Ticketmaster Will Resell Seized Ariana Grande Tour Tickets Through February Lottery

Ticketmaster plans to resell tickets for Ariana Grande's Eternal Sunshine tour through a lottery system in February. The company voided purchases that violated user terms, then partnered with the pop star to reclaim those seats and redistribute them to fans.

On Jan. 28, the ticketing giant issued a statement that it had canceled a "small portion" of tickets back in October after detecting violations. Fans who bought resale tickets that got voided because sellers broke the rules will receive priority when the new distribution starts.

"Our focus is ensuring those tickets are reissued directly to fans," said Ticketmaster in its post. "While most selections will be random, we will prioritize fans who did nothing wrong but had resale tickets canceled due to the seller's violation of our terms."

This tour is her first in seven years, and tickets vanished within minutes when sales opened in September. Millions joined virtual queues and walked away empty-handed. Shortly after, resale listings appeared at prices exceeding ten times what tickets originally cost.

Last September, the performer addressed the madness in an Instagram Story. "I've been on the phone every second of my free time fighting for a solution," she wrote at the time, per Billboard. "Hopefully, we will be able to get more of these tickets into your hands instead of theirs. It's not right."

Her team fought to keep pricing affordable. They avoided dynamic pricing tools like platinum or real-time price scaling, and face-value costs stayed lower that way, but secondary market availability shrank and resale prices skyrocketed.

The request process opens in February, though timing details have not yet been released. Fans selected through the lottery will have their credit cards charged without extra steps, then receive confirmation by email.

The Eternal Sunshine run starts June 6 at Oakland Arena. It hits Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and Atlanta before wrapping in early September.