The long-running musical Wicked is keeping its edge over all rivals, according to TicketNews’ exclusive events rankings for the week ending Sunday, March 20. The hit show, in residence at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City, topped the list for the second straight week, power scoring a respectable 4.37.
Musical artists took over the remainder of the list this week, starting with Elton John at two (3.30), Jimmy Buffett at three (3.18) and Bob Seger, who is prepping for the March 26 launch of his spring tour, at four (2.92). Tickets for Celine Dion’s show, which opened last week at Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace – Colosseum, are selling well enough to take the singer to number five (2.82) this week. Prince made it to number six (2.31) this week, with Taylor Swift in at seven (1.84), Lil Wayne at eight (1.72), Kenny Chesney at nine (1.67) and Lady Gaga hanging in at ten (1.58).
USA Men’s Soccer tickets took over number one (3.65) in this week’s Top Sports rankings, with matches coming up against Argentina and Paraguay later this month and CONCACAF Gold Cup play in June. Following closely behind at number two (3.08) were the Los Angeles Lakers, who have clinched the NBA’s Pacific Division. Other NBA teams to make the list this week included the popular New York Knicks, coming in at four (2.75), and the Miami Heat taking number eight (2.32).
With spring training winding down, three MLB teams made it into the sport’s top ten this week, led by the Minnesota Twins at number five (2.69). Next came the New York Yankees (six, 2.53), followed by arch rivals the Boston Red Sox (seven, 2.43). Also hitting in the top ten this week was the ever-popular WWE tour (three, 2.99), the May 7 bout between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley (nine, 2.22) and the well-performing Monster Energy Supercross tour (ten, 1.59).
Elton John and his Greatest Hits Live tour led the concert rankings this week, power scoring a 6.10. Next came Jimmy Buffett at two (5.87), Bob Seger at three (5.39), and Celine Dion at four (5.21). Prince landed at number five (4.28), followed by Taylor Swift (six, 3.40), Lil Wayne (seven, 3.18) and Kenny Chesney (eight, 3.08). Lady Gaga took number nine (2.92), and Glee Live made this week’s list at number ten (2.50).
“Wicked” hit the trifecta this week, once again topping the Top Events, Top Broadway and Top Theater rankings. Power scoring an impressive 25.17 in the Broadway category, the award-winning musical was followed by Jersey Boys (two, 8.34), The Book of Mormon (three, 7.58), War Horse (four, 6.99) and Lion King (five, 6.70). How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying stayed strong at six (4.92), and the beleaguered Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, closing down to prepare for more previews and a new June opening date, finished the week at seven (4.50). The perennial favorite Phantom of the Opera came in at eight (3.32), with Mamma Mia next at nine (3.19) and new musical Priscilla Queen of the Desert debuting at ten (2.59).
In Top Theater, “Wicked” power scored a 28.78, followed by Les Miserables (two, 7.47), “Jersey Boys” (three, 5.80), Billy Elliot (four, 3.95), and “Lion King” (five, 3.76). Disney’s Beauty and the Beast took number six (3.10), with “The Book of Mormon” at seven (2.36), “War Horse” at eight (2.17), “Mary Poppins” at nine (2.11) and Disney On Ice: Toy Story 3 rounding out the list at ten (1.98).
In Top Vegas events, Celine Dion is of course the queen of the strip once again, power scoring a monster 93.53. Cirque Du Soleil has three productions on this week’s list, with O at number two (2.18), The Beatles: Love at number three (0.94) and Mystere at eight (0.21). Santana’s Vegas show continues to perform well, in at number four (0.87) this week, and illusionists David Copperfield and Criss Angel ranked at numbers five (0.61) and six (0.61), respectively. Comedian/ventriloquist Terry Fator hit at seven (0.36), the Blue Man Group at nine (0.16), and Rita Rudner came in at ten (0.16).
TicketNews Exclusive Rankings and Power Scores are based on ticket sales from the TicketNetwork ExchangeTM, the world’s largest secondary market exchange. Two factors are used to calculate a power score: total ticket sales from the given event and total ticket sales within the category. Since the sum of all events’ power scores equals 100 in any given category, an individual event’s Power Score represents its category-specific significance. Top Seller Power Scores should only be used to compare sellers within a particular category, and not across categories.
