The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, site of Sunday night's aromatic 311 show, has long been one of the country's busiest concert venues, usually ranking at or near the top in annual attendance.

Now it's officially one of the busiest in the world. In concert trade publication Pollstar's new survey of the world's 50 largest amphitheaters during the first six months of 2012, the Pavilion came in at No. 3 in ticket sales, ringing up 138,700 since January 1.

That ranking is even more impressive considering the venue's late-spring start time; the first show (and first sellout) of 2012 was Buzzfest XXVIII on April 21. Since then, according to a release from the Pavilion Monday morning, Dave Matthews Band, Jimmy Buffett and One Direction also sold out.

Also consider this: Of the highest-grossing North American tours of 2012, also released by Pollstar Monday, only Matthews made the Top 10, at No. 9. Buffett made No. 19, and the Black Keys, who visited April 24, came in at No. 20.

Additionally, six tours in the Top 20 came through Toyota Center: Roger Waters (No. 2), Van Halen (No. 3), Drake (No. 6), Radiohead (No. 10), Coldplay (No. 12) and Nickelback (No. 14).

Obviously, this means a large number of Houstonians enjoy spending money on concerts (and parking, T-shirts, beer, etc.). This trend should only continue, with various classic rock greybeards (Chicago, Joe Cocker), Pitbull, Kiss and Motley Crue, Sublime With Rome, Jason Mraz, Def Leppard & Poison, Toby Keith, Florence + the Machine, Gotye and Jason Aldean -- still a very short list -- on tap in the weeks ahead.

No. 1 and No. 2 among venues in Pollstar's survey were the famous Red Rocks outside Denver and the Klipsch Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana. Gexa Energy Pavilion in Dallas was way down the list at No. 15.