Chart Scene: Madonna Debuts On APX With ‘Celebration Tour’

Madonna makes her first appearance on the Artist Power Index at No. 10 following the launch of “The Celebration Tour,” the 12th headlining trek of her four-decade career with concerts planned at arenas in Europe and North America through next April. The O2 in London hosted the first four shows from Oct. 14-18 — a revised opening of the tour that was originally scheduled to begin in June but postponed following her illness in June.

A total of 27 shows in Europe are booked into December, including two more performances at The O2 which will wrap up the opening leg of the tour on the 6th. Then, the North American trek will begin one week later at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. After a winter break, she will return to the road on Jan. 8 with U.S. and Canadian shows set through mid-April. Finally, her last booking on the tour is currently a four-night stint in Mexico City, April 20-24.

Madonna’s top-10 ranking on the Artist Power Index is the highest of the three concert headliners who debut on the weekly chart in this issue. Enrique Iglesias makes his first appearance during the most recent quarter of the year at No. 45 with the launch of “The Trilogy” tour, his joint headlining trek with Pitbull and Ricky Martin that began on Oct. 14 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. That opening performance drew a crowd of 13,913 and grossed over $2.6 million at the box office.

Then, Jhayco’s debut on APX at No. 49 follows his recent concerts in various U.S. markets including Houston, Washington, New York, Chicago, Boston and Dallas. The Puerto Rican artist’s “Vida Rockstar” tour began stateside on Sept. 28 and is currently booked through Dec. 10 with a final performance planned for Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida.

LIVE75 has a new No. 1 as Ed Sheeran drops from the chart after holding the top ranking for six consecutive weeks during the homestretch of his “Mathematics” tour. Bounding right to the top, though, is The Weeknd who is this week’s “Hot Shot” artist with the highest-ranked debut among the 75 concert headliners on the chart.

His initial stint at No. 1 comes on the strength of concert ticket sales at Latin American stadiums during his “After Hours Til Dawn” tour. Sold-out shows at five venues in Colombia, Mexico and Brazil give the artist a sold-ticket total of 381,139 — an average of 54,448 at each show to take the top ranking over Coldplay, ranked second with a per-show ticket average just over 50,000.

The English band, however, earns “Heavy Hitter” status as the headliner with the largest gross average on the chart — $7.1 million per show from seven stadium performances on the group’s “Music of the Spheres” trek, produced by Live Nation. Coldplay moves up one position after debuting at No. 3 on the chart one week ago.

The only other top-10 debut on LIVE75 belongs to Guns N’ Roses, the fourth-highest headliner in the chart rankings based on tickets sold at two arenas and four stadiums on the band’s fall tour. Sellouts at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi moved 22,696 tickets, while stadium dates in Kansas City, San Antonio, Houston and San Deigo racked up a ticket count of 114,290. Altogether, the six shows grossed over $17.1 million for an average of $2.85 million per event.

Koe Wetzel jumps 21 positions on LIVE75 to take the “Noisemaker” tag with the best upward movement in one week on the chart. His 27th ranking is based on a ticket average of 5,171 from nine recent concerts at seven arenas and two outdoor amphitheaters in U.S. cities. His best box-office results came from Paycom Center in Oklahoma City where he sold 8,625 tickets and grossed $454,435 Sept. 30. Top shed numbers were recorded at Walmart AMP in Rogers, Arkansas, with 7,571 tickets and a gross of $393k.