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Last week (March 26), Lady Gaga announced dates and venues for The MAYHEM Ball, marking her first tour in three years and the sixth such “ball” of her career, dating back to 2009’s The Fame Ball. With ticket sales rolling out this week (beginning March 31), Billboard estimates that the tour could land as her fourth trek to gross $100 million.
An ever-expanding slate of shows have pushed Gaga’s 2025 projections from the brink of $100 million to surging toward $125 million. But firm estimates for The MAYHEM Ball are tricky, because much in the spirit of Lady Gaga, the 2025 routing zigs where she has previously zagged. To use figures from her most recent outing – $5.6 million and 41,700 tickets per show on 2022’s The Chromatica Ball – would be to ignore the nuances of this year’s schedule.
The MAYHEM Ball winds Gaga through arenas in Europe and North America, following warm-up dates at Mexico City’s Estadio GNP Seguros and Singapore’s National Stadium (plus a free show in Rio de Janeiro) – at least as much as stadium shows can serve as a warm-up. It’s a swerve from the all-stadium routing on The Chromatica Ball, not to mention her theater residency in Las Vegas from 2018-24.
Upon the tour’s announcement, Gaga took to social media to celebrate her upcoming calendar. “We chose arenas this time to give me the opportunity to control the details of the show in a way you simply can’t in stadiums – and honestly, I can’t wait.”
Not only has Gaga oscillated from intimate theaters to football stadiums, but The MAYHEM Ball re-introduces some markets that she hasn’t played in decade, while foregoing some of the sold-out cities from her recent treks. Her shows in Seattle and Manchester will be her first proper concerts in those cities in 11 years. More dramatically, those stand-alone stops in Mexico City and Singapore will be her first since The Born This Way Ball in 2012.
Time is also a factor. Since Gaga’s last mostly-arena tour in 2017-18 (The Joanne World Tour), she has starred in three major-studio films, one of which won her an Academy Award for songwriting, plus a nomination for acting. She also released Chromatica and MAYHEM, both of which topped the Billboard 200 and spawned Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s, in addition to two jazz albums and the chart-topping soundtrack to A Star is Born.
Just as key, the concert business has undergone major transformation, first shutting down entirely for more than a year due to COVID-19 and then returning bigger than ever with skyrocketing ticket prices.
While recent projections for Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour were simple enough, carrying over many of the same venues from her previous tour just two years ago, the shape of The MAYHEM Ball is all its own.
Using the average ticket price from the markets that do carry over from The Chromatica Ball, and average-to-high capacity from each venue’s recent history, this year’s initial routing would be headed toward $80-85 million from about 700,000 tickets sold. A 15% rise in ticket prices would push the projected gross beyond $90 million and a 25% increase would clear the $100 million mark.
Those bumps consider the way that ticket prices have risen beyond the rate of inflation since her 2022 tour. And while The Chromatica Ball did take place after the post-COVID return as prices were already on the rise, tickets for six of its 20 shows were sold primarily in the (barely) pre-pandemic era, as the then-limited tour was first announced on March 5, 2020, just a week before venues were forced to close.
Notably, as Gaga undergoes a relative downsizing from stadiums to arenas, supply-and-demand could drive higher prices than on The Chromatica Ball, with far fewer seats available each night. Including multiple shows in certain locations, her 2025 schedule includes just six cities in the U.S. and Canada. That’s slightly less than eight for Chromatica, and much tighter than 35 on The Joanne World Tour and 33 on ArtRave: The Artpop Ball (2014). She makes up for it with multiple shows everywhere, including six at Madison Square Garden. Much like Beyoncé’s upcoming trek, sales could be even more competitive as fans from surrounding cities flock to Chicago, Miami, and New York, among few others.
Momentum behind The MAYHEM Ball and its international spin-offs has already gathered, with early demand forcing extra shows in those three markets plus a handful of others. Originally 38 shows, Gaga’s current slate of 50 ticketed dates is likely to surpass of The Chromatica Ball’s stadium-sized $112 million, potentially making it Gaga’s biggest year on the road since 2012.
Isolating the proper tour’s arena run, The MAYHEM Ball should approach the $100 million mark, possibly becoming Gaga’s forth tour to crack the nine-figure mark. It’d follow The Monster Ball (2009-11), The Born This Way Ball (2012-13) and The Chromatica Ball. The Joanne World Tour earned $94.9 million before cancelling its last 10 shows due to Gaga’s struggle with fibromyalgia. Plus, the Lady Gaga Enigma + Piano & Jazz residency brought in $110 million from 2018-24.
Dating back to her first reported headline show at San Diego’s House of Blues on March 12, 2009 ($18,500; 1,000 tickets), Gaga’s tours have grossed $723.1 million and sold 6.4 million tickets from a reported 462 shows.
Even after all this time, Bon Iver‘s Justin Vernon can’t quite conjure the words to describe how it feels to watch videos of tens of thousands of Swifties singing along to “Exile,” the Folklore song he co-wrote and recorded with Taylor Swift. “Out of body,” is how Vernon described the feeling on The Tonight Show on Wednesday (April 2) when host Jimmy Fallon asked what it felt like to see Swift perform it on her record-breaking Eras Tour.
“Sadly, I didn’t ever get to sing it with her on her tour… she got to come sing it with us, but I saw those clips and I’m like, ‘Gosh, they sound better than one of me can sound,” Vernon said. “No really, it was pretty powerful to just see that and to hear how that sounded. It was amazing.”
Vernon also talked about the “I Think About It All the Time” revamp he did for Charli XCX’s Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat remix album last year, which featured a sample of Bonnie Raitt’s 1989 song “Nick of Time.”
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“My friend Danielle Haim told me, ‘you should sample ‘Nick Of Time’ the old Bonnie Raitt song and I was like: ‘That’s such a good idea’, because Charli’s song was about running out of time,” Vernon explained, noting that he and Raitt — who is his “number one” favorite artist — have been friendly over the years. “Our greatest living singer,” he said of Raitt.
Vernon said when he called Raitt to ask for her permission the answer was a quick, simple, “‘Yep… let’s do it,’ she just had to kind of give us her blessing on using the sample, but she was , of course, touched. And she’s a huge fan of Charli’s, as am I.”
The singer was on to promote next week’s release of his fifth studio album, Sable, Fable (April 11), which he described as being a kind of two-part journey. The first portion, Sable, he said, is “sad and hard to get through and kind of drudgy and a look at the past… a look back at this kind of cabin man, man in a cabin narrative that I’ve been absorbing over these years. [And] the rest of the record is me kind of doing whatever I needed to do right now to be happy for once.”
Watch Bon Iver on The Tonight Show below.
Johnny Tillotson, the Grammy-nominated country and pop singer behind the iconic hit, “Poetry In Motion,” died on Tuesday (April 1). He was 86 years old.
The star’s wife, Nancy, announced the news of his passing via post on Facebook. “It is with a broken heart that I write to let you know that the sweetest, kindest man I ever met Johnny Tillotson, left earth for Heaven yesterday,” she wrote alongside a sweet photo of the duo laughing together. “He was my best beloved, Champion of my realm, Knight of my heart. Someone said that sometimes right in the middle of an ordinary life you get a fairy tale. The day I met him I got mine. He was funny, generous and kind. A gentleman through and through. He loved and was grateful to his fans, as he once said, they made every dream I ever had come true. Once again on his behalf I say thank you for that.”
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She added, “Johnny will be missed every single day for the rest of my life. He was simply the best. With all the love I have in my heart for a wonderful man gone too soon from this world.”
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Tillotson was born in 1939 in Jacksonville, Florida, and was a talented singer since his childhood. He signed to Cadence Records, and issued his first single, “Dreamy Eyes” / “Well I’m Your Man” in September 1958 at just 19 years old.
After releasing a string of singles, Tillotson quickly became a teen idol. His biggest hit came just two years later in the form of 1960’s “Poetry in Motion,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.
Tillotson’s first Grammy nomination was for his 1962 track, “It Keeps Right on A-Hurtin’,” which was inspired by the terminal illness of his father. The song was nominated for best country and Western recording, and has since been covered by several other artists including Elvis Presley, Margaret Whiting, Slim Whitman and Wanda Jackson. The track peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and No. 4 on the Hot Country Songs chart.
His second Grammy nomination was for his 1965 track, “Heartaches by the Number,” which received a nod for best vocal performance. The song peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and No. 35 on the Hot 100.
Overall, Tillotson was a mainstay on the Billboard charts. He achieved 25 entries and four top 10s on the Hot 100; five hits on Hot Country Songs; two hits on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and nine entries on Adult Contemporary.
Per Nancy’s Facebook post, Tillotson is survived by his wife, his brother Dan, his son John and stepdaughter Genevieve as well as his grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Billboard Women in Music 2025 HAIM’s next single is coming soon. The group unveiled the cover art for “Everybody’s Trying to Figure Me Out,” the next song off their upcoming album. In the photo, lead singer Danielle leans against a black SUV with her eyes closed, soaking in the sun. The snap is a reference […]
Billboard Women in Music 2025 BTS has added yet another hit music video into YouTube‘s Billion Views club, as their 2016 clip for “Blood Sweat & Tears” has surpassed the milestone. “Blood Sweat & Tears” is the group’s eighth music video to reach one billion views, and the list also includes “Butter,” “Dynamite,” “Boy With Luv” featuring Halsey […]
Gracie Abrams‘ “That’s So True” ascends a spot to No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Pop Airplay chart (dated April 5). The song is her first leader on the radio ranking. It previously became her first No. 1 on any airplay chart when it crowned Pop Airplay for two weeks in March. The song, on Interscope/ICLG, […]
Billboard Women in Music 2025 You can call her Queen Li? At her Auckland, New Zealand, concert Wednesday (April 2), Dua Lipa paid tribute to the country’s biggest pop star by performing a cover of Lorde‘s “Royals.” In clips from the show, the “Levitating” artist looks glamorous in a lacy black bodysuit and fuzzy cream […]
Billboard Women in Music 2025
Ten years after making a cameo in Taylor Swift‘s “Bad Blood” music video, Olivia Pompeo has nothing but love for the pop star — especially after the generous gift she gave the Grey’s Anatomy actress for a children’s charity on set.
While on The Jennifer Hudson Show Wednesday (April 2), Pompeo reflected on Swift tapping her to star in the Billboard Hot 100-topping 1989 single’s all-star visual, which premiered at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards. “Taylor is such a good girl,” the Golden Globe nominee said. “I didn’t know her, and she invited me to be in the video and I thought, ‘Oh that would be fun.’ It was the easiest thing.”
Pompeo added that she still gets “a lot of points” with daughters Stella and Sienna — whom she shares with husband Chris Ivery, along with son Eli — for having starred in the VMA-winning project. “That got me so much mileage with both of the girls for a stretch.”
“At the time, Chris and I, we do a lot of volunteering for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles here,” she continued. “They have an amazing program at Children’s where they make music for the babies in the NICU and for the parents who have to go to work all day and they can’t be with the kids, they record their voices singing nursery rhymes or telling them stories, and they play it for the babies in the day when the parents can’t be there.”
“It’s a really nice program, but they need money to run it,” Pompeo said before revealing that Swift chipped in big at the drop of a hat. “So I just got up the hutzpah and asked Taylor, ‘Could you write me a big old check for Children’s?’ And she knew me all of 20 minutes, and that girl wrote me the biggest check without blinking an eye.”
It may have been Swift’s first 20 minutes of knowing Pompeo, but the Grammy winner had been a fan of hers for years. She’s long been vocal about her fandom for Grey’s and named one of her cats Meredith Grey after Pompeo’s character on the show.
A couple years ago, fans even thought that Swift might make a cameo on the medical drama, which is still on the air after 20 years. The rumors turned out to be false, but Pompeo told Extra of a future Swift appearance, “I think she’s pretty busy, but that would be fun … I would love it.”
Watch Pompeo talk about Swift’s generosity on The Jennifer Hudson Show above.
Billboard Women in Music 2025 Lucy Dacus just had a magical moment as a Lady Gaga fan. After the Boygenius star covered the pop icon’s Mayhem single “Abracadabra” on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge, Gaga left Dacus stunned by showering the rendition with praise on TikTok. Commenting on a video of the “Ankles” singer’s performance […]
Billboard Women in Music 2025
Submit questions about Billboard charts, as well as general music musings, to askbb@billboard.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as your city, state and country, if outside the United States.
Or, reach out on Bluesky.
Let’s open the latest mailbag.
Hi Gary,
Remember when you, myself and another Billboard reader went over music acts with the longest streaks of gaining a new Billboard Hot 100 top 10 year after year? We had come to the consensus that, with 12 years apiece, Mariah Carey (1990-2001) and Prince (1983-94) were the two front-runners in that club. Well, now we have a third.
Thanks to his “Rather Lie,” with Playboi Carti, which debuted on the March 29 chart, The Weeknd has now put a new song in the Hot 100’s top 10 for a 12th consecutive year.
Here’s a rundown of all of his top 10s, in chronological order of their peaks:
2014: “Love Me Harder,” with Ariana Grande (No. 7 peak)
2015: “Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)” (No. 3); “Can’t Feel My Face” (No. 1, three weeks); “The Hills” (No. 1, six weeks)
2016: “Starboy,” feat. Daft Punk (entered the tier that October at No. 3, on its way toward topping the first Hot 100 of 2017)
2017: “I Feel It Coming,” feat. Daft Punk (No. 4)
2018: “Pray for Me,” with Kendrick Lamar (No. 7); “Call Out My Name” (No. 4)
2019: “Heartless” (No. 1, one week)
2020: “Blinding Lights” (No. 1, four weeks, eventually earing the honor of the Hot 100’s all-time biggest hit); “Smile,” with Juice WRLD (No. 8)
2021: “Save Your Tears,” with Ariana Grande (No. 1, two weeks); “Take My Breath” (No. 6); “One Right Now,” with Post Malone (No. 6)
2022: “Creepin’,” with Metro Boomin & 21 Savage (debuted at No. 5 that December and then hit a No. 3 high in 2023)
2023: “Die for You,” with Ariana Grande (No. 1, one week); “K-POP,” with Travis Scott & Bad Bunny (No. 7)
2024: “Young Metro,” with Future & Metro Boomin (No. 9); “Timeless,” with Playboi Carti (No. 3)
2025: “Rather Lie,” with Playboi Carti (No. 4, as this email is being typed)
Who else to tie such a historic streak than The Weeknd, right? Someone who happens to be: A, one of my favorite popular music acts of all time, and B, known for citing Prince as an influence.
Regards,
Jake RiveraMashpee, Mass.
Hi Jake,
Thanks for pointing out the update, and congrats to The Weeknd on his record-tying streak of Hot 100 top 10s in 12 consecutive years (or more than 600 weekends).
Notably, another act has joined the mix for potentially matching the mark: Drake is now up to an active streak of 11 years in a row with new Hot 100 top 10s, from 2015 (“Hotline Bling”) through 2025 (“Gimme a Hug” and “Nokia”). He could, thus, tie the record next year — or The Weeknd could claim the honor all to himself with at least one new top 10 in 2026.
Meanwhile, what about the same feat on the Billboard 200 albums chart? On first thought, a lengthy streak of annual new top 10s might seem less likely there, as, compared to singles, acts for the most part don’t release as many as albums, and somewhat rarely every year historically.
Let’s count down the artists, from The Beatles to Taylor Swift, Drake and more, with the most consecutive years of sending at least one new album to the Billboard 200’s top 10 (dating to Aug. 17, 1963, when the chart began combining mono and stereo releases into one ranking). The act atop the list might seem surprising, although perhaps less so once looking into why.
Seven consecutive years with new Billboard 200 top 10s:
Taylor Swift: 2019-25
Future: 2014-20
Pentatonix: 2013-19
Luke Bryan: 2011-17
Kenny Chesney: 2004-10
Dave Matthews/Dave Matthews Band: 2001-07
Earth, Wind & Fire: 1975-81
The Beatles: 1964-70
Andy Williams: 1963-69
Eight consecutive years:
Blake Shelton: 2010-17
Chicago: 1970-77
Nine consecutive years:
Drake — the record-holder among soloists (or groups with largely fixed lineups): 2015-23
And, the act with the longest such streak overall …
12 consecutive years (the same as the Hot 100 record):
The leading group – of rotating members – tallied all 24 of its Billboard 200 top 10s from Kidz Bop 7 through Kidz Bop 32. (In that run, only Kidz Bop 17 and Kidz Bop 30 missed the tier, both reaching No. 12; meanwhile, the collective has hit a No. 2 best with five releases.)
The act scored its record run of consistency in the Billboard 200’s top 10 thanks to its steady stream of all-ages covers of big pop hits. Kidz Bop Kids additionally earned 101 entries, including 42 top 10s, on the Kid Digital Song Sales chart, both bests in the list’s history. Four reached No. 1, led by their family-friendlier take on Meghan Trainor’s former Hot 100 No. 1 “All About That Bass,” which led for six weeks in 2015.
In 2014, Victor Zaraya, then an executive for the ensemble, mused about its win-win nature. “It’s favorable to have your song being sung,” he said. “Maybe a kid heard the Kidz Bop cover of an artist’s song before they heard the actual version. Will they remember it as a Kidz Bop song? Maybe. Will they remember it with the original artist? Maybe. But it’s only furthering that artist’s song.”
Beyond remakes of familiar songs, Zaraya noted that the act’s singers contributed to the enduring appeal of Kidz Bop, which in 2025 celebrates its 25th year, including with tour dates. To date, the troupe has sold 18.7 million albums and drawn 8.1 billion official streams for its songs in the U.S., according to Luminate.
“We want to let kids know that [the Kidz Bop Kids] are real — they sing, dance and perform,” Zaraya said. “They can be brand ambassadors for us. They have personalities. They are stars.”
