For the eighth consecutive week, the hit Broadway musical “Wicked” took top honors in TicketNews’ exclusive events rankings. The production, power scoring a 5.40, beat out strong competitors like Justin Bieber (two, 2.38) and the Eagles (four, 2.09), who will resume their three-year “Long Road Out of Eden” tour in Reno, NV this October.
With the NFL in preseason play and Brett Favre announcing his return for another season, his Minnesota Vikings were the highest ranked sports team in this week’s top ten, taking number three and power scoring a 2.26. Both football and baseball teams staked their claims in the top ten this week with the Dallas Cowboys finishing at number five (1.86), the AL East leading New York Yankees at number nine (1.46) and the Boston Red Sox at number 10 (1.39). Bouncing back from poor ticket sales earlier this summer, the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato tour made it to number eight in the rankings, power scoring a 1.48.
As in the Top Events rankings, both football and baseball teams populated the week’s Top Sports Events rankings. Topping this week’s list was the Minnesota Vikings (4.90), followed by the Dallas Cowboys (two, 4.02), the Yanks (three, 2.83) and Red Sox (four, 2.72). Favre’s former team, the Green Bay Packers, also made a splash in the rankings coming in at number five (2.27). Sales continue to be robust for Super Bowl XLV, taking the event to number nine (1.67).
This week’s top three concert sellers were Justin Bieber (one, 6.43), the Eagles (two, 5.89) and Lady Gaga (three, 4.50). September’s concerts from Jay-Z and Eminem in their hometowns of New York City (Jay-Z) and Detroit (Eminem) are still hot sellers, hitting at number four (3.61) this week.
Once again, “Wicked” led both the Top Broadway and Top Theater categories, power scoring a 26.03 and 33.84, respectively. Al Pacino’s limited run of “The Merchant of Venice” finished at number three with a power score of 7.82 and opens in October at the Broadhurst Theatre. The Radio City Christmas Spectacular takes it seasonal hold on the rankings, coming in at number five and power scoring a 4.20. Both “Billy Elliot” and “The Phantom of the Opera” continue to do well, in at numbers seven (3.99) and nine (3.24), respectively.
A number of these same productions joined “Wicked” in the Top Theater rankings. Also ranking high was the popular So You Think You Can Dance tour (four, 4.63) as well as “West Side Story” in at number ten (1.33).
Cher continues to rule the Vegas strip, and the Top Vegas rankings, where she has dominated since the beginning of the year. Her monster power score of 65.32 crushes the competition, including powerhouses like Celine Dion (two, 9.39), who marks her return to the Vegas stage in March of 2011 and is selling strong well ahead of opening night.
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.
