Jennifer Lopez’s Struggling Tour Sales Actually Had A Very Justified Excuse

Struggling ticket sales led Jennifer Lopez to cancel the entirety of her ‘This Is Me… Live’ tour, but it turns out she’s far from alone.

“I am completely heartsick and devastated about letting you down,” Lopez said in a statement following the cancelation. “Please know that I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t feel that it was absolutely necessary. I promise I will make it up to you and we will all be together again. I love you all so much. Until next time…”

LiveNaton stated that “Jennifer is taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends.”

However, she had already canceled several shows due to poor ticket sales, and the prevailing wisdom was that the struggling sales caused the cancellation of the tour in its entirety.

Jennifer Lopez’s Struggling Tour Sales Are Part Of A Larger Problem

If that is in fact the case, it turns out she’s not alone.

Zach Schonfeld of Stereogum took a deep dive into the growing trend of artists struggling to sell tickets to their arena tours.

The Black Keys, like Lopez, canceled their entire tour due to struggling sales. And artists such as Charli XCX and Troye Sivan faced similar issues.

So, what’s going on?

LiveNation says everything is fine.

“Overall market data shows demand is strong—sales are up from last year with over 100 million tickets sold, even with fewer large stadium shows touring in 2024,” it said in a statement to Stereogum. “Plus ticket sales for shows in arenas, amphitheaters, theaters, and clubs are up double digits year-over-year. Every year some events naturally fall off for various reasons, and in 2024 across all venue types we’ve seen a 4 percent cancellation rate—which is flat to last year.”

But manager Jordan Kurlan, who works with artists such as Death Cab for Cutie and the New Pornographers points to a glaring issue.

“Revenge spending is over,” Kurland said. “People [were] just spending money on experiences because we didn’t have that for two years. I think people are having to be more cautious with their money.”

Billboard senior editor Eric Renner Brown echoed those sentiments.

“Coming out of COVID, there was so much pent-up demand for live concerts of any type,” says Brown. “I think a lot of decisions have been based on that demand. Now, things are starting to stabilize after that post-COVID touring bump.”

So yes, Lopez did struggle to sell tickets. But it appears almost everyone not named Taylor Swift is struggle to sell tickets to arena shows.