The hottest ticket for summer 2018 belongs to Korean boy band BTS, whose 14-date Love Yourself U.S. tour is the secondary market's most expensive get.
Demand has quickly outpaced supply for the brief tour, which is only coming to five U.S. cities as well as Hamilton, Ontario, in Canada before heading to Europe for seven dates in London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris. The band had the fourth highest-ranking initial four-day sale on StubHub for 2018, while secondary site TickPick reported the group's average ticket price on the exchange is $478, about 26 percent higher than the second most expensive tour, Britney Spears' Piece of Me in July on the East Coast.
This year's BTS tour numbers are more than double from their 2017 North American tour which averaged $232, according to TickPick, and beats out 2018 runs by Pearl Jam ($318), Elton John ($286), Andrea Bocelli ($279) and the Eagles ($259). According to a company spokesperson, the totals are compiled based on the total average purchase prices for concert tickets bought through TickPick, which bills itself as a "secondary no-fee ticket marketplace."
"BTS's popularity has increased significantly in the last year, yet they are only touring in six North American cities. The limited number of shows combined with high demand leads to increased ticket prices," explains Jack Slingland, director of client relations at TickPick, in a statement. He added that short tours by Spears, who is only playing 11 shows in six cities in 2018, and Pearl Jam, who is playing four stadium shows this year, is what lead to their own spikes in price.
On StubHub, the get-in-the-door price for BTS' first U.S. concert at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sept. 5 is $265 when fees are added for an upper-level seat. That goes up to $343 for the Saturday (Sept. 8) show when fees and the $284 ticket price are added together. So far, the highest get-in-the-door price for the Love Yourself tour is BTS' second Fort Worth, Texas, show at the city's convention center with the cheapest ticket priced at $741 when fees are added, while floor tickets are priced as high as $3,415. The group's two Prudential Center shows in Newark, New Jersey, are the second highest on the tour, with tickets to the Sept. 29 concert starting at $571 on StubHub, going all the way up to $8,060 for a pair of VIP floor tickets.
The most affordable dates on the tour are the four nights BTS is playing in Hamilton, Ontario -- a suburb of Toronto and home to the First Ontario Centre. Tickets for the sold-out Sept. 20 show are priced as low as $172 with fees included. Plenty of seats in the upper section of the venue are priced below $200. Fans can score a floor ticket to the concert for $386.
StubHub officials said the group's 2018 sales are on par with 2017 tours by P!nk, Metallica and Kendrick Lamar.
