The Millennium Dome has been turned from a much mocked white elephant into a swan, according to The Times. The ill-conceived monstrosity of 2000 infamy is poised to become the most popular entertainment venue on the planet.

Hard evidence of the rejuvenation of the Dome into a music and entertainment arena that sells more tickets than any other in the world has recently arrived on the desks of music agents, promoters and managers.

The figures, collated by Pollstar, show that the great white tent now known as The O2 Arena fell fractionally behind the Manchester Evening News Arena and Madison Square Garden in New York in 2007, selling 1.2 million tickets – this for a venue that opened for business in June.

In the coming year it is expected to surpass all the competition, with predicted sales of more than two million.

Top 10 (with tickets sold)

1 Manchester Evening News Arena 1,245,196 2 Madison Square Garden Arena 1,230,433

3 02 Arena 1,209,376 (from June) 4 Wembley Arena 901,778

5 Air Canada Centre, Toronto 670,255 6 HP Pavilion At San Jose 666,587

7 Bell Centre, Montreal 620,403 8 Philips Arena, Atlanta 564,258

9 American Airlines, Dallas 539,030 10 Izod Centre, New Jersey 527,694

Source: Pollstar