On the surface, Club Industry’s Top 100 Clubs list for 2010 looks a lot like the Top 100 Clubs list for 2009. The top four clubs this year were the same top four clubs last year.

24 Hour Fitness, San Ramon, CA, is once again at the top of the list with an estimated $1.352 billion in 2010 revenue. This marks the eighth consecutive year that 24 Hour has topped the Top 100 list. 24 Hour, a private company, did not provide a specific revenue number, instead stating that its revenue was more than $1 billion. However, based on the company’s number last year, we have estimated the $1.352 billion. Whereas 24 Hour listed more than 425 clubs in operation at the end of 2009, the company listed 420 clubs in operation at the end of 2010 after the relocation and closing of some clubs.

LA Fitness, Irvine, CA, is second for the second year in a row with an estimated $1 billion in 2010 revenue. LA Fitness reported 36 more clubs in 2010 than it had in operation in 2009. (LA Fitness also would not offer a specific figure for 2010 revenue.)

Earlier this year, LA Fitness was in discussions to acquire Urban Active, Lexington, KY, which is owned by parent company Global Fitness Holdings, but that deal fell through. Urban Active just missed making the top 10 on this year’s list, coming in at No. 11 with a reported $100.2 million, a 16 percent increase over its $86.7 million revenue in 2009. The proposed acquisition might have pushed LA Fitness into the No. 1 spot on next year’s Top 100 Clubs list.

Life Time Fitness, Chanhassen, MN, is No. 3 on the list with a reported $912.8 million in revenue, a 9 percent increase from its 2009 revenue of a reported $837 million. Despite the recession of the previous two years, Life Time has steadily increased its revenue the past three years. It experienced a 9 percent increase in revenue in 2009 from $769.6 million in 2008.

Club Corp., Dallas, holds steady at No. 4 with an estimated $812 million in 2010 revenue. Although the company did not provide specific numbers, a source confirmed that the $812 million estimate was in line with the same revenue the company reported in 2009.

The new club on this year’s list is not really a new name but perhaps the most intriguing. Bally Total Fitness, Chicago, which became a private company after two bankruptcies and did not report revenue figures a year ago, is No. 5 with a reported $550 million in 2010 revenue. That figure is a 48 percent decrease from its reported revenue of $1.059 billion in 2006. Bally’s decline includes a sharp drop from 2006 to 2007 revenue ($650 million) and a slight decrease from 2007 to 2008 revenue ($634 million).

Bally reported 276 clubs in operation in 2010. That’s also a sharp decline from the 400 clubs it had in operation in 2006. Bally closed a number of clubs after its second bankruptcy in 2009.

It remains to be seen whether Bally will appear on next year’s Top 100 Clubs list. As of the date this story was posted, there were indications of serious negotiations of a sale of Bally to Gold’s Gym International, Irving, TX, which would produce a seismic shift in the landscape of the industry. Gold’s, which is owned by private equity firm TRT Holdings, has not reported revenue figures for several years, although it did report 700 clubs in operation in 2010. A Bally sale has been rumored in the past, especially after its second bankruptcy. According to several sources, this time, a sale could be imminent.

Town Sports International, New York, comes in at No. 6 on this year’s list with a reported $462.4 million in revenue. That’s a 5 percent decrease from 2009 ($485.4 million) and a 9 percent decrease from 2008 ($506.7 million).

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