Justin Bieber takes his fifth turn at No. 1 on the weekly Hot Tours recap since launching the North American leg of the “Believe” tour in late September. This week’s chart-topping gross of $9.2 million comes from the nine sold out concerts which represent the final shows from the tour’s first trek through U.S. and Canadian cities.
Bieber wrapped the tour’s first North American leg in Miami with over 27,000 fans in attendance for a pair of shows at the American Airlines Arena on January 26 & 27. Bieber’s overall box office gross since the Phoenix opener on September 29 surpasses $54 million from 49 concerts with a total of 727,392 tickets sold. There’s little break for the pop star, however, with the start of the European leg on February 17 in Dublin. Venues in Europe and South Africa are booked through mid-May with the final leg through the U.S. and Canada set to launch in June and wrap in August.
George Strait earns this week’s second place on the Hot Tours ranking with the first two dates reported from his final major concert touring effort dubbed “Cowboy Rides Away.” The first concert was on January 18 in Lubbock, Texas with a packed house at the United Spirit Arena, followed the next evening by another sold out performance in Oklahoma City. Box office revenue from the first two dates was just over $2.9 million from 32,390 sold tickets. With Country star Martina McBride onboard as show opener for the second year in a row, Strait’s farewell tour is booked in U.S. arenas during the first four months of the year but will stretch into 2014 and wrap next year.
The Sydney Entertainment Centre recently reported gross and attendance totals from various concerts that have occurred during the past two months, and five slots on this week’s Hot Tours tally belong to touring artists who headlined at the 13,000-seat arena. Elton John is fourth with totals from a sold out show on November 16, his second of two consecutive nights on stage at the venue. (The November 15 show was reported to Billboard at an earlier date.) Sir Elton’s second night included an appearance by Pnau, an Australian dance music duo that recreated some of the legendary artist’s songs on a 2012 album titled Good Morning to the Night. Nicki Minaj, comedian Russell Brand and the bands Weezer and Simple Minds also land on the Hot Tours chart with their recent performances at the Sydney arena. [Billboard.biz]
ACT
Total Gross
Show Dates
Show Venue/City (Shows/Sellouts)
Total Attendance (Capacity)
1. JUSTIN BIEBER
$9,241,202
Jan. 15-27
New Orleans Arena, New Orleans (1/1)
BJCC Arena, Birmingham, Ala. (1/1)
Bridgestone Arena, Nashville (1/1)
Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, N.C. (1/1)
Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte (1/1)
Philips Arena, Atlanta (1/1)
Amway Center, Orlando (1/1)
American Airlines Arena, Miami (2/2)
126,091 (126,091)
2. GEORGE STRAIT
$2,901,515
Jan. 18-19
United Spirit Arena, Lubbock, Texas (1/1)
Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City (1/1)
32,390 (32,390)
3. RICARDO ARJONA
$1,742,082
Jan. 25-26
Coliseo de Puerto Rico, Hato Rey (2/0)
24,774 (27,500)
4. ELTON JOHN
$1,124,220
Nov. 16
Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney (1/1)
7,238 (7,238)
5. NICKI MINAJ
$959,982
Nov. 30
Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney (1/0)
8,760 (9,150)
6. RUSSELL BRAND
$866,572
Dec. 8
Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney (1/0)
9,402 (9,960)
7. EME15
$812,133
Nov. 25-Dec. 2
Auditorio Nacional, Mexico City (2/2)
Auditorio Banamex, Monterrey, Mexico (1/1)
25,862 (25,862)
8. WEEZER
$639,309
Jan. 19
Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney (1/0)
6,000 (6,201)
9. SIMPLE MINDS
$614,367
Dec. 7
Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney (1/0)
5,015 (5,378)
10. SLASH
$598,594
Nov. 24-27
Auditorio Banamex, Monterrey, Mexico (1/0)
Auditorio Telmex, Guadalajara, Mexico (1/0)
Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico City (1/0)
18,349 (33,789)