Chart Scene: Mariah Carey Debuts On Artist Power Index With Christmas Tour Launch

Mariah Carey makes a debut appearance at No. 3 on the Artist Power Index following the kickoff of her “Merry Christmas One and All!” tour that began on Nov. 15. Aside from the opening night performance at Yaamava’ Resort & Casino in Highland, California and a two-night stint at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, the pop superstar will perform on arena stages during the remaining dates on her holiday tour.

The roots of her annual appearances on stage during the Christmas season stretch back almost a decade when she first played a multiple-show residency at New York City’s Beacon Theatre during the holidays, fueled highly by her popular chart-topping hit song “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Those Beacon concerts eventually led to holiday touring which returned, post-pandemic, in 2022 with a pair of shows in both New York and Toronto. This year, she is back on the road with a string of 16 shows booked at 14 venues. The holiday jaunt is set to conclude at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 17.

Although Carey has the only chart debut in the top half of the 50-position Artist Power Index, five more performers make their first appearance on the chart ranked in the lower 25. Kentucky rapper Jack Harlow tops that list, ranked No. 26, based on the first three shows scheduled on his six-date “No Place Like Home” tour set in his home state. He sold over 17,000 tickets at arenas in Owensboro, Pikeville and Covington, Kentucky, in late November during the first half of the brief tour.

On LIVE75, Fall Out Boy, ranked No. 5, has “Hot Shot” status as the highest-ranked touring act making a debut on the chart in this issue. The band sold 48,942 tickets at three concerts in the U.K. during the “So Much For (Tour) Dust” European trek that launched in October. Their ticket average per show totaled 16,314 to earn the top-five appearance.

The first concert of the three was held in Glasgow, Scotland at The OVO Hydro with an arena crowd of 13,820. Then, a two-show engagement in London at The O2 followed on Nov. 2-3. Ticket sales at the arena totaled 35,122 for a box-office gross of $2.98 million.

Taylor Swift and RBD are repeat chart-toppers at No. 1 on the Artist Power Index and LIVE75, respectively, based on performances from their fall tours. Nine shows at three South American stadiums on her “Eras” tour power Swift’s tight grip on No. 1, while the Mexican pop group holds the top ranking for a second consecutive week with four shows at one stadium in Colombia. From Nov. 3 through 6 at Estadio Atanasio Girardot in Medellín, RBD sold a total of 147,221 tickets for a 36,805-ticket average per night to remain at the top of the rankings.

Morgan Wallen has the highest gross average on LIVE75 which earns the country star the “Heavy Hitter” tag for the week. He averaged over $7.3 million from four concerts, three at two stadiums and one at an indoor arena. He played two nights at Atlanta’s Truist Park, Nov. 10-11, racking up an $8.7 million gross the first night and $8.6 million the second. Then on the 18th, he sold out one show at Houston’s Minute Maid Park, earning $9.2 million in ticket revenue. Between them was his arena performance at Moody Center in Austin where he played for a sellout crowd of 12,132 and grossed $2.9 million.