There's no doubt that Britney Spears's Las Vegas residency at Planet Hollywood is off to a fast start, but claims that it has topped Celine Dion, Elton John, Shania Twain, and Rod Stewart, as reported by BuzzFeed, are a bit misleading.
That information is based entirely on data from ticket-reseller StubHub and doesn't take into account tickets purchased by other outlets. StubHub is also saying that "Britney: Piece of Me" is the third highest-selling Las Vegas residency ever, behind only Celine Dion's run that began in 2011, and Elton John's residency, which started in 2009. Again, that's based purely on StubHub data and doesn't take into account other ticket outlets, and the fact that Spears has only played four shows so far, compared to the multiple-show, multiple-leg runs by Dion and John.
StubHub hasn't revealed its exact sales figures for Britney, but the company did say that 14 percent of all its tickets sold this year were for Spears's Feb. 14 show. Again, those figures are based only on StubHub's sales and account for just a fraction of the actual market place.
For a more accurate view of Spears's sales, we contacted Billboard's BoxScore, which confirms her first four shows — on Dec. 27, 28, 30 and 31 — all sold-out with total attendance of 17,803 and gross of $2,470,021, or an average of 4,450 tickets and $617,505 gross per show.
By comparison, Elton John's "Million Dollar Piano" at Caesars Palace sold out all 14 of its shows in its recently wrapped seventh leg that ran from Sept. 18-Oct. 12, selling 57,889 tickets and pulling in $8,930,160 for an average of 4,134 tickets and $637,868 gross per show.
Celine Dion's four shows at Caesars Palace from Dec. 30-Jan. 5 all sold out, selling 17,004 tickets and grossing $2,869,070 — an average of 4,251 tickets and $717,267 in sales per show.
Rod Stewart completed a nine-show run at Caesars Palace in November, with three sell-outs, selling a total of 33,213 tickets and totaling $4,091,540 —an average of 3,690 tickets and $454,615 gross per show.
Shania Twain, who also played Caesars Palace, wrapped a 10-show run in late November and early December, selling 30,966 tickets and grossing $3,504,748 for an average of 3,096 tickets and $350,474 gross per show.
But keep in mind, some of these shows have been running for years, so it remains to be seen if Spears will have the staying power of veterans like John and Dion. The bottom line: Spears is off to an impressive start, but it's far too soon to write her name in the record book of Las Vegas residencies.
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