On Tuesday (March 22), the New York Post reported that Rihanna was forced to cancel dates on her Loud tour due to poor ticket sales. Now, Live Nation Chairman Irving Azoff has disputed the rumors, and says that the pop songstress is still on course to sell out her shows.

Azoff addressed the rumors through the website of writer Bob Lefsetz, who shared the news on his blog. According to the chairman, "64% of tickets for Rihanna's domestic shows have already been sold. And right now, they're selling at the rate of 700 a day."

After the NY Post ran the story, Azoff pointed out further inaccuracies. "Rihanna's Boston show is four months out," he stated. "Projections say that 90% of the seats will be sold by showtime. Yes, those are just projections, take them however you want. But there are other inaccuracies in the Post story. It states that break even is 15,000 when only 13,500 seats are for sale. And it says that 3,700 tickets have been sold when the actual count is 5,800. Begging where the writer got her information, because it's so wrong."

In addition to the projected success of her U.S. shows, Irving also notes that Rihanna has successfully sold out 56 shows across Europe and will likely do the same for 30 stateside tour dates. The Loud tour will kick off in Baltimore on June 4, and make stops in Los Angeles, New Jersey, Toronto and Philadelphia, with additional domestic and international dates to be announced. Despite news that her current tour is on par to sell out, in 2010 the 'Only Girl (In the World)' singer was actually forced to cancel several concerts in cities including Denver, Dallas, Phoenix and Indianapolis.

Prior to the June 4 tour launch, Rihanna will perform alongside Sugarland at the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 3.



Watch Rihanna's 'What's My Name?'
if(typeof AOLVP_cfg==='undefined')AOLVP_cfg=[];AOLVP_cfg.push({id:'AOLVP_673628889001','codever':0.1,'autoload':false,'autoplay':false,'displaymnads':true,'playerid':'89761511001','videoid':'673628889001','width':476,'height':357,'playertype':'inline','stillurl':'dynamic','videolink':'#','videotitle':'dynamic','videodesc':''});

More From TheBoombox