Perez Hilton raised questions about Jay-Z’s ticket sales on July 9, 2026, posting a video on X (formerly Twitter) in which he noted that tickets to all three of the rapper’s upcoming Yankee Stadium shows in New York were still available on Ticketmaster, despite having been announced back in March. Hilton said,
“I would have thought that by mid-July they would have sold out, but nope”
He suggested Jay-Z may have misjudged the demand, saying
“I just think he overestimated with three shows. Maybe one would have been better.”
Hilton also proposed a fix: a surprise appearance by Jay-Z’s wife, Beyoncé. He said,
“If this was a Beyoncé show, or three of them, they’d probably sell out, regardless of the price”
The celebrity columnist and blogger also added that a special appearance announcement would likely move the remaining tickets quickly.
More about Jay-Z’s upcoming shows
Jay-Z is scheduled to perform at Yankee Stadium on July 10, 11, and 12, 2026, as part of a broader series of concerts celebrating 30 years of his career, according to Billboard on July 7, 2026.
The July 10, 2026, show marks the 30th anniversary of the rapper’s debut album Reasonable Doubt, which was released on June 25, 1996, and peaked at number 23 on the Billboard 200. The July 11, 2026, show celebrates the 25th anniversary of The Blueprint, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in 2001 with 427,000 copies sold. The theme of the third show on July 12 had not been revealed at the time of reporting.
The Yankee Stadium dates are part of an expanding run. Billboard reported that the Empire State of Mind hitmaker will follow those performances with a show at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 4, 2026, the same venue where Beyoncé performed across 11 nights on her Renaissance and Cowboy Carter tours, per The Hollywood Reporter on July 7, 2026.
Additional dates in Paris on September 10 and Los Angeles’s SoFi Stadium on October 23 round out the run. The Hollywood Reporter noted that the rapper is a 25-time Grammy winner who has sold more than 125 million records, and that an HBO documentary about him is confirmed for release in the fall.
Perez Hilton’s comments are partly a reflection of the broader gap in current commercial momentum between Jay-Z and Beyoncé. While both are among the most decorated artists in music history, Beyoncé’s Renaissance and Cowboy Carter eras generated enormous touring and streaming activity in recent years.
Jay-Z’s solo touring has been comparatively limited. The rapper’s last West Coast solo show before the upcoming Los Angeles date was on his 4:44 Tour in 2017, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Variety noted on July 7, 2026, that his Philadelphia appearance at the Roots Picnic in May was described by a reviewer as “muscular” and “a labor of love,” suggesting the live performances themselves have drawn praise when they have happened.
Hilton stopped short of dismissing Jay-Z’s standing, framing his suggestion about a Beyoncé appearance as practical rather than critical. Whether any such announcement materializes ahead of the New York shows, which are scheduled to begin the following day, remains to be seen.
Edited by Devangee Halder