Introducing Pollstar’s LIVE75 Chart

–

In this week’s issue, Pollstar proudly introduces the LIVE75 chart, a new metric designed to be a snapshot of what is happening in the 

business of live entertainment – right now.

Pollstar has long been the gold standard for global box office data, chronicling what’s going on in live music commercial activity – how many people are buying tickets to see which act at which venue – for more than 30 years. We check and triple check to verify every date that is reported to us by promoters, venues, agents, managers, etc.,  and these reports come in constantly, though not always in the most timely manner. Even with the exhaustive nature of touring activity going on worldwide (and our Pollstar charts that reflect that activity), we felt the existing charts were lacking in one specific area: immediacy. 

Simply put, the LIVE75 chart fills a need for an industry that demands timely information.  So, while live concert data has always been available in Pollstar and remains in our array of charts, the difference is that the LIVE75 sets out to consolidate our data into an illuminating and actionable chart that’s easy to read, provides informative data points, and looks pretty cool. LIVE75 is a telling barometer of what’s currently happening in the business of live.

The goal of the LIVE75 chart is to provide a weekly snapshot of the 75 active tours with the most drawing power, based on shows reported to Pollstar over the preceding 30 days. LIVE75 will be the most current and reactive chart Pollstar has ever published, giving our industry a glimpse of what’s hot in the live entertainment marketplace. Datapoints include the headliner, the current week’s rank, the previous week’s rank, average tickets sold for the period, number of shows reported for the period, the average capacity sold based on sellable capacity (the venue manifest minus comps and production kills), and the tour’s booking agency. Among the special designations for top performers on the LIVE75 chart are BREAKTHROUGH (an act showing a ticket sales breakthrough by packing the house, often at smaller-sized venues); HOT SHOT  (the highest charting new Active Tour on the current week’s chart); and NOISE MAKER (the Active Tour with the biggest positive chart gain from previous week).

Here are some details on LIVE75:

• Tours are ranked by Average Tickets Sold. Rather than the highs and lows that tours encounter over the course of a given route, LIVE75 is all about consistency: how is Band X performing night after night.

• It takes a minimum requirement of 3 reported shows to appear on LIVE75. Every tour runs into anomalies, whether it’s a hometown gig or a home run one-off. It takes a few shows to truly take the pulse of a tour.

• All acts with reported shows that have taken place over the previous 30 days are eligible. This chart is all about being current.

• Only “Active” tours are eligible for the chart.  An “Active” tour is one that has upcoming dates in the Pollstar Route Book Database in the next 30 days. Acts will fall off the chart two chart weeks after their last show if they have no upcoming shows in the next 30 days in our database.

   * Datapoints include Average Capacity Sold based on sellable capacity (venue manifest minus complimentary and production kills).

• As ever, we need your support. This chart places a premium on timely reporting of both Box Office and Route Book data, so be sure to report to both databases as often as possible here: Box Office: https://pollstar.com/bo-entry Route Book: https://pollstar.com/data-entry.

 

Pollstar has one goal: to provide the best intel possible to serve as a tool to help the live entertainment industry do their jobs better. 

The LIVE75 is just another brick in that wall, albeit we believe a critical one. Thanks for reading Pollstar, and check out this week’s LIVE75 chart by clicking here. 

Sincerely,