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Box Office analysis: Why Salman Khan is the biggest superstar of this decade so far, followed by Aamir Khan and SRK

Salman Khan's Box Office presence is tremendous and he is way ahead of Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn in the hit race

• By: Himesh Mankad |
• August 18, 2017 6:09 pm

In an industry where a film star’s relevance shifts every Friday, it is difficult to figure out the biggest superstar of India. With Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, and Ajay Devgn still going strong as far as their Box Office pull is concerned, the battle to be at the top would never end in this industry.

A lot has changed in the industry in the past seven years. While Shah Rukh Khan was the top superstar at the start of this decade, things took a massive U-Turn with the superstar struggling to even hold the number three at the Box Office. Akshay, on the other hand, has been churning out one hit after the other.

Here’s our ranking of current top superstars of Bollywood (2010 – 2017):

No. 1 – Salman Khan:

Despite the failure of Tubelight, Salman Khan still remains the most bankable star of Bollywood. His successful run at Box Office is probably one of the best led by an actor in the history of Bollywood. Out of his 12 releases in this decade, eight films have turned out to be a huge blockbuster. In terms of the flops, Khan has been a part of only two flops in seven years: Veer and Tubelight.

The only feat that Salman Khan hasn’t yet achieved in this decade is delivering an All Time Grosser, however, with a couple more years to go, it would be interesting to see if Khan manages to attain this feat as well. Salman’s consistency to deliver blockbusters and set records year after year has guaranteed him the number one position this decade. Khan’s biggest flop this decade, Tubelight too remains to be the biggest opener of the year till date, which speaks volumes about the stardom that Khan has witnessed. Salman also holds the record of delivering 11 consecutive Rs 100 crore-grossers – a feat that is bound to remain unchallenged for a long time.

Also Read: Being Human: Salman Khan finally refunds Rs 32.50 crore to the distributors of Tubelight

It terms of footfalls, Salman Khan has sold 25.75 crore tickets, which is the highest for any actor with average ticket sale per film falling in the range of 2.14 crore tickets. To put things in perspective, the number of tickets sold by 12 Salman Khan films are more than the number of tickets sold by 26 Akshay Kumar films.

No. 2 – Aamir Khan:

While many may argue that Aamir Khan ought to be the number one star of this decade, owing to the superstar’s ability to deliver All Time Grossers at regular intervals, we find the actor to be trailing, though only slightly, behind Salman Khan. The primary reason for losing out on the number one position is the magnitude of releases Aamir has had this decade.

Aamir Khan has acted in a total of five films in seven years, which also includes an art film Dobhi Ghaat. If we measure the success of Dangal and with the failure of Tubelight, he indeed seems to be the biggest Box Office draw, however, if we look at the decade in totality, the actor loses the battle against Salman Khan by a small margin. By the time, Aamir Khan’s next film, Thugs of Hindostan releases, Salman, in all possibilities, would have another blockbuster to his credit in the form of Tiger Zinda Hai. 

Also Read: Is Salman Khan a bigger star than Aamir Khan at Box Office? These details will blow your mind

Aamir Khan’s run at the Box Office this decade has been historic, to say the least, as the superstar has delivered three All Time Grossers and has sold approximately 11.43 crore tickets. The average number of tickets sold per film is 2.86 crore.

No. 3 – Shah Rukh Khan:

This decade hasn’t turned out to be a great one for Shah Rukh Khan, however, he still manages to retain the third position at the Box Office. The failure of Jab Harry Met Sejal has made a huge dent on the stardom of Shah Rukh Khan and therefore his next with Aanand L Rai is crucial for the superstar to maintain his position.

The lifetime collections apart, what makes Shah Rukh Khan retain the third spot is the superstars’ ability to open big at the Box Office. Apart from Jab Harry Met Sejal, all Shah Rukh Khan films have more or less opened well at the ticket window.  SRK has also delivered an All Time Grosser in the form of Chennai Express this decade and followed that up with a Super-Hit, Happy New Year.

Also Read: When Shah Rukh Khan used his stardom to fill empty stadium in Australia for the climax match, and other facts — Exclusive

He might lose out on the third position for a brief period if next two Akshay Kumar films i.e. 2.0 and Padman manage to breach past the Rs 100 crore mark, however, he can climb back quickly on the ranks if his next with Aanand L Rai, which releases on Christmas 2018, manages to emerge as a blockbuster.

11 Shah Rukh Khan films have sold approximately 14.60 crore tickets with average tickets sold per film falling in the range of 1.33 crore.

No. 4 – Akshay Kumar:

It is difficult to act in 4 films a year and make sure that all of them turn out to be hits. Since 2010, Akshay Kumar has acted in nearly 26 films with half of them turning out to be successful and the other half tanking at the Box Office.

As things stand today, Akshay Kumar deserves to get the third position as Toilet: Ek Prem Katha would be his fifth consecutive hit, however, in totality, the actor is still a little behind Shah Rukh Khan, primarily because Kumar’s films have never managed to surpass the trade expectation in terms of opening day numbers. Chennai Express and Happy New Year are two films that have helped Shah Rukh Khan cement his number three position, however, if 2.0 and Padman manage to emerge as hits at the Box Office, the Khiladi would officially get the third spot in the list.

26 Akshay Kumar films have sold 23.92 crore tickets with average tickets sold per film falling in the range of 90.20 lakh.

Also Read: Celebrating 25 years of Khiladi: The movie that gave us Akshay Kumar, the Indian Bruce Lee

No. 5 – Hrithik Roshan:

At number 5 would be Hrithik Roshan has sold 9.13 crore tickets this decade with an average ticket sold per film coming in the range of 1.14 crore. Despite average ticket sold per film being higher than Akshay Kumar, the reason for Hrithik Roshan to land in the fifth position is same as Salman scoring above Aamir Khan i.e. the number of releases is too low.

Also Read: Hrithik Roshan is playing Super 30’s Anand Kumar in his next film; 7 things you need to know about the Math guru from Bihar

No. 6 – Ajay Devgn:

Ajay Devgn gets the sixth spot as the actor, who had 18 releases in the last 7 years, has sold 15.91 crore tickets this decade. The average ticket sold per film comes in the range of 88.39 lakh. With Golmaal Again and Baadshaho up for release, Devgn might just be able to challenge Hrithik Roshan to get the fifth position.

Also Read: These 10 films prove why Ajay Devgn is still an under-rated superstar when it comes to Box Office

— Data Sourced from Box Office India

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