Broadway regains its strong hold on TicketNews’ Top Events Rankings, with shows in all three of the top positions led by “The Book of Mormon.”
Making a considerable jump this week was “The Lion King,” moving from the No. 7 position up to the No. 2 spot. “The Lion King,” a story that is fun for the whole family, has continued its reign as the top grossing show on Broadway.
With children on break from school and looking for some fun, “The Lion King” has proved to be a great summer escape for families. They have joined over 50 million others who have experienced the Tony Award winner for best musical. The show stars Adam Jacobs as Simba who has also starred in the Broadway hits “Les Miserables” and “Mamma Mia!.” He is joined by Alton Fitzgerald White who plays Mufasa as well as many other illustrious actors. Featuring music by acclaimed musician Elton John, including his Golden Globe and Academy Award winning Best Original Song “Can You Feel The Love Tonight,” right now this show has it all.
The Who have jumped into our Top Events rankings with their announcement of a North American Tour highlighted by their entire sixth studio double album, “Quadrophenia” which dropped in 1973. This iconic album topped out at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard album chart and helped shape rock music as we know it today and this tour has classic Who fans everywhere excited.
This week also saw two significant slides from top musicians. Jay-Z went from the No. 1 position last week to falling completely off the rankings list. The rapper announced five additional shows to help open the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. All eight shows have since sold out and are only available through the secondary market.
Madonna is also on the verge of falling off the rankings list, dropping 5 spots on to the No. 20 position. The slip may be due to, believe it or not, her on stage antics. Over the top stage behavior — what helped propel her to stardom — may be hurting rather than helping her these days. Despite warnings from Scottish authorities due to strict gun laws and tragic shooting that occurred in Aurora, CO, Madonna took to the stage in Edinburgh brandishing fake machine guns and pistols. She has brought forth quite a bit of backlash, even causing the group Mothers Against Guns to take a stand against her saying, “[She] should know better,” according to the Daily Record. The MDNA tour kicks off its North American leg on August 28 in Philadelphia, PA.
TicketNews Exclusive Rankings and Power Scores are based on ticket sales from the TicketNetwork 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 Event Power Scores should only be used to compare events within a particular category, and not across categories.
