Chart Scene: Red Hot Chili Peppers Oceania Tour Earns Strong Chart Debut

Entering the Artist Power Index with a top-10 debut is Red Hot Chili Peppers, ranked eighth on the chart based on the first 2023 performance of the band’s ongoing world tour. The concert on Jan. 21 at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland was the first of eight shows booked in six stadiums in New Zealand and Australia through Feb. 12. With the three-week trek, Oceania is the first of four continents to be represented on the group’s tour schedule this year and will be followed by a string of shows in Asian cities and second legs in both North America and Europe.

The stadium tour ranked seventh on Pollstar’s Top 200 Worldwide Tours at the end of 2022 with an overall gross of $150 million from the opening runs through European and North American markets. Among the box-office highlights from last year, the highest-grossing UK event was a two-night stint in June at London Stadium with over $15 million in sales, while elsewhere in Europe, a July performance at Stade de France in Paris topped $13 million. The best North American gross was from a single August sellout at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey with a $9.5 million haul.

On LIVE75, the highest debut of the week belongs to the No. 7-ranked Eagles with a sold-ticket average of 12,182 from sellouts at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas and Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The shows were November dates from the band’s “Hotel California” trek that also ranked among the top-grossing tours of 2022, scoring the 16th position on the worldwide year-end chart with $102 million in sales.

Elton John, another veteran touring giant, makes a move on LIVE75 from No. 2 last week to the top position based on ticket sales from multiple performances at the last American stadium on his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour. With three concerts at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last November, he moved just under 143,000 tickets for an average of 47,656 per night to score the No. 1 ranking. Also, his gross average of $7.8 million holds the “Heavy Hitter” designation as the highest average among the 75 touring artists ranked on the chart.

Charting for a second consecutive time at No. 1 on the Artist Power Index is Bruno Mars who scored the 38th highest Live rank of the week on the strength of just two performances of his Las Vegas residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM. His shows on Dec. 30 and 31 fall in the timeframe for APX chart eligibility in this issue, yet his first three performances of 2023 will be included in next week’s tallies, potentially earning a higher Live rank. For this chart, he also scored the 20th highest Streaming rank and takes 24th in Airplay and 63rd in the Social category.

LIVE75’s “Breakthrough” tag goes to Modest Mouse with the highest sellout percentage among the touring headliners ranked beyond No. 25 on the chart. With 26 shows scheduled in theaters and clubs in U.S. cities last November and December, seven shows at four of the venues were reported. All were sellouts, including three at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. that moved 2,400 tickets on Dec. 13-14 and another 1,200 on the 20th. An average sold-ticket count of 1,710 from all venues earns the band an appearance at No. 31 for a second week.

The “Noise Maker” on LIVE75 is The Fab Four, the Beatles tribute band who jumps 16 positions on the chart to land at No. 55 based on a four-show ticket average of 846. The top attendance contributing to this week’s ranking was 1,407 recorded at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Fort Myers, Florida.