The Rolling Stones earned almost $560 million for their two-year Bigger Bang world tour, which conclude at London’s O2 arena in August.

The figures were revealed by the band’s producer Michael Cohl, which show the Stones trouncing the previous world record of $389 million set by U2’s Vertigo tour 2005-06.

“It was a long tour, but more than anything it was fantastic,” he said.

“We had to overcome a lot; this was like Homer’s Odyssey.

“There were all sorts of difficulties to overcome and it turned out to be just one amazing triumph.”

Some 4.68 million tickets were sold for the 144 shows, which took in Romania, Serbia and Montenegro for the first time.

Meanwhile, Mick Jagger has vowed to keep the Rolling Stones going and claims they have no plans to retire.

He did however rule out Glastonbury next year, referring to The Who’s performance in the pouring rain.

“I don’t want to play Glastonbury on the Sunday night in the pouring rain, which is what The Who did this year.

“I was watching it on the telly, and my kids were there. I’m on the phone saying ‘it’s awful’. They said it’s really fun, but it didn’t look fun to me.”