“Blue dot fever” grips musicians including Post Malone, Meghan Trainor, and Zayn as artists cancel tours amid weak ticket sales

(SeaPRwire) –   The Pussycat Dolls are the most recent music act to cancel large portions of a U.S. arena and stadium tour amid sluggish ticket sales. It is part of a spreading trend the industry is calling “blue dot fever,” named for the blue dots that mark unsold seats on Ticketmaster’s website.

Other artists that have recently fallen victim to this issue include Meghan Trainor, Zayn, Jelly Roll, and Post Malone. Trainor and Zayn have called off all of their U.S. arena tour dates, while Post Malone and Jelly Roll have scrapped one-third of their co-headlining U.S. stadium tour. These canceled stops had far more empty seats than a 4 p.m. Friday work meeting, but only the Pussycat Dolls have publicly cited poor sales as the reason for their cancelations.

Why so many blue dots? The core issue is that nearly all costs have risen sharply:

• The average concert ticket price in 2026 is $144, up from $115 last year and $82 back in 2020.
• Meanwhile, gas prices have skyrocketed since the start of the Iran war, which has squeezed the profit margins of tours that rely on transportation to travel between cities and venues.

Also: There is stiff competition for entertainment dollars this summer from the FIFA World Cup, which is being hosted in North America.

Big picture: Three weeks ago, a jury found Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, guilty of operating as a monopoly. Even so, some experts believe this ruling may not lead to a long-term drop in ticket prices.—DL

This report was originally published by Morning Brew.