Chart Scene: John Mayer Debuts On LIVE75 With Solo Tour

John Mayer makes his first appearance of the year on LIVE75, earning the “Hot Shot” tag as the touring artist with the highest debut of the week. Attendance from the first three sold-out shows along with the ninth performance on his current trek averaged 13,635 sold seats per show at four venues to score the No. 8 position.

He kicked off his solo acoustic arena tour – the first for the rock artist in his two-decade-plus career – on March 11 in the New York City metropolitan area, filling Newark’s Prudential Center with 13,329 fans for a $2.1 million gross. He followed with a March 13 event at TD Garden in Boston with tickets totaling 13,407 and a gross of $1.9 million before returning to New York two nights later. His performance at Madison Square Garden on the 15th moved 14,546 tickets for a $2.09 million gross.

Also reported on the tour were box-office figures from his March 27 concert at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena. His sold-out concert there drew a crowd of 13,260 and logged a $1.25 million take. Altogether, the four performances on the Live Nation-produced tour moved 54,542 tickets for a gross of $7.3 million.

On the Artist Power Index, it is Lil Wayne with the highest debut. He lands at No. 22 following the launch of his “Welcome To Tha Carter” tour on April 4. Seven of the rapper’s headlining dates are eligible for chart inclusion beginning with the opening performance at The Fillmore Minneapolis and continuing through April 12 with his show at History in Toronto. The tour is booked in clubs, theaters and arenas through the middle of May.

Also with an APX debut are Burna Boy at No. 39, Macklemore at No. 45 and Gorillaz taking the No. 50 spot. Burna Boy performed at American Airlines Center in Dallas and Oakland Arena in California in April as part of his “Love, Damini” tour supporting his sixth studio album, released last July. Macklemore, also on the road to promote a new album that arrived on March 3, played two shows in Dublin followed by UK concerts in Glasgow, Birmingham and London. Gorillaz hits the chart based on an April 12 concert at the Bakkt Theater (formerly Zappos Theater) at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.  

Both charts feature repeat appearances at No. 1 with Taylor Swift holding on to the top ranking on the Artist Power Index for a fourth consecutive week and Ed Sheeran retaining his top position on LIVE75 after his debut on the chart one week ago. The first seven U.S. stadium concerts on Swift’s “Eras” tour fuel her stint at the top, while Sheeran keeps his top ranking based on ticket sales at two Australia stadiums on his “Mathematics” tour along with the first UK show on a brief tour in March to promote his upcoming Subtract album, due to be released on May 5. The five-city trek kicked off on March 23 at AO Arena in Manchester with 14,752 fans in attendance, grossing $1.59 million.

On LIVE75, Tedeschi Trucks Band is No. 44 as the “Breakthrough” tour of the week with the most sellouts reported among touring artists ranked outside the top 25. The band has a ticket average of 3,026 from seven sold-out performances at two venues: Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and the Chicago Theatre. A three-show run at the Ryman, Feb. 23-25, logged an attendance of 6,989 with grosses topping $705k. The Chicago venue welcomed the band for two-night engagements on March 17-18 and again on March 31-April 1. From all four concerts, the sold ticket count reached 14,193, while the combined gross was $1,057,746.

The touring artist with the most shows on LIVE75 is comedian Jo Koy who scores the No. 36 ranking with 23 performances reported at 20 venues in U.S. cities. His best box-office results come from Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu with 19,024 sold seats at three shows, Feb. 24-26.