveyed admitting to paying huge sums for the biggest bands, rounded off at the top by Linkin Park, Dua Lipa and Black Sabbath.
Gareth Griffiths, of Virgin Media O2, said: “From Coldplay to Billie Eilish, 2025 proved once again that Britain is the beating heart of live music – but ticket touts continued to exploit fans and undermine that experience.
“The government has been clear – profiteering at the expense of music lovers has no place in the UK. Yet until new legislation takes effect, reselling tickets for eyewatering mark-ups remains legal. With world-class acts set to take the stage in 2026, action cannot wait. Fans deserve a fairer ticketing system.”
Adam Webb, campaign manager at the FanFair Alliance, added: “Until the Government brings in the price-capping legislation that they’ve promised, online ticket touts and rogue resale platforms will continue to profit off the back of audiences and extract hundreds of millions of pounds from the UK economy.
“Investigations by FanFair Alliance have routinely highlighted how anti-consumer and unlawful practices are endemic in the so-called secondary ticketing sector, and alongside O2 we will continue pushing for a fairer, fan-friendly resale market.”
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