Chart Scene: Dua Lipa Joins Artist Power Index With ‘Radical Optimism Tour’ Launch

Dua Lipa makes her first appearance on the Artist Power Index since beginning her “Radical Optimism Tour” with a two-night engagement Nov. 5-6 at Singapore Indoor Stadium, the first of eight Asian venues on the opening leg of the tour that runs through early December. It supports her third studio album, released in May, and will stretch into 2025 with more dates planned in Oceania, Europe and North America.

Although most shows throughout the trek are booked at indoor arenas, her world tour will also feature a handful of stadium dates including the London native’s first-ever headline appearance at Wembley Stadium in June. Following that performance, she will also play stadium shows at Liverpool’s football venue Anfield and Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

Her most recent tour occurred in 2022 and includ- ed concerts at venues on four continents in support of her second album Future Nostalgia. Based on 80 tour dates that were reported, she grossed more than $101 million from 1.3 million tickets sold during the run. Also, at the end of that year, she ranked among the top 20 on 2022’s Top 100 Worldwide Tours chart.

Dua Lipa has the distinction of being the first concert performer ever to earn the No. 1 ranking on the Arist Power Index for consecutive weeks. After the chart made its debut in Pollstar in the first February issue of 2022, she first claimed No. 1 in the fourth week and held on to the top position for the fifth week of the chart’s existence. Also, at the end of 2022, she ranked No. 2 behind Elton John in the first ever Artist Power Index year-end ranking.

LIVE75 has a new No. 1 artist this week as Billie Eilish makes her first appearance on the chart since launching her current tour and earns “Hot Shot” status as the touring artist with the top-ranked debut. Five performances at three North American arenas produced the chart’s largest sold-ticket average of 17,980, only 174 more than the ticket average for No. 2-ranked Imagine Dragons, also making a debut appearance on the chart.

Eilish launched her “Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour” in Canada, beginning with an opening performance on Sep. 29 at Quebec City’s Centre Vidéotron. It was a sold-out concert with 17,931 attendees and a gross totaling $2.47 million.

The other two venues included in the box-office tallies this week are arenas in the New York City metropolitan area, beginning with Newark, New Jersey’s Prudential Center. The arena hosted the tour on Oct. 9, drawing a sellout crowd of 17,106 and grossing $3.09 million.

Then, she performed three consecutive nights at Madison Square Garden, Oct. 16-18, and sold 54,866 tickets for a three-show gross of $9.5 million. With a total box-office haul of $15.07 million from all five concerts, she averaged $3,013,630 per show, scoring the “Heavy Hitter” classification with the highest gross average among the 75 tours on the chart.

Imagine Dragons’ LIVE75 debut at No. 2 is based on ticket sales from 15 concerts at the final 10 venues on the band’s recent North American trek. The first was the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington with 22,752 tickets sold on Sep. 28, while the final U.S. stop on the tour was a four-show stint at the Holly- wood Bowl in Los Angeles, Oct. 22-27, for 67,880 fans. Together the 15 shows moved 267,098 tickets, averaging 17,806 per show.

In its entirety, the tour sold a total of 635,349 tickets at 35 performances from July through October and grossed $54.8 million. Among the U.S. and Canadian amphitheaters on the tour schedule, the top atten- dance was recorded at the Hollywood Bowl, but the second highest ticket count was at Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah, with 56,831 tickets sold at three concerts. Then, the sole Canadian venue on the trek, Toronto’s Budweiser Stage, had the third-highest attendance with 31,986 sold tickets at two shows.

Christian music’s Josiah Queen has the “Breakthrough” tour on LIVE75 with the most sellouts by an artist outside the top 25. The 21-year-old had a 100% sellout percentage from 14 performances on his “Prodigal Tour,” booked in U.S. venues in October. Ranked No. 55 with a ticket average of 1,085, his largest crowd was 2,079 at Tree of Life Church in New Braunfels, Texas. The tour was promoted by TPR., LiveCo’s promotion company formed earlier this year.