Welterweight Champ Fails to Knock Tweenybopper out of Top Spot

By Stacey Willets

The pandemonium continues as Miley Cyrus, aka Hannah Montana, sells out in minutes across the country. Though she remains the best-selling event this week, even with all the tickets purchased thus far thousands of angry parents still can’t get their kids any closer to a glimpse of their idol than turning on the Disney Channel. With her popularity credited to the wild success of her Hannah Montana television series, Miley heads up a TicketNews Top Tens As Seen On TV.

Hannah Montana, undefeated chart-topper for the past six weeks is followed by “UNDEFEATED,” the December 8 boxing match between Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. While Mayweather doesn’t have his own Disney sitcom, he is starring in a four part HBO reality series Mayweather/Hatton 24/7 which follows the boxers’ preparations for the match. Mayweather is also slated to appear in season five of Dancing with the Stars, one season after Hannah’s on-screen and real-life dad Billy Ray Cyrus competed on the show. Small world? Cyrus was joined in season four by John Ratzenberger, who voiced Hamm in Toy Story, a supporting roll to Woody, voiced by Tom Hanks the same year he starred in Apollo 13 with, you guessed it, Kevin Bacon. . .

Kevin Bacon connections and all, Mayweather has to settle for second on the Top Events chart, but he grabs the spotlight on the Top Sports chart, where his fight ranks first. Behind him is a phalanx of football teams including the Green Bay Packers at two, Dallas Cowboys at three, Denver Broncos at four, Chicago Bears at five, Pittsburgh Steelers at six, New England Patriots at seven, University of Texas Longhorns at eight, New York Giants at nine, and Seattle Seahawks at ten. Major League Baseball is benched for the week with the regular season drawing to a close, but will likely find its way back into the rankings as teams begin to clinch playoff spots.

While top-selling Wicked made the leap from the book straight to the boards, most of the top theatre productions are adapted from their movie versions. Mel Brooks expects his stage version of Young Frankenstein, number five in the NYC Theatre rankings this week, will be as huge a hit as his beloved 1974 picture. Disney’s sixth-ranked Lion King, eighth-ranked Mary Poppins, and ninth-ranked The Little Mermaid all bank on the popularity of the films. Spamalot, number seven on the NYC Theatre chart, is adapted from the 1975 cult classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail and tenth-ranked Hairspray is based on the 1988 film of the same name. Even fourth-ranked Grease, which was a musical adapted to film, incorporates music from the 1978 movie made popular by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

Hannah Montana is the fresh-faced number one concert event atop a list of performers featured on VH1 rockumentaries. Her family-oriented, universal appeal keeps her ahead of Legends second-ranked Bruce Springsteen and tenth-ranked Neil Young as well as Behind the Music artists fourth-ranked Céline Dion, seventh-ranked Genesis, and eighth-ranked Bon Jovi.

Las Vegas may be known for its showgirls, but it’s the more PBS-friendly Cirque Du Soleil productions that are capturing audiences. LOVE ranks at number two, “O” at four, Zumanity at eight, and KÀ at nine.

To see this week’s rankings, check out the press release in the Daily Buzz section of TicketNews.com.