How Music Charts

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Latest Episodes:

How Bandsintown Helps Artists Get Seen With Fabrice Sergent Apr 12, 2022

Our guest today is Fabrice Sergent, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Bandsintown, where they “believe that live music is one of the last ‘tribal experiences’ which creates happiness and understanding in the world. Their mission is to help artists build a sustainable future through virtual live streams, music releases, merchandise and traditional live events promotion. With a reach of 250 million Monthly Active music fans globally, over 67m registered concert goers and 550k touring artists registered to the platform, Bandsintown offers powerful, scalable and targeted digital marketing solutions to engage with music enthusiasts.”

According to his LinkedIn profile, Sergent is “an entrepreneur driven by passion, having led hyper growth digital media enterprises in the U.S. and in Europe with extensive experience in the music industry, digital consumer marketing, brand building, business development, and mergers & acquisitions. He co-founded and led two start-ups to $100m+ revenues, starting his journey by founding Club-Internet, with the support of Lagardere/Hachette in 1995. Club-Internet was one of the very first Internet Service Provider (similar to AOL in the US) launched in France and later became one of the largest [Internet Service Providers] before it was purchased by Deutsche Telecom’s T-Online in 2000 for 1.2 billion Euro.”

Today, we’ll look back on his road to music, what Bandsintown is up to nowadays, and what the future holds in store for live music.

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Navigating the Music Business With The Outlaw Ocean Project's Ian Urbina Feb 15, 2022

Our guest today is Ian Urbina, the director of The Outlaw Ocean Project. The project is a non-profit journalism organization based in Washington, D.C., that produces investigative stories about human rights, environment, and labor concerns on the open seas.

Urbina won a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News and a George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting. Several of his stories have been adapted into major feature films, and his reporting for a New York Times Magazine article called The Secret Life Of Passwords was nominated for an Emmy Award.

He has degrees in history and cultural anthropology from Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, respectively. Before joining The New York Times for roughly 17 years as a staff reporter, he was a Fulbright Fellow in Cuba, and he also wrote about the Middle East and Africa for various outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Harper’s, and Vanity Fair.

On this episode, we talk to Urbina about the Outlaw Ocean Music Project, an offshoot of The Outlaw Ocean Project that's "[a]imed at people who might not otherwise have encountered this reporting." According to the project's website, "[T]he music renders stories more viscerally, and delivers them to the public through different channels. The music project’s goal is to raise awareness and stoke a sense of urgency about the human rights, labor, and environmental abuses that occur at sea.”

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The Power of Music Metadata With Byta Founder Marc Brown Jan 28, 2022

Our guest today is Marc Brown, Founder of Byta, a music sharing app that lets artists, studios, and managers share, collaborate on, and promote secure music files before uploading them to streaming services. Marc is currently based in Stockholm, Sweden, though he is originally from Canada and spent many years in London working in A&R and artist promotion. On this episode, we discuss how he came to found Byta, what sets the app apart from DropBox and Soundcloud, and what this might mean for the future of Hi-Fi audio and NFTs.

Check out Byta here.

To attend a free Byta symposium that explores "how the music ecosystem will evolve and adapt to the developing digital landscape," register here.

Byta recently published a white paper on the state of music sharing, which you can check out here.

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A Fireside Chat With Chartmetric Founder Sung Cho Jan 04, 2022

Before starting Chartmetric, Sung worked on Sales Cloud as the Principal Product Manager at Oracle Corporation. Prior to that, he was the first employee/engineer at the publicly-traded gaming company Gamevil (which has a Market Cap of $400MM), where he initiated mobile game development and eventually positioned the company as a leading mobile game developer.

Sung graduated with a bachelor’s degree of electrical engineering and computer science from Seoul National University, and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management.

He enjoys posting ideas on his blog (http://sungmooncho.com), which has attracted more than 5 million views and is considered as one of the leading tech blogs in Korea. Sung has invested in 10 startups in New York, Silicon Valley, and Seoul (http://angel.co/sung-cho).

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Disrupting Live Music With DICE President Russ Tannen Dec 14, 2021

Russ Tannen is President of DICE, a UK- and now NYC-based mobile ticketing, live streaming, and live music recommendation platform that partners directly with venues, labels, and promoters to bring upfront pricing to live music fans (no fees are added at checkout, so the price you see at first is the price you get). Before rising through the ranks at DICE, Russ spent many years as an artist manager at Deadly Management during — and after — his time as an Events Manager at Vice Media. Before that, Russ studied Photography at the University for the Creative Arts in the UK.

Read 20 things we've learned about Music Live Streaming by DICE Founder & CEO Phil Hutcheon.

Check out DICE here, and download the app on your phone.

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Music Trends in Arab Countries With Firas Abou Fakher Dec 13, 2021

The Arab nations have rarely been viewed as important markets by the global music industry. And artists from the region have only ever achieved modest international success. Until 20 years ago, exactly the same could be said of countless other countries. Today, markets like Latin America and South Korea produce global superstars with astonishing regularity.

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Lessons for Artists and Leaders With Stem CEO Milana Lewis Dec 07, 2021

Our guest today is Milana Lewis, Co-Founder and CEO of Stem, a platform making it easier for artists, managers, labels and brands to distribute music, manage contracts, share data, split royalties, and stay independent. After six years working in talent agencies, spending the majority of that time as a Digital Media Agent with United Talent Agency, Milana started Stem in 2015 with the goal of simplifying how musicians and their teams pay collaborators. At the start of 2020, Stem announced Scale, a $100 million cash advance program aimed at giving artists a way to access alternative funding with fewer restrictions than a label typically imposes. This year, Inc. featured Milana on their Female Founders 100 list.

Check out Stem here.

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How to Distribute and Monetize Your Music With UnitedMasters' Dave Melhado Nov 30, 2021

UnitedMasters’ Head of Marketing David Melhado (mel-HEY-doh) is a New York City-based industry veteran who first cut his teeth in music marketing and management in the South, holding roles at Atlantic Records, iHeartRadio, StreamCut Media & RocNation.

Connect With Dave on LinkedIn and check out UnitedMasters here.

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From Playlists to Mailing Lists With Aileen Crowley Nov 23, 2021

On this episode, we chat with Aileen Crowley, former Vice President of Global Streaming Marketing at Universal Music Group. Before leaving the major label world in November 2020, Aileen devised data-driven streaming strategy for developing artists, working directly with artist management to translate streaming analytics, develop artist release strategies, and implement plans for audience growth.

Prior to that, Aileen was the General Manager of DigSin, a subscription-based independent music label focused on singles, playlisting, and data, as well as being an artist manager—and that was after spending almost seven years at world-renowned consulting firm McKinsey & Co. Today, Aileen runs The Streaming Story, a website dedicated to contextualizing streaming success with the narrative surrounding that success.

Since recording this interview, Aileen has teamed up with Lark42, a digital consultancy that solves hard problems in the music, data, blockchain, streaming and startup space.

You can connect with Aileen on LinkedIn here.

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How the TikTok Charts Influence the German Charts With Popakademie Nov 16, 2021

Aqui Kumar, Jannick Steinke, Sebastian Gorki, and Valerian Dilger are music business students at the Popakademie in Germany.

“Established in 2003, the Popakademie is a higher education institution for the music and creative industries and their pop cultural scenes. By focusing its study programmes on popular music, it offers an academic education that is unique in Germany's public university landscape.”

In this context, the students are part of Popakademie’s SMIX.LAB. Founded in 2008 as an interface between the online world and the traditional music industry, SMIX.LAB sees itself as a center for the digital music business. It integrates digital knowledge and future-oriented research, investigating the modern possibilities of music marketing and other forward-thinking initiatives.

The students themselves have industry experience at companies such as Live From Earth, Electric Feel, Amazon Music, and Ease Agency. Over the past few months, the Chartmetric team supported the students in their project to study how TikTok is influencing the German charts.

Check out their exciting research on our blog: https://blog.chartmetric.com

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How to Think Like an Artist Manager With RAC Manager Zael Ellenhorn Nov 09, 2021

Zael is a manager at YMU Group, a global talent management company with a roster that includes RAC, Kina, Ryan Caraveo, Ben Zaidi, and Oshi. Originally from Amherst, Massachusetts, Zael grew up around a lot of jazz, cows, and psychologists. After moving out to LA and building his own management company, Zael joined forces with YMU in late 2019 where he kicked things off by developing the marketing plan for RAC’s third studio album “BOY” before signing Kina and Ryan Caraveo in early 2020.

Connect With Zael on LinkedIn and check out YMU Group here.

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The Data-Driven Fandom of BTS ARMY With Ami Patel Aug 24, 2021

On this episode, we chat with Ami Patel, a writer for Water & Music and a passionate analyst of the international music scene.

Ami is a music marketing strategist from Houston, Texas, with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the University of Houston. She has a passion for artist development and the global music market and frequently shares her thoughts on current music trends and new music discoveries on her website.

In June 2021, Patel penned a 3,600-word tome titled “Anatomy of a modern pop fanbase: How fans use data to build their own music marketing powerhouses,” which will be the main topic of today’s conversation with her. The K-Pop guide was rigorously researched and written by Patel and edited by Cherie Hu, who runs Water & Music, which is a membership-funded email newsletter, research hub, and community forum dedicated to unpacking the fine print of commercial, technological, and cultural change in the music industry.

Patel was a recent participant in the first-ever Measure of Music music + data event in February 2021, and is joining us today from the great state of Texas.

Note: Around 43 minutes in, Ami says, "1.93 million ticket buyers." The correct number is 1.33 million ticket buyers.

You can connect with Ami on LinkedIn here.

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How Data is Redefining the Role of A&R in the Music Industry Today Jun 15, 2021

On this episode, we chat with Tommaso Rocchi, a 2020 Master of Arts graduate of The Global Entertainment and Music Business program at Berklee College of Music in Valencia, Spain. As a former college radio Music Director at the University of Padua in northern Italy, Rocchi then moved on to Berklee to focus on copyright law, new business models, and data analytics.

In September 2020, Rocchi penned a Chartmetric article entitled “How Data is Redefining the Role of A&R in the Music Industry Today,” based off of his research at Berklee. It focuses on where the field of A&R has gone in the digital era from its analog roots, and how data plays a significant role, but should never replace the human side of how professionals operate.

Rocchi is currently a Project Manager for Data and Analytics at Netherlands-based classical music label PENTATONE.

Connect with Tommaso: LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Read "How Data is Redefining the Role of A&R in the Music Industry Today" here.

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Spotify Follower Ratio, Artist Growth & Fan Engagement With Components' Andrew Thompson Jun 08, 2021

On this episode, we chat with Andrew Thompson, Editor and Founder of Components, a media and culture publication focused on data journalism. Originally from California, Andrew received a degree in Political Science and Government from Temple University before moving into journalism. Becoming increasingly interested in data and data science, Andrew eventually became the Data Editor and Audience Development Manager at design software startup Ceros and then the Editorial Director of video streaming search engine Flixed. After a couple of years in New York City, he moved back home to Philly, taking Components from a side project to his full-time endeavor. Since 2018, Components has been covered and/or cited in Mashable, Vice, and more than 70 academic papers, and we were lucky enough to feature some of his research on our blog in an article he wrote called “What Spotify Follower Ratio Tells Us About Artist Growth and Fan Engagement.”

Read "What Spotify Follower Ratio Tells Us About Artist Growth and Fan Engagement" here.

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How to Promote Your Music in Southeast Asian Trigger Cities With Adam Kanwal Jun 02, 2021

On this episode, we talk to Adam Kanwal about the article he wrote for the Chartmetric blog entitled, How to Promote Your Music in Southeast Asian Trigger Cities. Kanwal is a Digital Marketing and Analytics Consultant, working with artists including Amorphous, Still Woozy, Remi Wolf, Suzuki Saint, and Miss Madeline to analyze TikTok and YouTube trajectories, building campaigns from the ground up. He’s formed partnerships with over one hundred influencers globally, and has also served as the Digital Marketing Specialist for Shifted Recording in New York City.

He’s a 2021 graduate from Cornell University in New York, with a background in Human Development, and minoring in International Relations and Music. His primary interests are in creating psychologically smart, culturally relevant, and globally reverberating digital marketing campaigns for up-and-coming musical artists.

Read How to Promote Your Music in Southeast Asian Trigger Cities here.

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Music and Mental Health in the Streaming Era With Camille Lopez-Silvero May 25, 2021

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, on this episode, we talk to Berklee's Camille Lopez-Silvero about the article she wrote for the Chartmetric blog entitled, The Under 27 Club: Music and Mental Health in the Streaming Era. Lopez-Silvero is a 2021 Global Entertainment and Music Business Master of Arts candidate at the Berklee College of Music program in Valencia, Spain, and a 2020 Northwestern University graduate. She currently serves as the Head of Marketing and Branding at Disrupción Records, an independent, student-run record label based out of Berklee’s graduate campus. She has previously interned at Paradigm Talent Agency in their Chicago office, and a host of diverse companies including a New York-based creative digital agency (Swell Shark), branding company (Siegel+Gale), investment firm (Loeb Enterprises), and startup (Thnks).

Read The Under 27 Club: Music and Mental Health in the Streaming Era here.

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Playlisting and Digital Strategies for Artists With Songular’s Sam Lee Apr 19, 2021

On this episode, we talk to the Founder and Director of London-based firm Songular, Sam Lee. We discuss streaming playlist strategies to grow your audience, how TikTok may or may not be for every artist, and how music data may be important, but at the end of the day, it's better if #ArtistsBeArtists (Songular's hashtag)

According to Songular’s website: “We amplify creative voices through forward-thinking digital services.
Songular is an independent music company that empowers fearless artists through strategic streaming campaigns. Our approach is artist-first and data-driven: this means that our bespoke campaigns are shaped by the stories our artists have to tell, and we use data to link the strategy to the story.” Songular’s roster includes Joji, Bakar, Young T & Bugsey, Zara Larsson, and Flume. Previously, Lee has served as a Music Editor for Deezer, a Radio Plugger, and in his earliest days, a Broadcast Assistant for the BBC and regular contributor to British culture outlet, NME.

Connect with Sam via LinkedIn or Songular's Instagram.

The Rise of Regional Latin Music: Latin Music Genres Evolution With Francisco Toscano Apr 07, 2021

Francisco Toscano is back to discuss the final part of our series on The Rise of Regional Latin Music. Here, we will preview where he sees not only Mexican Corridos or Colombian Cumbia going, and how these and other forms of Latin American genres are mixing to create new music for today’s younger generations.

Francisco is an A&R Researcher for a major label, based in and from the great city of Ciudad de México, and has a background in financial services. He holds an MBA from ESADE, located in Barcelona, Spain, and a Master’s in Music Business from New York University. You can connect with him on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Connect with Chartmetric at blog.chartmetric.com.

The Rise of Regional Latin Music: Colombian Music Genres With Sony A&R Francisco Toscano Mar 16, 2021

On this second episode in our Latin regional music series, we talk to A&R professional and expert in the Latin American music scene, Francisco Toscano, who released another English and Spanish version of an article on the Chartmetric blog entitled The Rise of Regional Latin Music, Part 2: Colombian Music Genres or El Ascenso Mundial de la Música Latinoamericana, Parte 2: Música Regional Colombiana. It is a white paper on four of the most popular Colombian genres being streamed today on all of your favorite DSPs.

Read The Rise of Regional Latin Music, Part 2: Colombian Music Genres here: https://blog.chartmetric.com/regional-latin-music-colombian-music-genres/

Ver la versión en español aquí: https://blog.chartmetric.com/es-ascenso-mundial-musica-latinoamericana-musica-colombiana/

Connect with Chartmetric at blog.chartmetric.com.

Hip-Hop Business Strategy With Trapital Founder Dan Runcie Mar 11, 2021

On this episode, we speak with Dan Runcie, the Founder of the business/hip-hop/culture media company Trapital. Launching in early 2018, Trapital began as a subscription-based newsletter, but provides now features a podcast and a free weekly memo focusing on the business strategy of hip-hop, talking about topics like Beyoncé’s streaming strategy, how the hip-hop’s indie community has taken off and How Tyler, The Creator Built a Cult-Like Following. Trapital’s readers are music executives, media moguls and venture capitalists, with clientele like Translation CEO Steve Stoute and SoundCloud CEO Mike Weissman. Trapital also offers advisory and speaking services.

Prior to running Trapital full-time, the San Francisco-based Runcie has a background in market analysis and business strategy, while also spending several years as a freelance writer for publications such as WIRED and Complex. He graduated Cum Laude in Marketing & Finance at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, and earned an MBA from the University of Michigan, a fantastic place to hang out in in the winter.

Connect with Dan on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, but most importantly, sign up for the Trapital newsletter here!

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Data-Driven Digital Music Distribution With InnerCat's Paris Cabezas Feb 24, 2021

On this episode, we talk with Latin music mogul Paris Cabezas. Born and raised in rural Cuba, the MIT Applied Mathematics grad got his start working on the first generation of Yamaha’s digital mixing consoles. This studio engineering stint helped him become the Grammy-nominated producer that he is now, and he's also been able to apply his technical acumen to the various functions of InnerCat Music Group, which Cabezas founded in 2012.

InnerCat handles artist marketing, music distribution, YouTube optimization, and neighboring rights for a range of artists, many of whom are Latin stars like Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Farruko. The music group's artists and network of owned and operated channels garner 630M+ streams per month, 330M video views per month, and 22M subscribers on all networks, and they've been able to pay out more than $7M in royalties to indie artists. Innercat focuses on a data-driven, tech-it-yourself approach to digital assets, and the results speak for themselves.

Connect with Paris on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter.

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How to Be a Successful Independent Artist With Cullah Jan 28, 2021

Cullah is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, based independent musician who has released an album every year on his birthday — April 27 — for the past 14 years. For his 30th birthday in 2021, he’ll be releasing his 15th album, ½, as a testament to the fact that he’s released an album every year for half of his life. The son of a classically trained jazz musician and a farm-raised mathematician and computer scientist, “Cullah was brought up with the awareness of the balance between the creative and logical aspects of natural law.” As such, he studied Computer Engineering at Marquette University and Music and Media Technologies at Trinity College Dublin, working briefly as a web developer at a web design firm before turning to music full time. He’s been described as, “One part Jack White, one part Dan Auerbach, and one part Jeff Buckley,” and he was kind enough to carve out some time to discuss music data and music analytics from the artist perspective.

Connect With Cullah Here

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The Rise of Regional Latin Music: Mexican Music Genres With Sony A&R Francisco Toscano Jan 21, 2021

On this episode, we talk to A&R professional and expert in the Latin American music scene, Francisco Toscano, who just released both an English and Spanish version of an article on the Chartmetric blog entitled The Rise of Regional Latin Music, Part 1: Mexican Music Genres or El Ascenso Mundial de la Música Latinoamericana, Parte 1: Música Regional Mexicana. It is a white paper on five of the most popular Mexican genres being streamed today on all of your favorite DSPs.

Read The Rise of Regional Latin Music, Part 1: Mexican Music Genres here: https://blog.chartmetric.com/regional-latin-music-mexican-music-genres/

Ver la versión en español aquí: https://blog.chartmetric.com/es-ascenso-mundial-musica-latinoamericana-musica-regional-mexicana/

Connect with Chartmetric at blog.chartmetric.com.

Building Music Tech Solutions With The Orchard CTO Jacob Fowler Dec 14, 2020

Today’s guest is Jacob Fowler, Chief Technology Officer at The Orchard. The company is “a pioneering music distribution company and top-ranked video network … [with] local reps in 45 markets. From digital retailers and physical stores to performance rights societies, [The Orchard’s] partnerships help amplify your reach and revenue across multiple business verticals.”

Graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in Political Science & Southeast Asian studies, Fowler first spent three years at 2U, a publicly-traded educational tech company. Moving from a role in Admissions to Business Analyst, it was then his first stint as Product Manager that transitioned him to The Orchard in 2016. The avid Red Sox fan then rapidly worked his way up the chain from Director of Product to SVP for Engineering and Product and then to his current role as CTO, starting in February 2020.

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Becoming a Music Industry Leader in Asian Music Markets With Priya Dewan Dec 02, 2020

Priya is an Indian citizen born in the Philippines, raised in Singapore, and educated in American schools. Just four years after graduating from Boston University, Priya worked her way up from intern to Label Manager at Warp Records, where she ran the show for another four years. As soon as she left Warp in 2011, she moved back to Singapore and started her own booking agency and artist consultancy called Feedback Asia, where she worked directly with talent like CHVRCHES, Beach House, Yuna, Bicep, Mansionair, and Lauv to help them find live opportunities in Asia. Currently, Priya is both Vice President and also CEO — of two different companies. As VP of South Korea and Southeast Asia at The Orchard, she manages teams all across Asia, but somehow, she still also manages to find time to run her own company, Gig Life Pro, a music industry networking and community resource consultancy for the Asia-Pacific region. Suffice it to say, Priya knows the music markets in Asia inside and out — not to mention the qualities it takes to be a leader in the music industry, no matter what market you’re in.

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The State of Music Synchronization With Synchtank Founder Joel T. Jordan, Part 2 Nov 23, 2020

At How Music Charts, we try to showcase those pushing the edge of music and data, and today we talk with Joel T. Jordan, Founder and President at Synchtank. Headquartered in London with offices in New York and Los Angeles, Synchtank offers a range of cloud-based SaaS solutions for managing digital entertainment assets, intellectual property, metadata and royalties.

Getting his start in the music industry at ripe age of 13, Jordan started one of the hardcore punk scene’s seminal labels, Watermark Records, with his brother Jason in 1991. It was there in New Jersey where the visually-oriented Jordan began his career as an Art Director, which eventually led him to co-found the creative design film Earthprogram in New York City, where he served as Lead Designer and Creative Director from 1996 to 2008.

It was then when Jordan founded Synchtank, where, as a 2018 Pop Disciple interview describes, Synchtank “serves over 150 high profile clients including Disney Music, 20th Century Fox, Reservoir Media, Spirit Music Group, Concord Music, BT Sport, Red Bull Media House, Primary Wave, and peermusic.”

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The State of Music Synchronization With Synchtank Founder Joel T. Jordan, Part 1 Nov 16, 2020

Check out music licensing software plaform Synchtank here.

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Understanding Your Pandora Data With Dan Wissinger and Jay Troop Nov 10, 2020

If you haven’t heard the news, we’ve recently become the first third-party music analytics company to host Pandora data publicly, which includes stream counts, monthly listeners, and station adds for hundreds of thousands of artists. So, we’re especially excited about our guests today: Dan Wissinger and Jay Troop. Dan is currently a Senior Product Manager at Pandora, where he spearheads the Next Big Sound and AMP product teams, and Jay is a Senior Analyst for Next Big Sound and AMP. He’s also responsible for Artist & Industry Insights at Pandora writ large. On this episode, we introduce you to Dan, Jay, and Pandora; explain why Pandora matters to the music industry and to artists’ careers; and give you some strategies for making sense of your Pandora data. Speaking of which, if you’re not familiar with Next Big Sound, it’s the OG in music analytics, so we highly suggest checking it out as soon as you can, and the same goes for AMP, which is an artist’s best friend on Pandora.

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The UK Music Diversity Report 2020 With Christine Osazuwa, Paulette Long OBE & Ammo Talwar MBE Nov 02, 2020

SEE THE 2020 UK MUSIC DIVERSITY REPORT HERE: https://www.ukmusic.org/equality-diversity/uk-music-diversity-taskforce-workforce-diversity-survey/2020-report/

At How Music Charts, we try to bring a new perspective to the music business, and today that perspective is from me! I’m Christine Osazuwa, Global Marketing Director of Data & Insights at Warner Music Group. I was also the first guest on this podcast back in December 2019, which at this point, seems about 100 years ago.

In honor of UK Black History Month, I’ve taken over today’s episode with a different take on music data! In addition to my day job, I am also a Co-Chair of Warner Music Group UK’s BAME employee resource group, The Link. As a Nigerian-American working in the UK music industry, I am committed to a diverse and equitable music business and the power that data can bring to any conversation. Given that context, I’m thrilled to introduce today’s guests: Paulette Long OBE and Ammo Talwar MBE.

Paulette has served as Deputy Chair for the UK Music Diversity Taskforce since 2016, while Ammo has served as Chair since 2019. With decades of music industry experience between Paulette and Ammo, spanning publishing, arts education, marketing, PR, artist management, and even running record shops, they have both been recognized under the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by the Queen for their enduring contributions to the UK’s cultural industries.

While we could speak for hours about their accomplishments, today we’ll focus on their latest one: the 2020 UK Music Diversity Report, which, by the time you hear this, will be available online.

In addition to diving into the report’s data, we’ll use our time together to discuss the importance of diversity, representation & accountability to progress the industry and create the culture we want to see within our workplaces and around the world.

Disclaimer: All opinions and views expressed by the guests and host are theirs alone, and do not in any way constitute the opinions or views of any company they work for or have been associated with.

Connect With the Host & Guests
Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineosazuwa/
Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulettelonguk/
Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ammo-talwar-mbe-217b2612/

Connect With Us (@chartmetric)
http://chartmetric.com/
https://blog.chartmetric.com
https://smarturl.it/chartmetric_social

Predicting the Future of the Music Business With Cherie Hu, Part 2 Oct 20, 2020

Over the past few years, Cherie has been a regular contributor to multiple major music business publications, including Forbes, Billboard, NPR Music, Rolling Stone, and many more. While she still has her own column on music and tech for Music Business Worldwide, in early 2019, Cherie also started Water & Music, her own membership community where she uses Patreon, Discord and a weekly newsletter to keep her 8K+ subscribers and 700+ Patrons up to date on the latest innovations in the music industry.

With a pre-college Juilliard diploma in Piano Performance in one hand, and a Harvard BA in Statistics in the other, maybe it’s no wonder that Cherie decided to carve out her career at the intersection of music, data, and technology. Before establishing her writing as a popular must-read, Cherie held internships at Interscope Records, Jamplify, Forbes, and Ticketmaster, alongside even more writing and researching for The Harvard Crimson, Harvard Business School, and NYU.

In 2017, she became the youngest nominee and winner of the international music business journalist of the year award at the annual Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Germany. Cherie has also been featured as a keynote speaker, moderator and panelist in many high-profile conferences including MIDEM, Primavera Sound, SXSW, IMS Ibiza, DIY Musician Conference, and many more.

Subscribe to Cherie Hu's Water & Music Patreon.

Connect With Us (@chartmetric)
http://chartmetric.com/
https://blog.chartmetric.com
https://smarturl.it/chartmetric_social

Predicting the Future of the Music Business With Cherie Hu, Part 1 Oct 15, 2020

Subscribe to Cherie Hu's Water & Music Patreon.

Connect With Us
http://podcast.chartmetric.com/
http://chartmetric.com/
https://blog.chartmetric.com
https://smarturl.it/chartmetric_social

BTS, Fortnite, and the Future of Concerts With Sophie Chivanova Oct 12, 2020

Sophie Chivanova is a consultant for Korean concert promotion company MyMusicTaste, where she was formerly the Head of Europe & the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS, i.e., nine Eurasian countries with Russian as their official language). Founded in 2013 with offices in Korea, Los Angeles, and Moscow, MyMusicTaste has organized concerts for GOT7, MONSTA X, Kehlani, The xx, and many more in 30+ different countries around the world — all based on fan requests.

Having graduated from the National University of Kiev with a BS in Computer Science, the data-driven Chivanova also co-founded and grew two live music companies operating in Russia and wider Europe, giving her more than eight years of experience in the European and Asian markets.

Connect With Us (@chartmetric)
http://chartmetric.com/
https://blog.chartmetric.com
https://smarturl.it/chartmetric_social

The Russian Music Industry and Concert Promotion in Asia & Europe With Sophie Chivanova Oct 07, 2020

Connect With Us (@chartmetric)
http://chartmetric.com/
https://blog.chartmetric.com
https://smarturl.it/chartmetric_social

Secrets of K-Pop and the Korean Music Industry With Bernie Cho, Part 2 Sep 23, 2020

Bernie Cho is a music executive with more than 21 years of culture creation in the Asian music, television, and pop culture industries. As President of DFSB Kollective, a Seoul-based independent artist and label services agency that specializes in providing digital media, marketing, and distribution solutions to 600+ Korean Pop music artists, DFSB collaborates with artists and their management to devise customized strategies that directly connect them to their local and global fans. Since 2009, the agency has successfully produced numerous K-Pop concerts/showcases around the world as well as secured No. 1 chart debuts for various K-Pop albums in North America, East Asia, Western Europe, and Australia.

As one of the first and foremost K-Pop music exporters, DFSB Kollective and its artists have been featured speakers/performers at top international music industry events (CMJ, CMW, SXSW, Coachella, The Great Escape, Glastonbury, Summer Sonic, Music Matters, MusicBiz, and MIDEM). Bernie himself has been involved with the startup of six TV channels, two concert series, and one film festival.

A true executive all-rounder, Bernie served as the Head of MTV Korea’s Digital Media Production team and worked for nearly two decades in the Korean music and TV industries as a Creative Planner, Program Producer, and Show Host. Though Bernie has no relation to Chartmetric’s CEO Sung Cho, Bernie is an Advisor for several US and Korean music tech startups, including Chartmetric.

You can listen to Part 1 of this two-part episode here.

Connect With Us
http://podcast.chartmetric.com/
http://chartmetric.com/
https://blog.chartmetric.com
https://smarturl.it/chartmetric_social

Secrets of K-Pop and the Korean Music Industry With Bernie Cho, Part 1 Sep 17, 2020

Bernie Cho is a music executive with more than 21 years of culture creation in the Asian music, television, and pop culture industries. As President of DFSB Kollective, a Seoul-based independent artist & label services agency that specializes in providing digital media, marketing, and distribution solutions to 600+ Korean Pop music artists, DFSB collaborates with artists and their management to devise customized strategies that directly connect them to their local and global fans. Since 2009, the agency has successfully produced numerous K-Pop concerts/showcases around the world as well as secured No. 1 chart debuts for various K-Pop albums in North America, East Asia, Western Europe, and Australia.

As one of the first and foremost K-Pop music exporters, DFSB Kollective and its artists have been featured speakers/performers at top international music industry events (CMJ, CMW, SXSW, Coachella, The Great Escape, Glastonbury, Summer Sonic, Music Matters, MusicBiz, MIDEM). Bernie himself has been involved with the startup of 6 TV channels, 2 concert series, and 1 film festival.

A true executive all-rounder, Bernie served as the Head of MTV Korea’s Digital Media Production team and worked for nearly 2 decades in the Korean music & TV industries as a Creative Planner, Program Producer, and Show Host. He has earned a Bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in Government/Asian Studies; graduated from the UCLA Anderson - Executive Entertainment & Media Program, and even matriculated from the Foundation Film Program at Vancouver Film School.

Though Bernie has no relation to Chartmetric’s CEO Sung Cho, Bernie is an Advisor for several US & Korean music tech startups, which happens to include Chartmetric.

We’ve split this talk into two episodes for easier listening.

Connect With Us
http://podcast.chartmetric.com/
http://chartmetric.com/
https://blog.chartmetric.com
https://smarturl.it/chartmetric_social

Country, Metal, and TikTok: Digital Trends in the Music Industry With Former Sony Music Nashville VP Ed Rivadavia Aug 13, 2020

On this episode, we chat with former Sony Music Nashville VP of Digital Strategy Ed Rivadavia. Ed is originally from São Paulo, Brazil, but he spent much of his early years in Europe and the United States, learning three languages, other than Portuguese, along the way. Most recently a VP of Digital Strategy at Sony Music Nashville, where he worked with some of the biggest names in Country, Ed has always been — and still is — a metalhead at heart. What’s particularly interesting about Ed’s career is how you can trace the trajectory of the role of marketing in the music industry from radio promotion or “old media” marketing in the ‘90s, to trying to get a handle on ways to use the internet, or “new media,” in the early 2000s, and then to settling in to what we now know as digital marketing and digital strategy in the 2010s. Ed’s global and multi-genre experience imbues his perspective on digital trends in the music industry with nuance and prescience.

Connect With Ed
https://www.linkedin.com/in/edrivadavia/

Connect With Us
http://podcast.chartmetric.com/
http://chartmetric.com/
https://blog.chartmetric.com
https://smarturl.it/chartmetric_social

Activating Local Music Fans for the 2020 Presidential Election With #iVoted's Emily White Jul 22, 2020

On this episode, we chat with Emily White, a music industry veteran who started her career as a world class tour manager before retiring at 23 to pursue artist management, entrepreneurial endeavors, and academia. Emily has worked with everyone from Dinosaur Jr. to Zac Brown Band, she’s founded and run multiple entertainment companies, released a number of books, and now, when she’s not teaching at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Emily is using music data analytics to help activate voters for the upcoming presidential election in November. The #iVoted initiative, which Emily founded with Madison House co-founder Mike Luba and Wilco’s Pat Sansone, is gearing up to be one of the biggest digital music festivals ever, with dozens of artists performing via webcast nationwide. The cost of admission for fans? A selfie from home with their mail-in ballot or a photo from outside their polling place, though we strongly encourage the former. For a full list of artists performing on Nov. 3, check out iVotedConcerts.com, and full disclaimer: Chartmetric is a proud data partner of the #iVoted initiative.

Connect With Emily
https://twitter.com/emwizzle

https://twitter.com/iVotedConcerts

https://twitter.com/collectiveent_

https://www.instagram.com/collectiveentinc/

Connect With Us
http://podcast.chartmetric.com/
http://chartmetric.com/
https://blog.chartmetric.com
https://smarturl.it/chartmetric_social

Digital Disruption and Music Economics With Former Spotify Chief Economist Will Page Jul 06, 2020

Will Page is an economist, a DJ, and most importantly, the biggest supporter of Tynecastle Park’s Heart of Midlothian Football Club #boysinmaroon. A graduate of Scotland’s University of Strathclyde and University of Edinburgh, he began his career as an economist with the Government of Scotland while moonlighting as a music journalist for the Straight No Chaser Magazine.

Soon thereafter, Page became the Chief Economist for the United Kingdom’s largest collection society, PRS for Music. After that, he assumed the same title for Stockholm-based streaming platform Spotify.

Will is now a Fellow at the Royal Society of Arts in London, a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics, and a non-Executive Director at music licensing company SoundVault. In what little spare time he has, he’s busy at work on his upcoming book Pivot, which is about digital disruption and the economics behind it.

We discuss:

His continuing love for soul music, including his DJ mixes on MixCloud and Blackstars of High Life, his documentary on Ghanian Jazz, Afrobeat, and Funk
His double agent life in his 20s as a Scottish government economist by day and Straight No Chaser music journalist by night
What economics has to do with the music industry
His May 2020 Billboard feature, "Peak Streaming: Are We There Yet?"
His February 2020 Billboard feature, "Is the Music Copyright Business Worth More Than Ever?"
His quotes in John Thornhill's March 2020 Financial Times op-ed, "How Covid-19 Is Accelerating the Shift From Transport to Teleport"
His upcoming book on digital disruption, Pivot: Ten Lessons in Tarzan Economics that Help You Navigate Disruption

Connect with Will:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/wpage/

Connect With Us:
http://podcast.chartmetric.com/
http://chartmetric.com/
https://blog.chartmetric.com
https://smarturl.it/chartmetric_social

Career Strategies and the Future of Live Music With Paradigm Talent Agency's Diana Gremore Jun 24, 2020

Originally from the sunny sprawling suburbs of San Diego, California, after graduating from the University of California, San Diego, Diana Gremore packed up all of her things and moved to New York City, sleeping on a friend’s couch and giving herself just two months to make it in the Big Apple. And she did. For the past three and a half years, Diana has worked at Paradigm (not including the year and a half she was a part of AM Only, which was acquired by Paradigm in 2017), one of the entertainment industry’s most important and highly regarded talent agencies. While she now holds the illustrious title of Business Intelligence Analyst, it’s a role she created for herself, working her way up from receptionist and office manager. But “start small and don’t skip steps” isn’t just an axiom embodied by Diana’s own career, it’s something she encourages artists and their teams to think about when approaching their own growth trajectories — especially during the uncertainty of live music in a post-COVID world.

Connect With Diana:
https://www.instagram.com/dhgremore/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-gremore-494b6625/

Connect With Us:
http://podcast.chartmetric.com/
http://chartmetric.com/
https://blog.chartmetric.com
https://smarturl.it/chartmetric_social

From Business School to the Billboard Charts With Rapper Call Me Ace Jun 03, 2020

Connect with Call Me Ace:
https://www.instagram.com/callmeacelegit/
https://enroll.callmeace.com/

Connect With Us:
http://podcast.chartmetric.com/
http://chartmetric.com/
https://blog.chartmetric.com
https://smarturl.it/chartmetric_social

From Verzuz to Quarantine Radio: Live Streams and Fan Growth During COVID-19 May 28, 2020

We’ll still be bringing you our conversations with music industry professionals every month, but between those conversations, we’re sprinkling in important music data stories from our blog that you might have missed or haven’t had the time to sit down and read.

This week, we're diving into our new analysis of how artist live streaming is affecting audience engagement during COVID-19: https://blog.chartmetric.com/covid-19-effect-on-the-global-music-business-part-3-live-streaming-artists/

Follow along with the article, which is full of pretty charts and graphs, and subscribe to our blog for more.

How Music Charts is a podcast by Chartmetric that explores the dance between interpreting data and making creative decisions in the music business every day.

How the Coronavirus Pandemic Affects YouTube Video Views Worldwide May 20, 2020

This week, we're reading our recent analysis of YouTube viewership changes across six different countries (South Korea, India, United States, South Africa, Brazil and Italy) and compared them to World Health Organization coronavirus data: https://blog.chartmetric.com/covid-19-effect-on-the-global-music-business-part-2-geography/

Follow along with the article, which is full of pretty charts and graphs, and subscribe to our blog for more.

How Music Charts is a podcast by Chartmetric that explores the dance between interpreting data and making creative decisions in the music business every day.

YouTube's Impact on Today's Hip-Hop With Ben Sauberman May 15, 2020

Connect With Ben Sauberman:
https://www.instagram.com/ben.sauberman/
ben@sparky.wtf

Sample of YouTube channel list (contact Ben for more):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Bj-wzvUJiEusikzzJ_iI-u35J0eWbe0_hQ4dgiEd7QI/edit?usp=sharing

Connect With Us:
http://podcast.chartmetric.com/
http://chartmetric.com/
https://blog.chartmetric.com
https://smarturl.it/chartmetric_social

COVID-19's Effect on Spotify Monthly Listeners by Genre Apr 29, 2020

We're launching something new: stories from our blog … in audio format. We’ll still be bringing you our conversations with music industry professionals every month, but between those conversations, we’ll be sprinkling in important music data stories from our blog that you might have missed or haven’t had the time to sit down and read.

This week, we're diving into our recent analysis of Spotify listenership changes across nine different genres during COVID-19: https://blog.chartmetric.com/covid-19-effect-on-the-global-music-business-part-1-genre/

Follow along with the article, which is full of pretty charts and graphs, and subscribe to our blog for more.

How Music Charts is a podcast by Chartmetric that explores the dance between interpreting data and making creative decisions in the music business every day.

Data and Digital Strategy at Republic Records With Elliott Althoff Apr 22, 2020

Connect With Elliott Althoff:
https://www.elliottalthoff.com
https://www.instagram.com/elliottalthoff/
https://www.instagram.com/brothermoses/

Find Out More About Republic Records:
http://www.republicrecords.com

Connect With Us:
http://podcast.chartmetric.com/
http://chartmetric.com/
https://blog.chartmetric.com
https://smarturl.it/chartmetric_social

How Music Collaborations Evolved in the Digital Era: A Decade in Review Apr 06, 2020

Title: How Music Collaborations Evolved in the Digital Era: A Decade in Review (Jan 2020)

Article by Dr. Nuttiiya Seekhao: https://blog.chartmetric.com/the-evolving-role-of-music-artist-collaborations/

Special thanks to Dr. Nuttiiya for such a rigorous look at one of the latest trends in our music industry!

Expanding the Argentinian Trap Movement with Ariel Chichotky Mar 27, 2020

Guest - Ariel Chichotky:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariel-chichotky/

Podcast:
https://podcast.chartmetric.com/
http://chartmetric.com/

How Record Labels Fared on Music Charts Around the World Mar 20, 2020

This week, we're diving into Data Scientist Josh Hayes’ comparative analysis of major label vs. non-major label chart performance around the world: https://blog.chartmetric.com/state-of-the-industry-major-label-vs-non-major-label-performance-across-regions/

Follow along with Josh's original piece, which is full of pretty charts and graphs, and subscribe to our blog for more.

How Music Charts is a podcast by Chartmetric that explores the dance between interpreting data and making creative decisions in the music business every day.

Uncovering Breakthrough Artists with Data: Chartmetric's 6MO Report (H2 2019) Mar 12, 2020

In this special webinar replay, 6MO editors Jason Joven (Manager, Content & Insights) and Rutger Ansley Rosenborg (Digital Strategy Lead) break down their new Chartmetric Breakthrough Artists report.

Follow along with the interactive PDF here: https://www.chartmetric.com/6mo
Follow along with the webinar video here: https://vimeo.com/397073249

Indie Artist Management and Design With Ross Nicol Feb 26, 2020

Guest - Ross Nicol:
https://www.offseasoncreative.com/
https://www.instagram.com/offseasoncreative/
https://www.instagram.com/ross__nicol/

Podcast:
http://podcast.chartmetric.com/
http://chartmetric.com/

Getting SiriusXM and Into Data Science With Jackson Bull Jan 21, 2020

Guest - Jackson Bull:
https://twitter.com/jacksonabull
https://www.instagram.com/jacksonbull/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacksonbull/

Podcast:
http://podcast.chartmetric.com/
http://chartmetric.com/

Global Music Marketing With Christine Osazuwa Dec 20, 2019

Guest - Christine Osazuwa:
https://twitter.com/c_osazuwa
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineosazuwa/
http://christineosazuwa.com/
https://musically.com/2019/10/31/what-trigger-cities-really-mean-for-music-marketing/
https://www.elitedaily.com/dating/lessons-100-first-dates/1099230

Podcast:
http://podcast.chartmetric.com/
http://chartmetric.com/

Get to Know the Hosts (Jason Joven, Rutger Ansley Rosenborg) Nov 27, 2019

How Music Charts
- Season 2, Episode 1 - Get to Know the Hosts (Jason Joven, Rutger Ansley Rosenborg)
- Guests:
  - Jason Joven - Manager, Content and Insights
  - Rutger Ansley Rosenborg - Digital Marketing
- Timestamps:
  - 0:00 - Intro to Season 2's format
  - 1:15 - S2E1 intro
  - 1:56 - Jason's background
  - 4:25 - Rutger's background
  - 6:25 - Data vs. Gut
  - 9:35 - Where should business data start to mix with the creative process?
  - 11:44 - AI startups changing music itself
  - 13:20 - SPEED ROUND
  - 15:16 - Wrap-Up
How Music Charts is owned and operated by Chartmetric
- Email us at social@chartmetric.com
- Chartmetric on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
- Article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com

My Chemical Romance’s Reunion Shows Scary Good Numbers Nov 01, 2019

Highlights
- Early 2000s emo princes of darkness My Chemical Romance dropped a special treat for fans on Halloween, revealing some incredible metrics for a band that has been on hiatus for six years.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, one word and no “S.”
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
- Just a heads up that we’ll be switching formats from two times a week to two to three times a month as we transition to a longer form podcast that will include interviews with some very special guests.
Date
- Without further ado, this is your Data Dump for Friday, Nov. 1, 2019.
My Chemical Romance’s Reunion Shows Scary Good Numbers
- Hope you had a very spooky and safe Halloween.
- There’s no trick here: For early 2000s pop-punk nostalgists and emo aficionados, My Chemical Romance dropped a very special treat.
- The eye shadow-laden foursome announced their reunion on the most costume-heavy day of the year, and the internet was all about it.
- If you were sitting there thinking the emo/pop-punk thing was just a fad, think again, because MCR’s numbers show otherwise.
- Sure, it’s been six years since their break-up, but their numbers have been steadily climbing since we started tracking their data.
- In March 2018, the band was at 4.9M Spotify Monthly Listeners, 2.7M Followers, and a Spotify Popularity Index of 78 out of 100.
- As of Halloween, they’re at 6.7M Spotify Monthly Listeners, 4.3M Followers, and a Spotify Popularity Index of … drum roll please: 78!
- Those stats are pretty stunning — six years of effective inactivity, and MCR has managed to maintain their streaming numbers.
- If we look at their Neighboring Artists and filter by genre cluster, things get more impressive.
- Paramore, who are just above them in terms of Cross-Platform Performance rank, are at the same Spotify popularity level.
- However, Paramore released an album just two and a half years ago, and they were releasing new music videos as recently as last year.
- To be fair, MCR has had help from frontman Gerard Way’s award-winning comic books — one of which has a Netflix adaptation — in addition to his and other members’ side projects and the band’s 2016 reissue of 2006’s The Black Parade.
- However, with a band that hasn’t really had a frontline release for six years and is still maintaining their metrics, a Halloween announcement of their December reunion can only mean one thing right?
- There’s nowhere to go but up.
- Already, we see a daily Spotify Monthly Listener change from -891 to 7.4K, a daily Twitter Follower gain from 51 to 46K, a daily Instagram Follower gain from 140 to 12.7K, and a daily YouTube Channel Views gain from about half a million to just under a million.
- Now, that’s scary good, so bravo, My Chemical Romance, bravo.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, Nov. 1, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- If you haven’t downloaded 6MO, our Global Music Industry Data Report, yet, you can find it all across our socials and in our show notes!
- Did we mention our Playlist Journeys feature is live now?
- Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you this month with our new format!

Playlist Track Journeys on Spotify's Today’s Top Hits...Where Do Tracks Go? Oct 30, 2019

Highlights
- If a song was a traveller making its way through the playlist world, what would its passport look like? What connections could we make through the playlists it went through? Vamos a ver.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, one word and no “S.”
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019.
Track Journeys on Today’s Top Hits...Where Do Tracks Go?
- These days playlists are a given standard in the recorded music industry, and naturally they get a lot of our attention.
- Tracks come and go through these curated collections and…wait a minute...where do these tracks come from and where do they get added to after? Let’s dig in.
- So an easy point of reference to start from is Spotify’s flagship playlist, Today’s Top Hits with 24.5M followers. We’ve collected over 1K tracks that the 50-track list has placed since May 2016.
- It changes the majority of its list every Friday, though sometimes it sneaks in a track or two on Mondays and Wednesdays.
- Now, where do all of these tracks come from?
- Using a new feature we call Playlist Track Journeys, we can look backwards and see common tracks that Today’s Top Hits has with other Spotify playlists.
- For example, it might not be a surprise that more than 25 official New Music Friday playlists (including those from Germany, the Philippines and Turkey) place tracks just before or concurrently with TTH, as both playlists frequently are showcases for well-established artists to premiere new work.
- But did you know that 37% of Spotify's Pop Rising tracks were added before TTH? For example, over three months ago, Pop Rising added Sam Feldt’s “Post Malone” track on May 27th and 23 days later on June 19th, the track got added to Today’s Top Hits, jumping from Pop Rising’s 1.8M followers to the big show with over 10x the amount of TTH followers, in less than a month.
- Other playlists have common track DNA with TTH, such as Get Popped! with 218K followers and 26% track overlap, as well as Digster’s Danish playlist Hits Nu, with 185K followers and 12% overlap.
- If that weren't enough, we can also look forward as well: looking at where TTH tracks go after they were added to the flagship list.
- In this case, Ali Gatie’s acoustic guitar-driven ballad banger “It’s You” got added to the Global Top 50 playlist nine days after it was added to TTH, part of a 46% track overlap.
- Or another insight is that 67% of the Lithuania Viral 50 playlist got added to its catalog after first being added to TTH, sometimes as much as 30 days later. This seems to indicate some sort of market lag Western hits experience locally, which can be useful information.
- Now whether looking back or forward, correlation is certainly not causation, and let us be the first to say it. But there is still an advantage to understanding some of the relationships between playlists through the common song histories they share.
- It could also provide a general path for your new music to emulate, especially if you're nurturing an emerging artist's career, going from lower tier followed lists to more prominent ones. The uses are many, so we’ll see in the months ahead what other parts of the playlist ecosystem we can begin to understand.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Wednesday, we’ll see you on Friday!

Track List Reveals and Music Videos: Stunts or Bumps? Oct 25, 2019

Highlights
- This week, two huge artists let the track lists of their upcoming albums slip and a couple of other big names released music videos. Let’s see if they reaped any data rewards.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, one word and no “S.”
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, Oct. 25, 2019.
Track List Reveals and Music Videos: Stunts or Bumps?
- Coldplay and Miley Cyrus let the track listings for their respective upcoming albums drop this week, while Doja Cat and Selena Gomez released some music video eye candy to promote their upcoming album releases.
- We’re not saying the strategies are mutually exclusive by any means, but what are the actual gains from each, from a data perspective?
- Coldplay, who cheekily revealed the track list of their upcoming album by posting a classified ad in North Wales’ Daily Post, have been pretty good about staying in the spotlight, but amidst collabs and side projects, they’ve still managed to put together a double album called “Everyday Life,” which is due out Nov. 22.
- So far, the sneaky announcement has garnered tons of press, helped along by the release of “Arabesque” and “Orphans,” two tracks from each album.
- It probably didn’t cost them very much, either.
- While the effect seems relatively negligible now due its two-day freshness, across most platforms, they’re showing signs of an upward trajectory.
- They’ve gained some 30K Spotify followers, 5K Insta followers, 2K Twitter followers, and 8.5K Wikipedia views.
- They’ve also increased their Spotify popularity by a point, which is not insignificant in just a day or two’s work.
- Clearly, Coldplay had a lot of intention behind their track list leak, but Miley Cyrus’ situation is a bit murkier.
- During a livestream on Instagram on Sunday, viewers spotted a whiteboard behind Miley with a bunch of, well, presumably track names scrawled all over it.
- It doesn’t look staged, but then again, her upcoming album isn’t exactly a secret, so there could be a bit of guerilla marketing going on there.
- Seeing as she hasn’t released anything “tangible” this week, her metrics are a bit more stagnant, which is not to diminish her No. 10 rank across eight platforms, according to our Cross-Platform Performance ranking system.
- Two artists who have some audiovisual tangibility to show are former Disney star Selena Gomez and LA-based rapper Doja Cat.
- Gomez’s “Look at Her Now” music video has bumped her up in terms of fan acquisition on Spotify, Instagram, Twitter, SoundCloud, and YouTube, but her streams and views aren’t seeing a huge lift … yet.
- She did just release two new singles within a day of each other, so those follower gains are likely to bump up her listener and views gains in the coming days.
- Star-on-the-rise Doja Cat was trending hard on Twitter following her music video/single drop of “Rules” and her streaming numbers are climbing and climbing.
- Just six months ago, Doja was at 1.9M Spotify Monthly Listeners.
- That number started accelerating in August, from 2.6M to 3.7M, and just this month, she’s gone from 4.6M to nearly 6M.
- Combined with her half-a-million-Spotify-followers-and-climbing, her Spotify popularity score is edging near the upper echelons of the streaming world.
- With the kind of attention that Doja’s powerfully provocative video is getting, there’s some definite streaming staying power there.
- So, while album track list leaks don’t appear to be particularly indicative of a data bump on their own, combined with a double-single release — especially if you’re Coldplay — they can be a relatively inexpensive strategy for generating a lot of attention.
- There’s nothing like a really cool music video to train and sustain all eyes on an artist, though.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, Oct. 25, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- If you haven’t downloaded 6MO, our Global Music Industry Data Report, yet, you can find it all across our socials and in our show notes!
- Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

Making Growth Predictions With Our A&R Prediction Tools Oct 23, 2019

Highlights
- What does an emerging Atlanta rapper and a British TV series soundtrack have to do with each other? Let our A&R Prediction tool explain.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- The SXSW 2020 schedule was just announced yesterday, and Chartmetric is officially hosting two panels: one on Trigger Cities in the Creating & Monetizing Music track and another on Music Data for Engineers & Data Scientists for the Future of Music track. We’ll see you there.
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at chartmetric, one word, no “s”.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019.
Making Growth Predictions With Our New A&R Tools
- On October 9th, one of Chartmetric’s Data Scientists, Josh Hayes, wrote on our blog about the new A&R Prediction capabilities we now have live on the app, and now it’s time to dig into it!
- We currently have a menu of algorithms that create shortlists of talent that we expect to grow in the next week.
- We trained a model based on thousands of success-patterns taken from 1.7 million artists over the past 3 years, including album releases, monthly listeners, followers, and Spotify Popularity Index.
- One of the algorithms predicts who will reach a Spotify Popularity Index (or SPI) of 35 in the next week. If you’re not familiar with SPI, essentially Spotify internally ranks the popularity of all artists on their platform daily, and puts them on a 100-point scale according to their own metrics, which we also track.
  - Coming in #1 yesterday was Atlanta rapper Benjamin Ken who is currently at 23 SPI and grew from 7.5K followers in mid-July to 11.8K followers now.
    - The biggest spike for Ken seems to be his monthly listeners, which was in the 300s only last Wednesday, and spiked up to 12.5K as of Monday.
    - The interesting part is Ken was not added to any new Spotify playlists since August 22nd, and hasn’t released any new music on the platform since his CHOSEN EP in July 2019...so this looks like a case in which the stimulus of increased Spotify traction has nothing to do with Spotify, it only acting as a repository for increased attention from another source, which for now, requires more digging.
- Another algorithm we have in the A&R Prediction tool looks at who will break a Spotify Popularity Index of 30 in the next week, which is digging deeper into the level of complexity and confidence on whether they’ll actually hit that benchmark...but hey as long as it’s good music, who cares?
- Yesterday’s winner was London rock outfit Eyes on Film at 25 SPI and a rather flat follower growth going from the 200s in 2017 to only the 500s this week.
  - Despite the low follower growth, Eyes on Film went from just under 8K monthly listeners at the end of July to breaking 21K this week, growing over 50% in the past month alone.
  - What’s going on here? Yet another TV sync success story...in this case, the award-winning, BBC-produced, and Netflix-acquired series Peaky Blinders, starring Cillian Murphy.
  - The Eyes on Film track “Waking Up Dead” was released back in 2013, but it is also included in two Peaky Blinder-oriented playlists with 288K and 108K followers each.
  - With the fifth season of the series releasing on BBC One in August, coinciding with Eyes on Film’s also spiking up in...you guessed it, August...we now have our method behind the madness.
- There’s more for us to explore together on the A&R Prediction tool later, but for now, we hope you check it out for yourself!

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Wednesday, we’ll see you Friday!

The Young Female Artists Capitalizing on Their TikTok Virality Oct 18, 2019

Highlights
- Australian singer-songwriter Tones and I and North Carolina-born/Eastern Europe-raised rapper Ashnikko are some of the first notable case studies in TikTok virality. How are they capitalizing on it?
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, one word and no “S.”
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, Oct. 18, 2019.
The Young Female Artists Capitalizing on Their TikTok Virality
- As TikTok’s popularity intensifies, so does the scrutiny, which is why the National Music Publishers’ Association recently claimed the platform “consistently violated US copyright law and the rights of songwriters and music publishers.”
- Whether or not this is true, it’s clear the platform-on-the-rise, which is making its mark as a new breeding ground for discovery, is benefiting some creatives substantially.
- We first noticed 19-year-old Australian singer-songwriter Tones and I’s “Dance Monkey,” for instance, on the TikTok charts a couple of months back.
- At the time, the Sony artist’s Spotify footprint was promising, but not exactly huge.
- When “Dance Monkey” first came out in May, she had around 3.5K Followers.
- Once July hit and the TikToks started pouring in, her Spotify Follower stats rose precipitously, from 15K in July to 30K in August, 70K in September, and 150K this month.
- Four of the Top 44 TikTok videos are still sporting “Dance Monkey” soundtracks, and the song is still in the Top 200 on TikTok’s track charts.
- There’s a similar story happening with North Carolina-born and Eastern Europe-raised rapper Ashnikko, aka Ashton Casey.
- 23-year-old Ashnikko, who embraces Japanese anime and video game references, recently dropped the collaborative track “STUPID” with Yung Baby Tate, and her TikTok climb is stunning.
- Six of the Top 44 TikTok videos are already using her track, and she’s also in the Top 200 on TikTok’s track charts.
- Right now, her stats across other platforms like Spotify are exhibiting a growth pattern similar to Tones and I’s when she first started carving out her TikTok niche, so all indications point to Ashnikko being an artist to watch going into 2020 — and not just on TikTok.
- With edgy, stylish teenage phenom Billie Eilish having worked wonders for Universal — are Tones and I and Ashnikko, respectively, Sony and Warner’s rebuttal?
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, Oct. 18, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- If you haven’t downloaded 6MO, our Global Music Industry Data Report, yet, you can find it all across our socials and in our show notes!
- Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

Music + Fitness: Shaping Up Spotify and Deezer’s Top Workout Playlists Oct 16, 2019

Highlights
- Peloton’s recent IPO has us wondering about the most popular fitness playlists on Spotify and Deezer, so slap on some cross-trainers and fire up those Bluetooth earbuds.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, one word and no “S.”
- Check us out on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook!
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019.
Music + Fitness: Shaping Up Spotify and Deezer’s Top Workout Playlists
- Peloton, the indoor fitness brand best associated with its high-energy, online-class guided cycling experiences, went public on Oct. 7th, but closed its first day 11% under its initial public offering price, according to CNN.
- Competitor SoulCycle pulled out of IPO-ing last year, and maybe it has something to do with the music issues Peloton is now facing: a $300M lawsuit from a group of music publishers.
- Whether they’re using IP legitimately or not, there’s a lot at stake when it comes to music’s intimate relationship to fitness, according to music/tech journalist Cherie Hu’s latest newsletter.
- And it’s definitely illustrated by Spotify’s most popular workout playlists, six of which are in the Top 100 in terms of Follower count:
  - Beast Mode is the most popular context-based fitness playlist on the Swedish platform, and the 9th most followed overall at 6.5M Followers.
    - Post Malone is currently getting the most unique monthly listeners from four playlist slots he’s currently sitting in, acquiring 891K MLs.
    - Reggaeton king J Balvin and American DJ/producer Marshmello are in the #2 and #3 slots with 592K and 577K Beast Mode-specific MLs respectively.
    - Almost 20% of the current list is tagged as EDM, and more than 30% if you include Brostep.
    - More than half of the current list are American artists, with the second most-represented country being high-energy Dutch electronic artists like Armin van Buuren, Hardwell and R3HAB...but still comprising only 13% of the list.
  - Spotify’s Motivation Mix at 4.4M Followers and the simply-titled Workout playlist at 3.3M are the next most popular fitness lists there, but an interesting juxtaposition may be Deezer’s most popular fitness playlist, Rock Workout.
- That’s right: the #1 list to work out to on the French streaming platform is based around the rock genre, which is very different from Spotify’s top workout mixes, which are usually hip-hop, pop or dance-based.
- Rock Workout has 342K fans and currently a 70-track count, compared to Beast Mode’s 200 track count.
- Up until mid-May this year, Beast Mode only held 50 tracks at once, and though the amount of slots open up in the playlist, they do a great job of keeping things fresh, with a 100% 28-day ratio, meaning that the entire list has changed in the past month.
- With Rock Workout, only 3% of the list has changed in the past month, even though it’s less than ¼ of Beast Mode’s track count, featuring artists such as Linkin Park, Nickelback and AC/DC.
- Other Deezer workout playlists like Rap & Sport and Motivation Hits at 324K fans each feature much of the same pop/hip-hop/EDM fare you may expect...but it just goes to show that not all sweat beads to the same drummer.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
If you haven’t downloaded our semi-annual global industry report 6MO yet, you can find it all across our socials and in our show notes!
Happy Wednesday, we’ll see you Friday!

Take a Psych Trip Through Labrinth’s ‘Euphoria’ Oct 11, 2019

Highlights
- UK singer-songwriter and producer prodigy Labrinth has created a hallucinatory experience with his soundtrack of HBO’s new show Euphoria, and with data as our guide, we’re going to try to navigate the psychedelic experience with you.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, one word and no “S.”
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, Oct. 11, 2019.
Take a Psych Trip Through Labrinth’s ‘Euphoria’
- Besides collaborating with Sia, Diplo, and Beyonce in recent years, Timothy Lee McKenzie, better known by his stage name, Labrinth, just scored — literally and figuratively — his first TV series, HBO’s Euphoria.
- According to Rolling Stone, “His soundtrack ... hums with soft electricity, perfectly complementing the journey of the main character, Rue, a teenager caught in limbo between the euphoria of a drug high and the harsh consequences of addiction.”
- It’s rare that a TV show soundtrack generates high — if any at all — demand, but according to McKenzie himself, “If I put a post up, the first message is ‘Where’s the album? Where’s the soundtrack?!’ So I’m like, ‘OK, don’t worry.’ We’re working on getting ‘em what they need.”
- And he and the HBO team did just that, releasing the soundtrack last Friday.
- Though his early April releases of “SIN” and LSD, his Sia/Diplo collab, accounted for his highest Spotify Follower gains this year, at 5K and 3K, respectively, Euphoria has him at a 2K increase.
- That said, on Insta and Wikipedia, an early single drop from the soundtrack on Aug. 3 gave Labrinth his most significant spikes with a 5K follower increase and 3.5K views, respectively.
- It’s an interesting strategy for artists, labels, and managers to think about, because not only are there upfront fiscal upsides from synchronizations, but there are also the inherent promotional upsides couched in the television and video streaming industry’s massive marketing budgets.
- That’s not to say that it limits a series to only one artist, of course.
- Euphoria’s official Spotify playlist, which includes every track used in Season 1, ranges from Solange to Lizzo, Blood Orange to Randy Newman and much, much more.
- Unfortunately, an individual curator seems to have ripped the official Euphoria playlist and pawned it off as their own, outperforming the official playlist by about 3 to 1 in terms of follower count.
- Which just goes to show — albeit unscrupulously — that understanding and anticipating trends and listener behavior can go a long way toward building audiences in the streaming era.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, Oct. 11, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- If you haven’t downloaded 6MO, our Global Music Industry Data Report, yet, you can find it all across our socials and in our show notes!
- Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

Eating "Chicken Noodle Soup" with j-hope and Becky G Oct 09, 2019

Highlights
- If you don’t eat chicken noodle soup with a soda on the side yet, then at least check out how a member of K-pop supergroup BTS tapped a 2006 Harlem dance craze to make a splash today...you might reconsider your lunch plans.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, one word and no “S.”
- Check us out on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook!
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019.
Chicken Noodle Soup With j-hope and Becky G
- If you’re not a BTS Army superfan, then you didn’t know that they’re currently taking a break from their full-on conquest for the US market, which has been going on since at least late 2017. You can read about that in our blog, link in the show notes.
- And if you didn’t grow up in the mid-2000s, especially in New York City or the East Coast, you might not know about Webstar, Young B or AG, the artists behind a fun dance to their mid-2000s hit “Chicken Noodle Soup”.
- But what might be interesting to you now, is how even during BTS’ two-month hiatus...they’re still really working the US market, just through one of the members as a solo act, j-hope.
- J-hope is known for his dance skills among the BTS fanbase, and in the last week of September, he dropped a remake of the Harlem party anthem “Chicken Noodle Soup”, rapping verses in Korean and singing the catchy chorus in English.
- The track has likely amassed over 70M YouTube views as of today with over 5.4M likes and 550K comments...this is all within 1.5 weeks.
- J-hope experienced a 6x increase in Spotify daily followers to over 18K and doubled his Spotify monthly listener count to over 2M.
- While certainly the star of the remake track, he also enlisted the help of Latin American pop star Becky G, who has a Spotify Popularity Index (or SPI) of 84 She also 84th in her ranking in the Chartmetric system.
- J-hope’s SPI is lower at 69, while his Chartmetric ranking was 947th yesterday, so it’s clear that at least on Spotify, Becky G’s higher profile should be helping expose the BTS member’s solo career to more people in the States and the Latin community alike.
- However, likely a measure of how curious BTS fans were of this collaborator, Becky G experienced her biggest jump in the past year in daily Wikipedia views by almost 10x to 29K.
- Regarding overall popularity, BTS themselves are just ahead of her in terms of their own Chartmetric ranking at 82nd place, with an SPI of 90.
- It’s hard to say who’s helping the other out more: j-hope picked an undeniably American dance classic to stoke stateside nostalgia and to pour more gas on the fire, featured one of Latin music’s top stars to gain more global market share.
- But Becky G is certainly enjoying her own new fans from j-hope’s part of the world: BTS’ stronghold on several platforms is still major cities in East and Southeast Asia, and as for fandom, the BTS camp is world-class.
- As for the original artists, Webstar and Young B? They’ve experienced their own upticks...for example, Young B is now known as Bianca Bonnie, and she experienced a 100x increase in daily Twitter followers to over 5K upon the remake’s release.
- Better yet? Their soda on the side will come in the form of tasty, tasty publishing royalties, thanks to a couple of Korean and Latin pop stars.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
If you haven’t downloaded our semi-annual global industry report 6MO yet, you can find it all across our socials and in our show notes!
Happy Wednesday, we’ll see you Friday!

6MO Global Music Industry Data Report, Part 2: Platform-Playlist Analysis Oct 04, 2019

Highlights
- Rolling Stone, Music Ally, and others were particularly interested in a surprising data point from Part 2 of 6MO, our first-ever Global Music Industry Data Report. What’s that all about? Find out here.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, no “S.”
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, Oct. 4, 2019.
6MO Global Music Industry Data Report, Part 2: Platform-Playlist Analysis
- The domination by North American artists of the top streaming playlists was of particular interest to many major music publications as soon as we dropped 6MO.
- Obviously, it was to us too, but there was another trend that intrigued us in the Platform-Playlist Analysis section, or Part 2, of our Global Music Industry Data Report.
- That trend? The Top 5 genre differentiators on Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, and Spotify’s Top 30 playlists.
- What exactly do we mean by genre differentiators and how did we get there?
- Well, we pulled geographic and genre metadata tags for every artist included on each of those 120 playlists, filtering out personalized and artist-specific ones, and then, we calculated the distribution for each platform set.
- What we found is that virtually across the board, Pop and Hip-Hop & Rap take the Top 2 spots in terms of artist genre distribution for all four of those streaming platforms on June 30, 2019.
- Generally speaking, those genres account for about half of the market share on those top playlists for those platforms.
- Where things get interesting is in the No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5 spots, because that’s where the platforms begin to diverge from one another.
- This is what we mean by genre differentiators in the Top 5 for each platform.
- On Amazon Music, for instance, Country makes the Top 5, which is not the case for any other platform.
- On Apple Music, R&B/Soul fills that role, on Deezer, it’s Latin & Carribean, and on Spotify, it’s Folk, Traditional, and World.
- Surprising? Maybe not, if you’ve had that hunch all along.
- It is both satisfying and also illuminating to see it borne out in the data, however — and that’s what we’re all about.
- If you want to see where Indie or any geographic region outside of North America stacks up, dig in to 6MO more here.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, Oct. 4, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- If you haven’t downloaded our report yet, you can find it all across our socials and in our show notes!
- Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

6MO Global Music Industry Data Report, Part 1: Semi-Annual Awards Oct 02, 2019

Highlights
- It’s official: We've launched 6MO, our first-ever Global Music Industry Data Report! We're thrilled to present you with our comprehensive view — from a music data perspective — of the first six months of 2019. Dig in to Part 1 with us here.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, no “S.”
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019.
6MO Global Music Industry Data Report, Part 1: Semi-Annual Awards
- If you haven’t heard yet, we officially released our first-ever Global Music Industry Data Report on Tuesday, and the response has us very excited to dive into it with you guys here.
- Last week, we explained the 30-page structure: Semi-Annual Awards, Platform-Playlist Analysis, and Strategic Business Insights.
- Today, we’re tackling Part 1, our Chartmetric Semi-Annual Awards, which rank the top performing artists in terms of absolute and percentage-based growth across multiple metrics on June 30, 2019, the last day of the six-month period we tracked.
- By the way, if you’ve got the report in hand, feel free to scroll or flip along with us.
- First off, our Cross-Platform Performance Award, as you might imagine, revealed some familiar names in the Top 10 in terms of overall streaming and social popularity — from T. Swift to Shawn Mendes and Rihanna to Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande.
- However, the interesting stories were J Balvin at No. 2 and Daddy Yankee at No. 7, reflecting Latin’s growth outside of Latin America itself, and the late Avicii at No. 10, likely due to his strong catalog consistently driving 3M+ YouTube views daily, his April release of “SOS” with Aloe Blacc, and the full posthumous album release of Tim on June 6.
- When it came to YouTube Channel Views gain as of June 25, 2019, six of the Top 10 artists with the highest gains were primarily Spanish-speaking, showcasing the strength of both Latin content and also the popularity of the YouTube platform for Latin audiences.
- Keep in mind, however, that India-specific music charts didn’t launch until two weeks ago, so that data could very well change up the distribution in a big way.
- Stay tuned for our July to December report to see if 6MO months prove that to be the case!
- For Spotify Monthly Listener Gain as of June 30, 2019, collaborations were crucial to Lunay’s 557 percent and Jhay Cortez’s 521 percent lifts — not to mention Billy Ray Cyrus’ 3,032 percent increase as a result of his “Old Town Road” collab with Lil Nas X.
- On Twitter, Follower Gain was all about diversity, with three Korean groups, three Americans, two Brazilians, one Nigerian, and one Turkish rocker comprising the Top 10 percentage gains.
- And on our own platform, BTS won out on the Artist Follower front and Spotify curators dominated in terms of Playlist Followers.
- It would be an understatement to say that this is just the tip of the iceberg for Part 1, so please, keep digging into it, and let us know what else you find!
- Next up, we’re taking on Part 2, our Platform-Playlist Analysis, where we break down artist country market share and artist genre market share on Amazon, Apple, Deezer, and Spotify’s top 30 playlists.
- So, stay tuned for that!

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
By the way, if you haven’t downloaded our report yet, you can find it all across our socials and in our show notes!
Happy Wednesday, and we’ll see you on Friday for Part 2!

The Cherie Hu Preview-Review of Our Inaugural Global Music Industry Data Report Sep 27, 2019

Highlights
- For the past couple of months, we’ve been cooking up something big: the first iteration of our Global Music Industry Data Report, 6MO! With the help of music tech extraordinaire Cherie Hu, we give you the first taste of it here.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, no “S.”
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, Sept. 27th, 2019.
The Cherie Hu Preview-Review of Our Inaugural Global Music Industry Data Report
- Over the last couple of months, we’ve been cooking up something that we think you’re going to like.
- On Wednesday, we launched the first edition of our Global Music Industry Data Report at an exclusive gathering in New York City, after which music tech extraordinaire Cherie Hu was kind enough to feature her insights in her weekly Water and Music newsletter.
- Because we’ll be publishing this comprehensive data report twice a year, we’ve given it the catchy title — at least we like to think so — of 6MO, aka six months.
- So, without further ado, what’s it all about?
- According to Cherie, 6MO “sheds light on the kinds of perspectives that we’re still missing by relying on incumbent charts like the Billboard Hot 100.”
- Because our approach is revenue-agnostic, we’re more interested in artists’ general online footprints than their sales numbers.
- We’re working with more than 20 data sources, including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Wikipedia, and Facebook, and we pulled from 1.7M+ artists and 1.1M+ playlists worth of data.
- We’ve divided our report, which spans Jan. 1 to June 30, into three sections: Semi-Annual Awards, Platform-Playlist Analysis, and Strategic Business Insights.
- Our awards section tackles the top performing artists in terms of absolute and percentage-based growth across multiple metrics, including Cross-Platform Performance, YouTube Channel Views Gain, Spotify Monthly Listener Gain, Instagram Follower Gain, and more.
- Our platform-playlist section analyzes artist country and genre market share on the top 30 Amazon, Apple, Deezer, and Spotify playlists.
- Finally, our strategic insights section summarizes important concepts that we’ve developed this year, from trigger cities to the gender play gap and our top performing podcast episodes.
- If you want to get a head start on our January-June 6MO before its wide release next week, it’s available for an early digital download thanks to Cherie’s Water and Music newsletter!
- Either way, you’ll be able to read along when we take a deep dive into it here next week!

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, Sept. 27th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

Radio in the Streaming Era: US Radio Facts for Streaming Experts Sep 25, 2019

Highlights
- Obsessed with streaming? Rightfully so, but after almost a year of coverage on Chartmetric, let’s go over some useful US radio facts that may help your artist’s overall distribution strategy.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- Chartmetric’s social media handle is Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us onTwitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook- we’re always posting useful music tidbits, we’d love to hear from you!
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019.
Radio in the Streaming Era: US Radio Facts for Streaming Experts
- Coming up on one year ago, Chartmetric added 300 US radio stations to our 20+ sources of music data.
  - Why? Well, radio is still considered one of the major ways to break an artist into the mainstream here in the States, and to many, it remains a strong advantage of the major labels, who are well-networked in the radio community.
- You can check our blog article about it in the show notes, but for those who maybe never got a chance to learn about the world before streaming, we thought we’d take the time to review some basic radio facts to help you put it all in context.
  - First, a radio spin does NOT equal a streaming play! Nowadays, we’re so used to looking at total streams on whatever platform, how many plays are coming from what playlist, or how many plays came from a user’s library...but nonetheless, each stream is just a one-to-one relationship with a listener.
  - With radio, one spin can mean thousands of listeners, at the same time, and usually in the same geographic area! A one to many relationship is how terrestrial radio differentiates itself from streaming, and it requires a certain appreciation to realize that just because radio spin counts aren’t as big in quantity as streams in a given time period, they are much more geographically attributable, they’re time-stamped, and they play to many more people.
- On the many more people part, one term to be aware of is “AQH”, which stands for average quarter-hour persons, or the amount of unique listeners in a 15-minute period listening for at least 5 minutes.
  - Have you ever been stuck in highway traffic and flipped through radio stations, only to hear commercials? Well, I bet it was around one quarter hour before or after the hour when that happened.
    - Why? The reason is the way Nielsen Audio records AQH, because by playing commercials on the :15 and :45 minute marks, they maximize the period of time they play music (and thus, get the highest AQH possible). This raises their profile for advertisers wanting to buy time and more exposure on their station.
    - The AM Drive during morning rush hour is primo ad time, so while 5-10AM is highly lucrative for radio stations, it’s probably not when your new song is going to get played. You probably have a better chance in the PMD (guess what that is), Evening or Overnight dayparts.
    - Location-wise, New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago stations tend to have the highest AQH ratings, which makes sense given they’re the top three populated cities in the country.
  - Another term you may have heard is “Radio Format”, and this loosely refers to the type of genres a station plays, and it’s really more of a way for advertisers to recognize a station’s listener demographics.
    - Surely you’ve heard “Top 40”, and that also goes by Contemporary Hit Radio, or “CHR”, and it’s what you’d expect, the latest and greatest from mostly major labels.
  - Country is another format, and of course it plays best in the South, but also a sizeable presence in other places like Chicago.
  - Urban plays better in the Midwest/South/East and is made up of hip-hop and rap, while Rhythmic plays bigger in the West; a mix of Top 40 and Urban where R&B, dance, hip-hop, and pop all intermingle.
  - Other formats like “Triple A”, Alternative and Hot Adult Contemporary exist as well, we invite you to check out the blog article to learn more. Many thanks to our data supplier RadioWave and Seth Keller for their expertise.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- Happy Wednesday, and we’ll see you on Friday!

Taylor Swift enjoys Chinese success on QQ Music, with R3HAB set to in the near future with Tencent Sep 20, 2019

2019-09-20 // Taylor Swift enjoys Chinese success on QQ Music, with R3HAB set to in the near future with Tencent

Highlights
- If the 2000s belonged to 50 Cent, the future belongs to Tencent. We’ll check out a few Western artists who are active in the Chinese market, and how the tech conglomerate may matter to them in the near future.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- Chartmetric’s social media handle is Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook- we’re always posting fun music facts, we’d love to hear from you!
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, Sept. 20, 2019.
Taylor Swift enjoys Chinese success on QQ Music, with R3HAB set to in the near future
- Music Business Worldwide yesterday reported on Tencent, the giant Chinese tech company responsible for running the massively popular WeChat messaging platform with over 1B users and related music streaming app QQ Music, with over 650M active monthly users.
- One piece highlighted how Tencent is reportedly in talks to buy 10 to 20% of Universal Music Group, in a move that would surely be a boon for all artists operating with the major label.
- Some already there don’t need it! Looking at the QQ Music Western chart for this week, one of their artists under the Republic Records imprint is already enjoying her access to Chinese music fans, an artist by the name of Taylor Swift.
- While Tay Tay isn’t in the Top 20 this week, she does have by far the most tracks on the 100 track chart, placing 17 tracks of her recent Lover album onto the list.
- This obviously suggests that her entire album is getting quite an amount of attention on the platform, rather than just a few hits like Camila Cabello at 3 tracks or Ed Sheeran at 2.
- She’s not the only artist with new album release doing well there however, as Post Malone placed seven of his 17-track album Hollywood’s Bleeding in the QQ Western Top 100 and showing that Chinese fans are into trap just as much as pop music.
- Someone who doesn’t show up on the QQ Chart this week but may be doing so very soon is Dutch-Moroccan DJ/producer R3HAB, who just signed to Tencent’s joint venture label with Sony, named Liquid State.
- The Hong-Kong based electronic-focused label must be excited to host the international artist’s content in the Chinese market, as he’s played at least five live shows on the mainland this year, the last three being in Shanghai, Harbin and Chengdu, according to Songkick data.
- R3HAB’s exposure on Spotify and YouTube has been mostly European, getting most of his streams from cities like Amsterdam, Oslo, Warsaw and Paris, but the electronic sound does indeed lend itself to a global audience, just like Liquid State “ambassador” Alan Walker can attest to.
- The British-Norwegian DJ has an almost 35% Instagram follower demographic from Asia, over 30% of them hailing from Indonesia and India alone and accounting for over 2M followers in those markets.
- So with Liquid State and Tencent now in his corner, it looks like R3HAB could very well start exhibiting Taylor Swift-like success there, because with over 83% of the Chinese music market controlled by Tencent, the promotional advantages will be plenty.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

Post Malone & Reggaeton Lead Track Longevity on Streaming Charts Sep 18, 2019

Highlights
- Streaming might favor frontline singles, but some tracks buck the trend. Looking at Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and Deezer’s Top 100 charts, we examine what tracks and artists are able to ride the wave of longevity.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, no “S.”
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, Sept. 18th, 2019.
Post Malone Leads Track Longevity on Streaming Charts
- When it comes to streaming, we’re trained to think immediacy and expendability, because, let’s face it, those are the kinds of qualities that characterize today’s digital singles-driven industry.
- On the streaming charts, however, things aren’t that simple, and some tracks can ride out their Top 100 position for more than a year.
- Pulling up Spotify’s Daily Global Chart on our charts tab, for example, we can scroll down a little to see chart summaries according to many different variables, including “By Time on Chart.”
- Within Spotify’s Top 100, Post Malone’s “Rockstar” might only be sporting a No. 81 spot, but it’s been on the chart for 508 days — that’s almost a year and a half.
- If we extend the Daily Global Chart to include the next 100 tracks, “Closer,” by the Chainsmokers and Halsey, might be in a precarious position at No. 199, but the track has enjoyed some 1,103 days on Spotify’s Top 200.
- To be clear, that’s three years.
- Toggling Apple’s Top 100, at No. 58, Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode” claims the top spot, in terms of time on chart, with 361 days, or just short of a year.
- Meanwhile, Amazon’s Top 100 features a four-way tie at 210 days.
  - At No. 20, it’s “High Hopes,” by Panic! At The Disco.
  - No. 41 is Bebe Rexha’s “Meant to Be (featuring Florida Georgia Line).”
  - No. 56 is “Youngblood” by 5 Seconds of Summer.
  - And No. 60 is “Better Now,” by, guess who? Post Malone.
- Interestingly, Deezer’s Top 100 has a six-way tie at 195 days.
  - At No. 10, it’s “Con Calma” by Daddy Yankee and Snow, while No. 19 is “Calma” by Pedro Capó and Farruko — ¾ of whom are Puerto Rican who all like to keep it cool.
  - No. 27 is once again Post Malone, but this time, with “Sunflower,” from the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack.
  - No. 66 is “Te Vi” by Piso 21 and Micro Tdh, No. 68 is “Adan Y Eva” by Paulo Londra, and No. 70 is “Giant” by Calvin Harris and Rag'n'Bone Man.
- So, while Amazon and Deezer’s track longevities might be a bit more evenly spread, they’re also significantly lower than the longest lasting tracks on Apple’s and Spotify’s charts.
- Another takeaway here is that Posty has managed to keep tracks from two separate releases, Beerbongs & Bentleys and the Spider-Man soundtrack,relevant — and that’s irrespective of his new album, Hollywood’s Bleeding, dominating the top of those same charts.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, Sept. 18th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- Happy Wednesday, and we’ll see you on Friday!

Apple vs. YouTube Music Video Velocity Sep 13, 2019

Highlights
- With a head-to-head comparison between the Apple Music Video and YouTube Music Video charts, we’ll expand your understanding of chart behavior through a chart velocity analysis.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, no “S.”
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, Sept. 13th, 2019.
Apple vs. YouTube Music Video Velocity
- Looking at Apple Music Video and YouTube Music Video charts, pure chart rank can tell us a lot — but not everything.
- And that’s where chart velocity comes in.
- Chart velocity measures a track’s — or in this case, a music video’s — behavior on a chart within a predetermined time period.
- For the Apple Music Video and YouTube Music Video charts, we track 7-Day Velocity, or how a given music video has performed on each chart in the last week — irrespective of its pure position.
- It could be No. 1, or it could be No. 150 — what we’re looking at here is time-constrained growth trends, which can expand our understanding about how contextual factors might be influencing those micro-trends.
- For Apple, Post Malone’s “Sunflower” leads with a Velocity of a bit more than three, even though its pure chart rank is No. 42.
- Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” is next up at two, even though its pure chart rank is No. 28.
- Both songs were released about a year ago, give or take, which makes sense if you consider that Apple isn’t a music video platform, so major hits just kind of linger.
- However, YouTube features the actual newest viral videos.
- And that’s probably why YouTube’s Velocity leaders are totally different, as is the correlation between their Velocity scores and their pure chart ranks.
- On YouTube, Polo G’s “Effortless” leads with a bit more than seven, in terms of Velocity rank.
- The music video is ranked 11th overall.
- At second is Tainy, Anuel AA, and Ozuna’s “Adicto,” which is ranked No. 6 overall with a 2.6 Velocity score.
- Here’s the interesting thing: Polo G’s music video has jumped some 50 spots, and “Adicto” had an 18 spot fluctuation.
- On Apple Music, the change was nine and 13 spots, respectively.
- Couple that with the fact that Apple’s top velocity music videos are near catalogue material and YouTube’s top velocity music videos are decidedly frontline, and you get a sense of what Velocity is measuring on each respective platform.
- Note, for instance, that songs from Post Malone’s new album, which was released just a week ago, are in every Top 10 spot on the Apple Music Daily Track chart.
- On YouTube, only two are — “Sunflower” and “Circles.”
- As such, on Apple, music videos can continue to climb the charts, irrespective of release date and according to new album marketing drivers.
- On YouTube, music videos climb the charts according to freshness and virality.
- Or so it seems.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, Sept. 13th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

Tool, Metal’s Growth, and the Future of the Album Sep 11, 2019

Highlights
- When was the last time you got your face melted with some heavy metal? Well, distributor TuneCore says it was probably during 2018 and American alt-metal group Tool says it’s right now on the Billboard 200 chart.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- Chartmetric’s social media handle is Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook- we’re always posting cool music tidbits for your knowledge! And here’s more.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019.
Tool, Metal’s Growth, and the Future of the Album
- Yesterday, digital distributor TuneCore released some Q1 2019 statistics stating that $83M USD was earned by its artists, bringing their total distribution revenue to over $1.5B all-time.
- However, one of its finer details caught the eye of some music outlets like Consequence of Sound: the Heavy metal genre sported a 154% increase in streams and downloads in 2018, outdoing the next four genres J-Pop at a 133%, R&B/Soul at 68% and K-Pop at 58%.
- While the 2018 data might feel a little outdated, how about this week of September 14th, when American alternative metal band Tool debuted in the #1 Billboard 200 album chart like they were a Billie Eilish / Drake super-group.
  - Tool’s new album “Fear Inoculum” breaks all of the pop and hip-hop’s rules, as it was 13 years in the making for the progressive metal act and according to Billboard:
    - “...a now-rare example of a No. 1 album without…” a concert redemption offer, pre-order promotion, or merchandise bundle.
  - Tool amazingly relegated Taylor Swift’s “Lover” album to the #2 slot on the Billboard chart, and the band is currently ranked 679th overall according to Chartmetric’s Cross-Platform Performance ranking as of yesterday.
  - Tool’s Neighboring Artists who are ranked similarly include Reggaeton artist Arcangel, Pop crooner Alec Benjamin and Rap duo Rae Sremmurd.
- Now given Tool’s smashing album success this week, you’d expect to see them similarly trouncing their fellow artists with similar music metrics.
  - However, the opposite is the case: Tool only wields 830K Spotify followers, while Rae Sremmurd has over 5.1M and Arcangel has over 3.8M.
  - Similarly, both artists also trounce Tool with regard to Spotify Monthly Listeners -- the rap and reggaeton stars are collecting almost 11M unique streamers on the Swedish platform while Tool only has half that.
- But that’s why it’s important to take into account more hits-driven artists vs. album-driven artists: Tool’s fans have long known they don’t go by industry rules and that’s part of why they love them.
  - Six of the new album’s ten tracks clock in over 10 minutes each and the packaged CD released with a 4-inch HD screen inside of it to play its visual arts-driven music videos to their fans that bought it.
- So while no single Tool songs are appearing on Apple Music or Amazon track charts, the album sits at No. 14 on Apple’s Album charts and leading their Rock one.
  - They also take No. 17 on Amazon’s Album charts and No. 1 on its Rock chart.
  - This breaks the normal correlation between each platform’s track and album charts...which just goes to show that Tool is doing things their way, in a big way.
- As most music markets continue to digitize away from the physical world, Tool is showing that while the album format still has its charms, they are likely also benefitting from a rising tide where metal fans are digitizing themselves.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Wednesday, and we’ll see you on Friday!

Data Predictions for the 2019 Country Music Association Awards Sep 06, 2019

Highlights
- Howdy! Today, we’re going Country, looking at the CMAs’ full list of nominations and making some educated guesses about who might win based on streaming and social data.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, no “S.”
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, Sept. 6th, 2019.
Data Predictions for the 2019 Country Music Association Awards
- Saddle up, because we’re heading to Nashville, figuratively speaking, to check out what’s going on with this year’s CMAs.
- Based on streaming and social data, can we make some educated guesses about who might win at this year’s ceremony?
- 12 categories comprise the full range of awards, including Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Musical Event of the Year, Music Video of the Year, and New Artist of the Year, among others.
- Maren Morris leads the pack with a total of six noms, and if we filter our “Artists” tab for the Country genre, Morris comes up at No. 3 in terms of Chartmetric rank, so she’s gotta at least win one, right?
- Her track “Girl,” which is nominated for Single of the Year, alongside Blake Shelton’s “God’s Country,” has a good shot.
- While neither are currently charting on Apple Music or Spotify, if we filter for genre on Amazon’s Track Charts, Shelton has the edge over Morris with a No. 5 rank compared to No. 12 for Morris.
- But Shelton’s Chartmetric rank is No. 7 compared to Morris’ No. 3, so this one’s going to be close — a real tossup, if data has anything to say about the matter.
- Overall, Morris also has some competition from Carrie Underwood, who is up for an impressive three awards.
- When it comes to Album of the Year, though, Morris leads with an 81 Spotify popularity score for her album “Girl,” compared to 65 for Underwood’s “Cry Pretty.”
- Morris’ closest competition in this category, if we’re going strictly by streaming performance? Thomas Rhett’s “Center Point Road” at 79.
- Looking at the Nashville “Cities” page, Rhett also has the seventh highest Spotify Monthly Listener count for the Tennessee capital where the CMAs will be held.
- And then there’s the category everyone’s wondering about: Musical Event of the Year.
- The category is interestingly described on the CMAs website as “a collaboration of two or more people either or all of whom are known primarily as a Country artist.”
- After being quietly stripped of his brief Country label by Billboard, Lil Nas X can at least find solace in the fact that his “Old Town Road” collab with Billy Ray Cyrus landed a Musical Event of the Year nom at this year’s CMAs.
- We probably don’t need to go back over how big of a viral sensation this surprise crossover hit was, so we’ll just say that, as far as Chartmetric rank goes, Lil Nas X is sitting at No. 32 out of all 1.7M+ artists that we track, and Billy Ray Cyrus is at No. 1 if we filter our “Artists” tab for the Country genre.
- So, even if “Old Town Road” doesn’t win the CMA award, I think we can all agree it really was the musical event of the year … so far.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, Sept. 6th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

Viral Artists on our newest A&R Tool: Not all Platforms Are Created Equal! Sep 04, 2019

Highlights
- Not all breaking artists are new artists, not all platforms have the same up and comers, and not a day more should pass until you check out all the viral talent we’re discovering on our new A&R tool.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- Chartmetric’s social media handle is Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019.
Breaking in Our Newly Updated A&R Dashboard
- Do you like discovering new music, but you want more than just a New Music Friday playlist? Do you like discovering new music, but you don’t necessarily want to be out 7 nights a week in the clubs either?
- Well, come check out the next version of Chartmetric’s A&R tool, now live on the platform.
- The newest, shiniest updates include:
  - Several windows of relative change….for example, there is now a 7-day, 30-day and 60-day absolute value and growth change %
  - For example, if I click on the Instagram Followers tab, Chartmetric scans over all the IG profiles we have in our 1.7M artist database, and as of yesterday, pulled out over 38K artists who showed remarkable growtih in that particular metric.
    - Feel-good, indiecoustica troubadour Andrew Simple comes out on top here, with a 1700% increase in his IG follower base to 8.8K, from 30 days ago.
  - “But what if I’m not into indiecoustica?” you may say, well here’s what else is really neat about this new A&R tool version:
    - We have established our own Chartmetric parent genre system, containing 20 major genres such as “Pop”, “Rock, Punk, Metal” and “Rap & Hip-Hop”.
    - And once you pick that, it goes even further with the sub-genre filter, which uses over 1.8K specific genres to really get to the type of sonics you want to discover, such as “Latin jazz” or “electro swing” or if you’re really looking for it, “symphonic black metal”.
    - If I narrow down to Rap & Hip-Hop, I get US rapper Gerald Walker as the #1, but if I apply the sub-genre “Alternative Hip-Hop”, I get Benny the Butcher as the #1 with a 21% increase himself in IG followers.
  - “What if I’m curious about Australian artists, and I value YouTube the most?”
    - That’s what our Artist Country filter is for, which contains virtually all the world’s countries, allowing you to surgically find artists according to the biographical data we have.
    - And then you simply click into “YouTube Channel Views”, and there you’ll have neo-psychedelic Aussie band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at #1 with a 28% increase in views in the past month.
- What’s a couple of cool things so far that we’ve discovered?
  - There’s not a lot of crossover between platforms, which can open up your mind on who is doing best on which platform...and this also provides a way to focus energy once an artist hits that “breaking” threshold: Where do they need to focus their attention next?
  - We’d also pay attention to the First Release and Last Release Columns, because a breaking artist doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a new artist.
    - For example, Fleetwood Mac’s YouTube channel saw an increase of 6.2M views in the last 30 days and 11.5M in the last 60 days, putting them in the 10th spot, as of Sept. 2.
    - Their first release was in the ‘60s.
    - If you’re in the catalog game, you’re in luck, but if you’re looking for the next big thing to sign, the first release column can help you move on to other artists quickly.
  - Much more to discover as we dig into the data ourselves, but for now, have at it and let us know what you think!

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Wednesday, and we’ll see you on Friday!

The Music Awards Effect: Bump or Bust? Aug 30, 2019

Highlights
- Don’t call it a comeback: This week, the VMAs wrapped and the CMAs dropped their noms, but do the ceremonies even matter to an artist’s bottom line? Let’s dive into Missy Elliott’s data and see.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, no “S.”
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, August 30th, 2019.
The Music Awards Effect: Bump or Bust?
- With the VMAs wrapping and the CMAs dropping their noms this week, the ceremonies grabbed a lot of headlines, but what exactly does that mean for artist success?
- Missy Elliott’s highly anticipated return and long overdue recognition with both an electrifying performance and also a gracious acceptance of MTV’s Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at Monday night’s VMAs should offer the perfect case study as we look forward to the 53rd Annual Country Music Association Awards in November.
- While she’s been workin’ it since the late ‘90s and even late ‘80s, Elliott’s Super Bowl halftime performance in 2015 had some youngsters thinking she was a new artist on the verge of blowing up.
- Those in the know had to flip it and reverse it on the younguns to let ‘em know about her four wins and 22 nominations at the Grammy Awards, her 30 million records sold in the U.S. and status as the best-selling female rapper in Nielsen Music history (as of 2017), and her history-making induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame this year — the first female rapper ever!
- With her surprise Iconology album release last week and this week’s VMA-driven visibility, do the data say comeback or consistency?
- It really depends what data sources we’re talking about.
- For an artist like Elliott, whose streaming numbers have consistently been on the incline since the beginning of the year, this awards ceremony doesn’t appear to have made much of a splash.
- Elliott’s daily Spotify follower change has generally hovered at around 700, bringing her from 922K on Jan. 1, 2019, to 1.1M on Aug. 29, 2019.
- Save for a minor dip in March, her Spotify popularity has generally been on the upswing from 76 on Jan. 1, 2019, to 79 on Aug. 29, 2019.
- The lowest it got was 73 — so not much variation at all.
- But the behavior of her social media growth tells another story.
- On Instagram, Twitter, and Wikipedia, we see a dramatic spike in followers and views — most significantly around her VMAs appearance.
- On Insta, from Thursday, Aug. 22, the date of her album release, to Monday, Aug. 26, her daily change in followers jumped from 2K to 15K.
- Following her VMAs appearance, however, that daily change spiked to almost 42K.
- There’s a similar pattern on Twitter, where Friday and Saturday gave her a 3K daily follower increase, up from low to mid hundreds, and following her VMAs appearance, she shot up to around 6K
- The music awards effect is perhaps the most pronounced when it comes to Elliott’s daily Wikipedia views, which have hovered between 2K and 5K since the start of the year.
- Last Thursday, on the day of her album drop, however, that number almost reached 33K.
- On Monday, the night of the VMAs? Almost 150K.
- So, at least with an artist as influential as Missy Elliott, a big music awards moment could lead to a big bump in social relevancy, even if that same artist might not see quite as much volatility in their streaming data.
- As we edge nearer to the CMAs, where Maren Morris and Lil Nas X are the big standouts this year, let’s see if the same trends follow suit.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, August 30th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

Know Thy Neighbor: Identifying Pusha T's Artist Neighbors Aug 28, 2019

Highlights
- Know thy neighbor, you may have been told, and to that us music data nerds would say, know thy artist neighbor...we’ll do so with rapper Pusha T through Chartmetric’s Neighboring Artists feature.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric”, that’s Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2019.
New Kids on the Block: Identifying Pusha T's Artist Neighbors
- Virginia Beach veteran rapper Pusha T, dropped a new song, “Sociopath,” on Monday.
  - The Kanye West-produced track featuring Kash Doll was leaked early, but Complex Magazine’s "Best Rapper Alive" of 2018 is still keeping it moving.
- As of yesterday, Pusha T’s Chartmetric rank was at 729th out of the 1.7M artists we track globally.
  - He has 8.2M SoundCloud followers, 140M total YouTube channel views and a Spotify Monthly Listener count at 3.8M.
- Now, if we break out Pusha T’s Artist Neighbors by his Chartmetric rank alone...
  - To the north, we’ve got
    - Singer-songwriter god Sara Bareilles ranked 728th, and Irish indie band Two Door Cinema Club in 725th place.
  - To the south of Push, there’s
    - American pop rockers Cage the Elephant ranked 731st and Australian rockers The Vines in 732nd place.
- Would Push ever do a cross-genre track with these acts who are at similar popularity levels in the digital world?
  - It wouldn’t be his first: his guest verse on Justin Timberlake’s 2002 solo album debut “Like I Love You” or 2017 guest on Linkin Park’s “Good Goodbye” with grime rapper Stormzy have both accumulated tens of millions of spins on Spotify alone.
- But if we filter by genre cluster-which through Chartmetric’s data science magic we find to be rap, trap music, pop, pop rap, southern hip hop-Pusha T’s Artist Neighbors now turn into:
  - Brooklyn’s Desiigner at 623rd place and Atlanta’s Playboi Carti at 591st place above Push.
  - And below, is Toronto’s PARTYNEXTDOOR at 859 and Diddy himself at 889.
  - So if Push were looking for a more similar sound in vein to plan a tour with or collab with, he could easily generate some creative ideas this way.
- Our data science skills are growing strong with the Force back at Chartmetric HQ, so be sure to keep an eye out for more super-cool and hopefully super-useful features to come.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Wednesday, and we’ll see you on Friday!

Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover’, Celso Piña’s Passing, and Monsta X’s Big Win Aug 23, 2019

Highlights
- Follow us around the world as we examine T. Swift’s album drop, remember a Mexican cumbia legend, and recognize Korea’s finest through the market coverage lens.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, no “S.”
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, August 23rd, 2019.
Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover’, Celso Piña’s Passing, and Monsta X’s Big Win
- We’re going around the world today, covering T. Swift’s fresh album drop, the late Mexican cumbia legend Celso Piña, and Monsta X’s multiple wins at the SOBA Awards.
- Taylor Swift’s “Lover”
  - Leading up to the highly anticipated album release, Swift’s Chartmetric rank is holding strong at No. 3 and and her Spotify Popularity Index is at 93 out of 100.
  - Her “Lover” lyric video is No. 3 on top YouTube playlist Popular Music Videos but, interestingly, not on TikTok’s Top 200 Tracks at all.
  - Still, #LoverTOMORROW was trending on Twitter on Thursday, and Swift made headlines with her upcoming CBS Sunday Morning interview, where she reportedly claims that she’ll be re-recording her entire catalog -- you know the one that Scooter Braun and Ithaca Holdings now hold rights to.
  - Talk about a metadata nightmare.
  - But I digress, scrolling down to the charts section of T. Swift’s profile on Chartmetric
    - “You Need to Calm Down,” which was released on June 14, has been performing best on Amazon, Shazam, and Deezer charts.
    - “The Archer,” which was released on July 23, is, comparatively speaking, not doing well across platforms, and it’s slowly sinking on the charts, in fact.
    - “Lover,” released Aug. 16, is on the rise on Shazam, and it generally scores somewhere between the other two singles on the charts.
  - An interesting way to track her regional success -- especially now that her album is hot off of the press -- is to look at top countries and cities by market coverage.
  - In other words, the ratio of listeners or views an artist has reached over the maximum available listeners in the region.
    - For Spotify cities by monthly listeners, for instance, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Bangkok, Arlington (TX), and Minneapolis are Swift’s current top cities by market coverage, giving her plenty of saturation in Southeast Asia.
    - For YouTube Views by country, Northern Mariana Islands, Canada, Myanmar, Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden rule, truly marking her international status.
    - And for YouTube views by cities, Sugar Land (TX), Quincy (MA), San Ramon (CA), Alexandria (VA), Brighton (NY), and San Marcos (CA) are all definitively American cities winning out here.
- Celso Piña’s Passing
  - Now, heading South a bit, we change gears for some tragic news: Mexican Cumbia legend Celso Piña died of a heart attack on Thursday. He was 66.
  - According to the Los Angeles Times, “Piña was a pioneer, known for his fusion of cumbia and tropical sounds as a base, combining them with all kinds of popular genres from the north, to sonidero, ska, reggae, rap, hip-hop, among others.”
  - He first came to prominence in Monterrey, Mexico, and went on to snag Grammy Award nominations in the Best Contemporary Tropical Album and Best Alternative Artist categories in 2002.
  - His last solo studio album, “Sin Fecha de Caducidad,” is a decade old now, but he still maintains almost a million monthly Spotify listeners.
  - His top cities by market coverage on Spotify and YouTube are pretty exclusively Mexican, and his top countries are largely Latin American, but the USA does pull the No. 2 spot when it comes to market coverage for YouTube views by country.
  - We’ll continue to keep the memory and the music alive, Chief of the Bell. Rest in peace.
- Monsta X’s Big Win
  - Spinning the globe again, we land in South Korea, where Day 1 of the Soribada Best K-Music Awards, aka the SOBA Awards, wrapped on Thursday.
  - Based on data from Korean peer-to-peer file sharing service Soribada, the ceremony recognizes some of the top Korean performers.
  - This year, hip-hop boy band Monsta X were standout stars, winning Best Artist of the Year and the Soribada New Wave Award and trending on Twitter as a result.
  - It was perfect timing for their Aug. 21 album release, Phenomenon.
  - Similar to Piña’s hometown market coverage data bias, Monsta X’s Spotify monthly listeners and YouTube views by cities are largely East or Southeast Asian -- especially Korean, naturally.
  - With YouTube views by country, however, Sweden takes No. 2, Germany No. 4, Bulgaria No. 5, and Estonia No. 6.
  - Looks like Monsta X might be able to add a few stops to their upcoming world tour?
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, August 23rd, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

Unpacking Shazam's New Discovery Top 50 Playlist on Apple Music Aug 22, 2019

Highlights
- What better A&R team to have then over 150M smartphones Shazaming every month around the globe? Let’s check out new Apple Music’s Shazam-powered Discovery Top 50 chart/playlist.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric”, that’s Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019.
Unpacking Shazam's New Discovery Top 50 Playlist
- This week on Variety, Apple Music made some superhero-sized news with the reveal of its Shazam-powered Discovery Top 50 playlist, which aims to spot “emerging and up-and-coming” artists based on data from 11 countries.
- According to Music Ally, the global chart is based on Shazam data from the US, UK, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Russia for now, and is a way for Apple to spot and deliver trends worldwide.
- Apple bought Shazam in September 2018 for an estimated $400 million, and this is likely one of many cross-app data integrations to come.
- Shazam Discovery Top 50 updates every Tuesday, and appears to be exclusive to frontline material, though they’re not all necessarily new releases.
- Clicking through to the playlist profile on Chartmetric, we can see that seven of the 50 tracks, were released in 2018, and five of those were released more than a year ago.
- For example, American Lucy Dacus’ anti-Americana track “Yours & Mine” currently sits in the No. 13 spot. But after Sept. 2, it will pass the 18-month catalog date, which is the industry’s traditional rule of thumb.
- A few weeks after that, Dutch producer Mason’s itchy-footed track “Dance, Shake, Move,” currently at No. 34, will join her.
- Interestingly, there also appears to be some genre and geographic method to the madness.
- Unlike Apple’s other top playlists, EDM rules at 11 percent of the Shazam playlist’s genre distribution, Progressive House follows at 8 percent, and House at almost 3 percent, giving the larger Electronic & Dance genre almost a quarter of the market share this week.
- The next biggest segment is all Latin, including Pagode, Música Popular Brasileira, Samba, Forro, and Reggaeton-each with nearly 6 percent of the distribution-and Bossanova following at almost 3 percent.
- With the exception of the Puerto Rican-originated reggaeton sound, these genres are all Brazil-based.
- Considering that next to the US’ 30 percent artist country distribution on the playlist, Brazil comes in second with 15 percent and Puerto Rico comes in third with 11 percent, there’s clearly a geographical alignment with the types of music presented.
- Going another level deeper into the tracks themselves, we can expose more of why some of these songs are popping up on the Discovery Top 50 radar.
- For example, Kosovo-based DJ Regard appears in the No. 4 position in the Shazam-fed chart, but his EDM track “Ride It” also happens to be trending on TikTok.
- It was 40th yesterday on the TikTok Top Tracks chart with 1.9M TikToks using the track, many times the users simply doing a fun dance or showing lists of why they’re single, different, or annoyed with something.
- While the Shazam Discovery Top 50 playlist is only currently pulling from 11 countries, it will be interesting to see if EDM and Latin music continues to outnumber Pop and Hip-Hop tracks as the playlist’s country inputs increase.
- So if you feel like benefiting from 20 million Shazams a day, 1 billion app downloads, and users in 190 countries, check out Apple’s freshest playlist and welcome your newest addition to your A&R team.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Thursday, and we’ll see you tomorrow!

The Top YouTube Playlists to Land On Aug 16, 2019

Highlights
- YouTube’s global importance is no secret, but monitoring its playlist performance hasn’t always been easy. Using our new YouTube Playlists chart, you can finally track which lists are getting the most play!
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric” — that’s Chartmetric, no “S.”
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, August 16th, 2019.
The Top YouTube Playlists to Land On
- If you’re tracking YouTube playlists as part of your daily routine, or if you want to start thinking about a digital strategy for the platform, then you’re in luck.
- Thanks to our brand new feature, you can check the rankings of more than 500 YouTube-curated playlists, sorting by total playlist views, number of videos, 28-day add ratio and last update date.
- Then, you can click through to see who's charting on the world's biggest video streaming platform.
- As it stands now, YouTube’s Popular Music Videos playlist is far and away the top performer with more than 1B total views, 200 tracks, and a 99 percent 28-day add ratio.
- It’s heavily weighted with Pop, Hip-Hop, and Rap artists from the USA — think Ariana Grande, Chris Brown, and Rick Ross — but R&B, Latin, and Reggaeton aren’t too far behind.
- In the No. 2 spot is the 72-track Pop Hotlist playlist, which has about a third of the views and half of the 28-day add ratio of the Popular Music Videos playlist.
- Katy Perry, OneRepublic, and Puerto Rican rapper Anuel AA rule this one — as does the USA, once again.
- YouTube has a number of genre-specific Hotlists, actually, including the Latin Hotlist at No. 4, the Hip-Hop and R&B Hotlist at No. 5, the Country Hotlist at No. 6, and the Regional Mexican Hotlist at No. 7.
- The No. 3 spot, however, goes to New Music This Week, which has a bit more than 300M views and a 100 percent 28-day add ratio.
- While Pop holds about a third of the market share on it, with R&B and Rap tied for second at a bit less than a tenth, Country rounds out third, tying with Hip-Hop and Metropopolis.
- USA dominates the playlist again, holding almost ¾ of the artist country market share.
- With such a global platform, you might expect to see less American representation and more international representation, but keep in mind, these market shares describe artist-track distribution on the playlists and not listener geography.
- So, Americans might be pumping out the majority of the content that’s landing on these playlists, but the global community is likely forcing it to the top.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, August 16th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

Music on TikTok Top Tracks and Trending Videos Aug 15, 2019

Highlights
- TikTok is the new game, but it’s already the 2nd quarter. Let’s dive into one of our newest features, TikTok Top Track and Trending Videos charts.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric”, that’s Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday, August 15th, 2019.
TikTok Top Tracks and Trending Videos
- If you are involved in music marketing at all, or you have a Gen Z-er in your life, you know about TikTok.
- Owned by Beijing-based Internet company ByteDance, TikTok is arguably the newest place to be when it comes to music discovery, and it’s hard not to be when you take over the giant lip-sync app that was Musical.ly.
- Earlier this year, ByteDance hit over 1B downloads across their suite of apps, 100M of them in the US and 250M of them in India, according to CNN.
- Some of its biggest stars are just regular people: teens dancing, moms decorating cookies, people playing practical jokes on each other….but it’s all frequently set to music.
- So who’s winning that never-ending game for eyes and ears on TikTok?
- As of yesterday, the top track used was none other than Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’s “Old Town Road (remix)”, with 9.3M videos using the now record-breaking track.
- One thing to note about TikTok as a music platform is that-at least in its current state-it’s not the neatest from a metadata perspective. It’s more about the users’ creativity.
- As users are free to record and upload video and audio like YouTube, songs can be uploaded with no identifying song name or artist to keep track.
- Or in Lil Nas X’s case, duplicates. There were two original track copies of “Old Town Road” in the 28th and 34th positions on the top tracks chart yesterday, with 2.3 and 2M videos respectively. So if you include remixes, the track is definitely the top one on the Chinese platform with over 13.6M TikTok videos with the yeehaw anthem.
- And while there is a Trending Video chart, where Mariah Carey’s 2009 track “Obsessed” is currently the soundtrack for the #1 and #2 videos, you don’t have to go to the trending chart to find non-Top 40 tracks.
- For example, Why Mona’s 2017 moody electronic cover of the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” took the #2 spot yesterday with 9.2M videos, due to its viral dance that many users uploaded the song with.
- In 4th place with 7.6M videos is Sean Kingston’s 2007 track “Beautiful Girls”, where lots of TikTok-ers are do a cute hand dance or some Fortnite moves.
- Or in 135th place with 791K videos is none other than ABBA, with their 1986 track “Gimme! Gimme! Gimmie!”, because it has a nice “reveal” type of drop into its chorus. Users like to provide some kind of visual surprise or fun moment when it hits.
- So if you’ve got a catalog track ripe for memes, let her rip, because the world awaits its next hashtag!

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday, August 15th, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Our new TikTok Top Tracks and Trending Video charts are now live, check them out with a free account at chartmetric.com
Article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Thursday, we’ll see you tomorrow!

When Streaming Gets Political, Who Gets the Vote? Aug 09, 2019

Highlights
- We do our best to stay out of the political fray, but with the Democratic debates wrapping last week, we look at the candidates’ streaming profiles to get a sense of not only who they’re listening to — but who is listening to them.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric”, that’s Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, August 9th, 2019.
When Streaming Gets Political, Who Gets the Vote?
- Think profiles and playlists are only for artists? Think again.
- We do our best to stay out of politics, but with the debates wrapping last week, why not look at the candidates’ streaming profiles to get a sense of not only who they’re listening to — but who is listening to them ... and how?
- Since no one is vying for the Republican nomination, with Trump seeking a second term, we’ll look at six of the Democratic candidates: Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Andrew Yang, Beto O’Rourke, Joe Biden, and Marianne Williamson.
- Booker’s Cory Booker’s Music playlist might only have around 150 followers, but what it lacks in popularity it makes up for in track popularity, with almost half of its 101 tracks at a popularity score of 60 or above.
- At around 180 followers, Biden’s streaming profile has about the same count as Booker’s playlist — but only 22 monthly listeners.
- Harris’ Kamala’s Summer Playlist ups the ante with more than 4,000 followers tuning into her heavily rap, hip-hop, soul, and funk oriented 46-song listing.
- O’Rourke’s BBQ for Beto has some 500 followers listening to his 94-song playlist, which ranges in genre from folk to classic rock and country to hardcore punk.
- Keep in mind, O-Rourke used to play in punk bands, so he definitely knows what’s up in that regard.
- As might be expected, Williamson’s streaming profile is heavily geared toward meditation, prayer, and motivational speeches — and it’s paying off.
- Williamson’s follower count is almost 1,800 with a Spotify monthly listener count of around 1,200, helping to make her listeners to followers ratio about 1 to 1.
- Perhaps most interesting, and maybe most unsurprising, is that her daily Wikipedia views shot up from some 12,000 to some 350,000 following the debate, correlating strongly with a daily change in her Instagram followers from around 600 to around 11,000 on Aug. 1.
- Yang’s Favorite Jams playlist leaves the others in the dust with more than 5,000 followers — despite it being primarily catalogue based.
- Oh, and in case you didn’t know, Yang appears to really enjoy Florence & the Machine and the Cure.
- Streaming performance might not be an indication of political performance, but it does give us some insight into who these candidates are looking to win over — or at least how good their music taste is.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, August 9th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
Article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

Katy Perry, Flame and the Effects of Publicity Aug 07, 2019

Highlights
- What happens when a global artist gets sued by another for copyright infringement? Not much for the former, but a notable increase for the latter...we’re talking about music data by the way, not legal damage payments.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric”, that’s Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, August 7th, 2019.
Katy Perry, Flame and the Effects of Publicity
- We’ve all seen industry gossip and trade news before...but have you ever used it to measure the impact of publicity?
- For the past week, both general and industry news sources have been reporting on the lawsuit of American rap artist Flame and the alleged copyright infringement of Katy Perry and team on her widespread 2013 hit, “Dark Horse”.
- Though debate still rages in the industry on whether it was valid in the eyes of copyright law, the jury itself decided it was indeed infringement, and ordered the American pop star and songwriting team to pay $2.78M in collective damages to the defendant.
- From a data perspective, what’s interesting is how this kind of news affects their digital profiles.
- For example, looking at the past week of social and streaming data for Katy Perry since news of the lawsuit first broke around July 30th, there was….basically no effect.
- No extra playlists or apparent correlation to Instagram follower count or Spotify monthly listeners….just more Katy Perry-level numbers, which is more than 7K new daily Spotify followers, 13M more daily YouTube views and 21K new daily IG followers….all in a day’s work.
- But for a lesser known artist like the Christian rapper Flame, he did experience a notable increase in digital profile.
- As of late, Flame in comparison had only gained about 67 new daily Spotify followers and 184 new YouTube daily views….and actually did score a few new charts.
- For example, “Joyful Noise”, which was the 2009 Flame track that was allegedly knowingly copied from by the Perry team, charted on official Viral 50 Spotify daily charts for the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada.
- It was for one day on August 2nd, a few days after the news had been able to make the news rounds in places like the Guardian, Rolling Stone, the BBC and Associated Press, and the track itself sat in the 13th, 15th and 24th respective positions on the 50-track viral charts.
- Its YouTube video went from 1800 daily views on Monday July 30th to more than 580 times that, peaking on July 31st at over 1M daily views….even the track’s Genius page, which only had less than 10 daily views the week prior, jumped to 740 the week of the proceedings.
- More than the track itself, Flame’s general artist profile gained 331 Spotify followers on July 31st, almost 5x his recent daily average, and his Spotify monthly listener count as of Monday August 5th has more than doubled in size to over 500K from his count only a week prior.
- He experienced similar multiples of increase in Twitter followers, retweets and Wikipedia views.
- So what does this mean for the rest of us? Possibly, a way to measure the effects of publicity….it’s virtually impossible to do so on a global superstar, but with an artist with a relatively little daily digital footprint, we can see which platforms are most affected by such news on certain given sources...and maybe be able to plan for future publicity expectations when working with your own artists.
- Because as they say in the show biz, “Any publicity is good publicity.”

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, August 7th, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are available at chartmetric.com
Article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Wednesday, see you on Friday!

How 2019’s Playlist Growth Might Affect Emerging Artists Aug 02, 2019

Highlights
- Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer’s biggest playlists are growing — both in terms of follower count and also track count — but what does that mean for artists looking to land a big add?
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric”, that’s Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Feature: Labels Page
- Hey Rutger, it’s Jason — sorry to interrupt, but can I just do a quick product update?
- Of course, what’s up?
- Thanks, man. Hi Chartmetric fans, you may or may not have gotten a chance to check out the new Labels Page feature that we discussed in the last podcast episode this week.
- We’ve temporarily pulled the feature back from its soft release because we just don’t think it’s up to the music analytics standard we strive for.
- If you’ve been with us for some time, you’ve seen how dedicated we are to innovating and as we say in the tech world, sometimes “breaking things”.
- Well, we’ve gotten a lot of your feedback and realize that we jumped the gun a bit early and we need to better clean, organize and visualize the label metadata that we have, which is what we do best.
- So we recognize the issue, and we are working swiftly to bring the Labels Page back with verve and more importantly, accuracy!
- Back to our regularly scheduled program, take it away, Rutger!
- Thanks, Jason!
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, August 2nd, 2019.
How 2019’s Playlist Growth Might Affect Emerging Artists
- These days, getting onto streaming’s top playlists is sort of the name of the game.
- It really determines the visibility of emerging artists and cements the longevity of established ones.
- So, it got us wondering…. What’s been going on on the top playlists in 2019?
- Hitting the Playlists tab on the Chartmetric homepage brings up tons of playlist information for Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and Amazon.
- From there, we can compare everything going on when it comes to the playlists claiming the top spots across a number of different measurements.
- On Spotify, Today’s Top Hits maintains the highest follow number, starting the year off with 22.3M and hitting 23.6M by the end of June.
- That’s 5.8 percent increase for that six month period.
- On Deezer, Les Titres Du Moment claims the top follower spot, and over the same period, experienced only about 1 percent growth from 9.8M followers to 9.9M followers.
- Digging in a bit deeper, we can also compare playlist length, aka number of tracks.
- For that six month period, for example, Spotify’s Hot Country playlist grew 31.4 percent in length, while Apple Music’s The A-List: Pop playlist grew the same amount.
- But those aren’t the highest numbers.
- Spotify’s EDM-focused Mint playlist grew 35.8 percent, and Apple’s Hip-Hop-oriented Gymflow playlist grew 66.7 percent.
- Overall, Apple added more tracks to its top playlists than Spotify did — about 11 percent vs. 23 percent, to be exact.
- The growth of these playlists, both in terms of follower count and also track count, means a higher chance of an emerging artist landing on one of them and a significant increase in visibility if they do.
- However, it also makes it more likely that they get lost in the noise, making it hard to capitalize on an otherwise super exciting add.
- Knowing the genre breakdown of tracks and also the country distribution of artists can help, but we’ll have to save that for another episode.
- You can also tell us what you find by doing your own digging at chartmetric.com!

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, August 2nd, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
Article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
And if you like what we’re doing, don’t forget to leave us a rating or review!
Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

New Feature: Labels Page Jul 31, 2019

Highlights
- Are you a manager looking for a quick summary of a record label you’re talking to? Maybe you want to compare the label you work for with a competitor? We’ve got a solution for you in our new Labels Page!
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric”, that’s Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, July 31st, 2019.
New Feature: Labels Page
- Debuting this week is a new feature simply called the Labels Page! We’re still putting tweaks on how we’re visualizing and organizing the data, but we’re hoping you can get a good idea of what certain imprints have been up to lately.
- First and foremost, it isn’t an exhaustive list of labels in our entire database, because that would equal long load times.
  - So we try to focus on more active labels with better known tracks.
  - Specifically, this translates to labels that have released at least one track on Spotify with a Popularity Index of 40 or higher, in the past three years.
  - The Labels List defaults to the highest number of such popular releases in the past 3 years...
    - ...with Sony Music Entertainment having the most with 747 as of today, Columbia Records in 2nd with 711 and then RCA Records in 3rd place with 432.
    - So notice that we are currently displaying both parent group labels as well as label imprints alongside each other, since this is how we receive tracks’ metadata, but we’ll keep optimizing this down the road.
- Once you click on various labels, we display their artists who’ve released in the past 60 days, along with releases in the past three years and even each label’s social media followers over time!
  - For example, you can check out that Sony Music Latin’s top performer in the past 60 days is CNCO, the Latin boy band that we blogged about back in December 2017 (link in the show notes).
  - CNCO is at a 78 Spotify Popularity Index, with an impressive 5.7M followers on the platform and 9.3M monthly listeners.
  - Their latest release on the label was “De Cero” a little over a month ago on June 23rd, which is also on 43 Apple Music playlists, 25 Amazon Music playlists and 18 Deezer ones...which you can see quickly here in one page.
- You will also be able to get quick personalities of labels via their release numbers…
  - ...for example, Armada Music, as an electronic label, doesn’t have many releases that got over 60 on the Spotify Popularity Index in the past three years, as electronic as a genre has never been the strongest type of music on Spotify (which we also blogged about in Jan 2018, link in show notes).
  - However, Armada has released 810 tracks in the past three years that we’re tracking, while similarly electronic genre labels do a similar pace like Monstercat at 785 and Ultra at 767.
  - You can compare this with the 442 that 300 Entertainment has put out in the same time period, which is still a fast pace at over 12 releases per month...to be expected for a rap label in a genre that is well-known for constantly dropping new music.
- Get to know foreign labels like India’s T-Series or Brazil’s Som Livre via our Labels feature as well...we’ll surely include more label analysis down the road, but for now, check it out yourself with a free account at chartmetric.com

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, July 31st, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Wednesday, see you on Friday!

Odd Subgenres Gaining Ground on Streaming’s Top Playlists Jul 26, 2019

Highlights
- What’s in a name? For the subgenre game on Spotify, Apple, Deezer, and Amazon’s top playlists … a lot.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric”, that’s Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, July 26th, 2019.
Odd Subgenres Gaining Ground on Streaming’s Top Playlists
- Ever heard of Brostep, Lilith, Etherpop, Crunk, Redneck, Metropopolis, or Pagode?
- No? Well, chances are, you’ve listened to examples of some of these subgenres, because they now comprise a small but significant portion of the top playlists on Spotify, Apple, Deezer, and Amazon.
- Thanks to the new subgenre feature on our Artists tab, where we've categorized the more than 7,000 Spotify genre tags into a handful of parent genres, finding artists that fit these niche descriptors is easy.
- Just select the main genre and then scroll through the subgenres to filter to your heart’s content.
- If we apply this taxonomy to Spotify’s Hot Country playlist, which boasts around 5.5M followers, Redneck and Brostep account for 5.7 and 2.9 percent of that playlist’s track distribution when it comes to genre market share.
- What exactly do those subgenres sound like? Well, let’s just say that Redneck is REALLY country and Brostep is in-your-face Dubstep.
- On Get Turnt, which also has around 5.5M followers, Crunk has 1.6 percent of the playlist’s genre makeup.
- The Subgenre is also featured on Apple Music’s Rap Life, #OnRepeat, It’s Lit!!!, and Gymflow playlists, and on Amazon’s Rap Rotation playlist, finding its low at 0.8 percent and its high at 2.9 percent.
- Crunk actually emerged as a subgenre of Hip-Hop during the ‘90s in the American South.
- Crank it up.
- Deezer’s Brand New UK and Neue Hits playlists, meanwhile, feature something called Metropopolis, which is apparently a neologism of Spotify’s and includes artists like Charli XCX, Bleachers, and St. Vincent.
- That portmanteau — think urban pop — sits at 5.6 percent on Brand New UK (tied with House) and at 5.1 percent on Neue Hits (tied with Rap).
- Apple’s The A-List: Pop playlist and Amazon’s Pop Hits playlist share a subgenre called Etherpop, which sounds pretty self-explanatory as a combination of ethereal and pop.
- It wins out on Amazon, where it has 2.9 percent share of the playlist (tied with Emo and R&B) vs. 1.2 on Apple, where it’s tied with Rap, House, K-Pop, and yup, Metropopolis.
- And that brings us to two subgenres exclusive to Deezer and Amazon’s top playlists, respectively.
- On Deezer, the Pagode subgenre is seeing success on its Top Brazil and Explosão Brasil playlists, which makes total sense, considering it’s a form of Samba.
- Brazilians love it, too, as it dominates Explosão Brasil with a 20.8 percent share and comes in third on Top Brazil with 13.3 percent.
- Lilith, which claims 2.1 percent on Amazon’s Fresh Country and 5.8 percent on Amazon’s I Miss the ‘90s, seems to also be a geo-specific subgenre, with its roots in the Canadian-American traveling music festival, Lilith Fair, which featured an inspiring number of female-fronted folk and rock acts in the ‘90s.
- If you’re curious about what artists might fall into each of these subgenres — Brostep to Lilith, Etherpop to Crunk, Redneck to Metropopolis, or Pagode to … C86? — you’re in luck with our subgenre filter. Nerd out for free with a Chartmetric account!

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, July 26th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

Data Predictions for the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) Jul 24, 2019

Highlights
- The MTV Video Music Awards are back for 2019 and the ballots are open! We’ll take a look at who’s up for what and from a data perspective, who might win!
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric”, that’s Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, July 24th, 2019.
VMAs
- The 2019 MTV Video Music Awards take place in New Jersey’s Prudential Center on Aug 26th.
- Started in 1984, the 36th installment of the annual ceremony will continue to draw together the music industry’s brightest stars, and their biggest fans, to celebrate the music video medium.
- Voting for performer categories have been open to the public since 2006, and for 2019, the virtual ballots will be open until Aug. 15.
- Looking at the artists with the most nominations, the data is very clear that the ceremony is about the biggest stars today:
  - Coming out with 10 nominations each are Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish with 9 and Lil Nas X with 8. This is for the performer categories, of which there are 14, while professional category voting (such as Best Art Direction) are closed off to qualified personnel.
  - All four of these artists have Spotify Popularity Indices higher than 92, Monthly Listener counts above 39M, and Chartmetric rankings of 20 or above.
  - Interestingly, their YouTube subscriber counts vary widely, with Grande and Swift with 36M and 34M each, Eilish at 16M and Lil Nas X around 4.5M.
  - Since subscriber count on YouTube reflects a long-term public interest in an artist, and to a certain degree, the seniority of any creator, it says something about how MTV nominates its artists, which seems to be a closed process.
  - By nominating Grande and Swift the most, who have both been active since 2008 and 2004 respectively, it’s nodding to the more veteran players in the industry.
  - But with Eilish and Lil Nas X, who have been active only since 2015 and 2018, it understandably shows the awards to also be a measurement who’s hot now.
- But who will win what? What are your predictions, Chartmetric?
  - Well, we can’t say for sure, but what we can do is pretend certain metrics are the best predictors for each category.
  - For example, if Video of the Year came down to straight YouTube views, Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Old Town Road (Remix)” would leave everyone else in the dust at 551M views, several steps ahead of the #2 runner up, which would be Eilish’s “bad guy” at 406M.
  - If Song of the Year came down to Spotify Monthly Listeners, then it’d be (surprise, surprise) Lil Nas X again at 48M and then Drake as runner-up with 45M.
  - Finally, if Artist of the Year came down to Chartmetric’s Cross-Platform Performance ranking, then the winner would be Shawn Mendes, who’s ranked #3 in our systems, with Ariana coming in 2nd in the MTV category with an 11th Chartmetric CPP ranking.
- But who knows which artists the people will vote for next month, we’ll just have to tune in and see!

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, July 24th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Wednesday, and we’ll see you Friday!

What Follower Counts Say About Social and Streaming Trends Jul 19, 2019

Highlights
- Is there any relation between follower counts on streaming services and follower counts on social media? Here’s a sneak peek at the trends we’re tracking for some of the biggest artists in the world.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- Don’t forget to reach out to us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, July 19th, 2019.
What Follower Counts Say About Social and Streaming Trends
- In the old days, customers became fans if they not only bought CDs but also concert tickets — consistently and repeatedly.
- In the digital era, the live space is still important, but streaming platform followers and social media followers are the new metrics for measuring fandom.
- But does streaming popularity correlate with social media popularity?
- Is it consistent across the board, or does each streaming platform relate differently to each social platform?
- To test out these queries, we pulled follower data for artists topping the charts from January through June, and then determined the correlation coefficients for Spotify and Instagram, Spotify and Twitter, and Spotify and Facebook, repeating this process for YouTube, SoundCloud, and Deezer.
- What panned out from all of our calculations and pretty charts?
- For the whole story, you’ll have to stay tuned for something special we have in the works for the near future.
- In the meantime, here’s a teaser: One thing that pops out immediately is how poorly Facebook is correlated with streaming services across the board.
- If we take the average correlation across eight of the top artists for the past six months, Facebook turns up negligible negative correlation coefficients for Spotify and YouTube and negligible positive correlation coefficients for SoundCloud and Deezer.
- Instagram, on the other hand, turns up near one-to-one correlations with Spotify and YouTube.
- Twitter correlates pretty well with each streaming service — but nowhere near the Instagram correlation.
- In the words of our resident Data Scientist Josh Hayes, “Seems like many of the platforms are moving in similar directions together … except for Facebook.”
- While Facebook owns both platforms, it’s apparent, at least for the top performing artists, that Facebook Fan growth has either stopped, declined, or failed to keep pace with follower growth on four streaming services.
- Naturally, the story gets a bit more complicated as we begin to look at trends for particular artists, genres, and more, but hang in there — the full story is coming soon!
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, July 19th 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

Latin America "Trigger" Cities Jul 17, 2019

Highlights
- In Part 3 of the music "trigger cities" mini-series, we explore the music tastes of Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janiero, Bogotá, Lima and Santiago.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric”, that’s Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, July 17th, 2019.
Latin America "Trigger" Cities
- In case you missed them, we have been working on a written mini-series called “trigger cities”, it’s a concept that Chartmetric’s Partner and Advisor, Chaz Jenkins, an international marketing guru coined many years ago.
- It’s the idea that in the streaming environment, our algorithms on YouTube, Spotify and all platforms are connected with the tastes of huge cities around the world who also love the same apps.
- Lauv, the uber-successful independent artist first saw playlist success with his 2017 hit “I Like Me Better” in Southeast Asia! Lauv...is not Asian, but SE Asians adore great pop love songs.
- Reggaeton from the likes of huge superstars like Colombia’s J Balvin and Puerto Rico’s Bad Bunny are now on top playlists like Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits, a primarily English-language playlist...but their come-up was based on Latin American listeners supporting them more than any other region.
- So in the interest of knowing what the local markets are like, we wrote about seven different metropolitan areas in Latin America: Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janiero, Bogotá, Lima and Santiago.
- Five speak Spanish, two speak Brazilian Portuguese, and all love the YouTube.
- It’s a known fact that Latin America turns to the Google platform more than anything else to listen to music, and the numbers are quite impressive:
  - Bogotá, despite having less than half (10.7M) of Mexico City’s population, took the #1 spot in YouTube views in one week last month with 26.5M views across 1.6M+ artists. The Mexican capital, however, was not far behind with 24.8M, and the two cities seem to be leading YouTube’s consumption in the region, with Lima a distant #3 with 17.1M views.
- On Spotify, Mexico City-as Spotify’s proclaimed “World’s Music-Streaming Mecca”-took the top spot in the same week with 2.3B non-unique monthly listeners (and this is admittedly odd metric, check the show notes for a link to the explanation), far outstripping Santiago in the #2 spot with 1.5B non-unique monthly listeners (MLs).
- When it comes to genres, we compiled genre tags on Shazam chart occurrences in these seven cities and found what sounds each city was most curious about when they flipped out their phones.
  - “Urbano latino”-which is primarily reggaeton and Latin trap and the most popular in Santiago, Lima and Bogotá-didn’t show up at all in Brazil, with Brazilian-native genres such as “Sertanejo” (Brazilian country music) asserting their unique identity in the region, with Pop/Rock/Dance all showing strongly in the past month for both cities.
    - This is contrary to the idea that all of Latin America loves reggaeton...just not true.
- On Instagram, who do you think are the ten most followed artists in the region?
  - Well there’s Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Beyoncé…
  - ...there’s also Maluma and Daddy Yankee...
  - But do you know pop queen Anitta, local icon Ivete Sangalo, comedian-entertainer Whindersson Nunes or the Beyoncé-inspired Ludmilla? They’re all Brazilian, showing how much Brazilians love IG, and also how much they love their own country’s artists.
- So there’s a taste of Part 3 of our trigger cities mini-series, please do check it out on Medium or LinkedIn and let us know what you think! If you’re into Southeast Asia, we wrote about that too (Medium or LinkedIn).
- We hope they’re useful insights as you target social media campaigns, forge international collaborations or plan out a tour!

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, July 17th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Wednesday, and we’ll see you Friday!

Vance Joy and AC/DC on Amazon Music and US Radio Jul 12, 2019

Highlights
- Who says music is all about young people and streaming? Amazon Music and American radio would beg to differ, and we’ll check out a couple of Australian artists who are doing well on them.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- We’re on the socials at “chartmetric”, that’s Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, and talk to us! We’d love to hear from you.
- FYI, we’re scaling back to 2 episodes per week, why? Because we’re working on some special projects that we will certainly tell you about over the next few months, but we need to make the time to do them! So don’t worry, your phone isn’t playing games with your heart….it’s just us and the Backstreet Boys.
- Having said all that….
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, July 12th, 2019.
Vance Joy and AC/DC on Amazon Music and US Radio
- The Financial Times reported yesterday on the rise of Amazon Music, and how it has experienced a 70 percent growth in subscribers in the past year.
- The head of Amazon Music- Steve Boom (that’s a great name for a music guy)- noted that all the other platforms were playing for the younger crowds, but not older consumers.
  - Apparently 14 percent of subscribers to Amazon Music are aged 55 or older, compared with just 5 percent of Spotify’s customers, according to Midia Research’s Mark Mulligan.
- Now on the radio side of things, Music Business Worldwide reported that AM/FM US radio consumption is growing! Take that, streaming.
  - Radio reached more folks than any other entertainment platform in 2019, according to Nielsen’s Audio Today 2019 report.
  - 272M Americans fire up their radios each week, that is 7M more listeners than 2016...and why? Because Americans love their cars, and radios are just there.
- Now to help illustrate that with actual artists, we’ll turn to two of Australia’s biggest ones, relative newcomer Vance Joy and classic rock gods AC/DC.
- Vance Joy, the pop/folk singer-songwriter from Melbourne is currently on
  - 19 Amazon editorial playlists, including the contextual playlists Rise and Shine, Road Trip: Folk and a chart-like playlist: Best Folk Songs of 2017.
  - His massive hit “Riptide” is actually NOT the most playlisted on the platform, it’s actually another one of his records, “Lay It On Me”, placing in 9 of those 19 Amazon Music playlists.
  - On the 300 influential American radio stations we cover, Joy had as many as 506 spins in the week of Sept 24th 2018, and the week of July 1st, it was down to 91.
  - But it’s all good because the state of Wisconsin LOVES Vance Joy, as his songs have been 1% of all the tracks that state’s radio stations have played since September. Pretty impressive.
- Now for all-time rock greats AC/DC, straight out of Sydney:
  - They are on 14 Amazon editorial playlists, including the #2 slot on Classic Rock for Lifting, the #5 spot for Pre-Game Grilling, and the #1 spot for 80s Hard Rock Workout...who’s feeling some testosterone?
  - AC/DC hits like “You Shook Me All Night Long” and “Back in Black” seem to resonate most in Boston, Massachusetts and Gainesville, Florida…
- ...but what’s really good to remember is that in case your phone runs out of battery, you can find either of these artists or others by flicking on the old car radio, or simply asking Alexa to do it for you.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, July 12th, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Friday, and we’ll see you next week!

Remembering Bossa Nova Great João Gilberto Jul 10, 2019

Highlights
- Brazilian Bossa Nova legend João Gilberto died over the weekend at the age of 88. We remember “O Mito” and just how timeless he is.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- Our social media handle is “chartmetric”, that’s Chartmetric, no “S ”- follow us on all your favorite platforms at Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, and let us know what you think about this or any episode, get the latest and greatest from us daily...we’d also love to get your feedback!
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, July 10th, 2019.
Remembering Bossa Nova Great João Gilberto
- João Gilberto, the father of Bossa Nova, died in Rio De Janeiro over the weekend, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t honor his monumental legacy.
- Gilberto was born in 1931 in the Brazilian state of Bahia, received his first guitar when he was 14, and you might say the rest is history.
- In 1965, he and American jazz saxophonist Stan Getz won three Grammy Awards for their album Getz/Gilberto, which features their famous recording of “The Girl From Ipanema.”
- With any legacy artist like Gilberto, whose catalog consists of, well, catalog (as opposed to frontline) recordings, numbers tend to flatline without those big new release marketing drivers.
- Gilberto’s repertoire has seen a significant uptick in interest across platforms not only in the last week, which is to be expected anytime a music great passes into the next frontier — but within the last two months as well.
- On Spotify, Gilberto’s follower increase has hovered steadily around a 100 since January, but since May 25, it’s shot up to around 600.
- While his monthly listeners fell some 5 or 600,000 from early April to early May, by the end of May, they had increased some 3 or 400,000.
- His Spotify Popularity Index, as a result, lifted some five points from 65 to 70 between May 23 and July 8.
- On every social platform, save for the Facebook wildcard, interest spikes are understandably, if unfortunately, localized around the news of his death.
- His Wikipedia views, for example, jumped from around 300 to nearly 70,000.
- There’s a similar increase on YouTube, where daily views leapt from around 66,000 to 1.2 million.
- Given his holy status in his home country of Brazil, Sao Paulo and Rio De Janeiro are his top cities by Spotify monthly listeners at 13.6 and 7.3 percent, respectively.
- On YouTube, however, Paris, France, and Santiago, Chile, are his top cities, both at around 8 percent.
- As far as countries go, USA, at 15 percent, is his biggest fan behind Brazil, at 17 percent of daily YouTube views.
- So, while Gilberto is definitely a Brazilian deity in the music world, it’s clear his impact has been global and that it will remain so for many, many years to come.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, July 10th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Wednesday, and we’ll see you on Friday!

Barbecue the Music: Playlisting USA’s Independence Day Jul 03, 2019

Highlights
- Spotify and Apple Music are grilling up your soundtrack to one of America’s biggest holidays. So, what tracks are sparking the fireworks?
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, July 3rd, 2019.
Barbecue the Music: Playlisting USA’s Independence Day
- With their own Fourth of July playlists soundtracking barbecues across America, who have Apple Music and Spotify tapped to celebrate USA’s independence from Great Britain?
- On Apple Music’s 16-song Pop for the Fourth playlist, Rihanna’s “American Oxygen,” first released four years ago, is the latest add.
- Tom Petty’s “American Girl,” first released some 43 years ago, is the next most recent add, followed by Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA,” released 10 years ago now.
- Noticing a pattern here?
- Well, besides the not-so-subtle American themes, it’s a great platform for boosting those catalog numbers.
  - Apple Music’s Pop for the Fourth playlist has five of 16 tracks at a 50-59 valence range, but seven at a 70-79 energy range.
- Apple Music’s 25-song Independence Day: Hip-Hop playlist follows suit, at least with the catalog trend.
- E-40’s “Function (featuring YG, Iamsu!, and Problem),” Raekwon’s “Soundboy Kill It (featuring Melanie Fiona and Assassin),” and Fat Joe’s “Another Day (featuring Rick Ross, French Montana, and Tiara Thomas)” comprise the most recent adds there.
- All of those songs were released four and five years ago, but most noteworthy here are thematics.
- This playlist is less about holding the banner for American exceptionalism and more about championing an independent, and even rebellious, spirit.
  - Apple Music’s Independence Day: Hip-Hop playlist has nine of 25 tracks at a 30-39 valence range, but seven out of 25 at a 60-69 energy range.
- Spotify has consolidated a little of everything into a single 103-song Independence Day playlist.
- The latest three adds include Martha Reeves and the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Street,” which was first released in 1964 ...
- Joey and Rory’s “This Song’s for You (featuring Zac Brown Band),” released nine years ago …
- And Simon and Garfunkel’s “America,” released in 1968.
- Talk about eclectic, with both catalog classics and country anthems mixed in with blues-rock, folk, and even the occasional Top 40 hit.
- Perhaps an attempt at a playlist snapshot of the American musical identity?
  - Whatever the case, Spotify’s Independence Day playlist has 16 of 103 tracks at a 30-39 valence range, but the distribution is noticeably more equalized than with Apple Music.
  - The most tracks, at 23, are featured in the 90-99 energy range.
- So, if you’re looking for high energy with a wide spread of moods, go Spotify, but if you’re looking for moderate energy and mood go Apple pop, and if you’re feeling extra independent, go Apple hip-hop -- at least just for your Fourth of July vibe.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, July 3rd, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
We’ll be off air for the holiday weekend, so happy Wednesday, happy Fourth of July, and we’ll see you on Monday!

Taylor Swift: Track Comparison Before and After Big Machine Label Group Jul 02, 2019

Highlights
- “Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings Acquires Scott Borchetta's Big Machine Label Group” is what Sunday’s official press release reads, we’ll take a look at a sample of Swift’s data while on Big Machine and on Republic Records
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019.
Taylor Swift: Before and After Big Machine
- The music business’ latest media frenzy revolves around a music mogul acquiring a top music star’s catalog.
  - This is reminiscent of how in 1985, the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, acquired the Beatles’ catalog of song copyrights, after receiving advice from Paul McCartney himself that music publishing was a great business to get into.
- Current music executive Scooter Braun and his Ithaca Holdings media company purchased Nashville-based Big Machine Label Group, Taylor Swift’s former label, for lots of money. This was announced over the weekend.
  - Big Machine’s assets include Swift’s catalog up through 2017’s “Reputation”.
  - She signed to UMG’s Republic Records in 2018, and now owns her own future masters starting with the album “Lover”.
- While we don’t have data on the controversy, we can look at two tracks: one from Swift’s Big Machine era, and one from her Republic Records era.
- The former is “Look What You Made Me Do” from 2017’s “Reputation” album while the latter is the first single from the 2019 album “Lover,” “You Need to Calm Down”.
- Big Machine-owned “Look What You Made Me Do”
  - ...was released almost two years ago in August 2017.
  - Currently at a 75 out of 100 Spotify Popularity Index (or SPI), it was at 91 SPI in Nov 2018.
  - The track is on 1.6K Spotify playlists, 17 of them editorial including the This Is: Taylor Swift playlist....
  - ...while it also has a current spot on 77 Apple Music playlists and 27 Amazon playlists, all editorial for the latter case.
- In her Republic-era, “You Need to Calm Down”
  - ...was released just two weeks ago in June 2019.
  - Currently at 92 SPI, it’s on less total Spotify playlists at 1.1K, but is on more editorial at 94, which makes sense since it’s relatively a brand new release.
  - It’s on almost three times as many Apple Music playlists at 202, and 3.5x as many Amazon playlists at 98.
- So is it fair to say that the Republic era is “better”? Not necessarily- again, it’s just a newer track and her Big Machine track was in the middle of her 2014-2018 Spotify absence, limiting a big part of her data profile.
  - But what this kind of side-by-side track comparison CAN do is help you evaluate how well tracks do under different promotional strategies, label teams or simply with different types of music.
  - Hope it’s useful.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Tuesday, and we’ll see you tomorrow!

Enter the World of Streaming Manipulation, Part 2 - Fake Artists Jul 01, 2019

Highlights
- On Part 1 of our streaming manipulation series, we took you on a wild ride into depths of playlist fixing. Today, on Part 2, we’re zeroing in on fake artists.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Monday, July 1st, 2019.
Enter the World of Streaming Manipulation, Part 2 - Fake Artists
- For Part 1 of our streaming manipulation series, we covered some funny business in the playlisting world.
- On Part 2, we’re scratching a different part of streaming’s underbelly: fake artist accounts.
- Last November, Pop Buzz and others covered a mysterious account uploading ostensibly unreleased Ariana Grande tracks under the name Zandhr.
- As it turned out, the tracks had been available online for some time, but that didn’t change the fact that a streaming account reportedly not linked to Ariana Grande, according to the BBC, was uploading her intellectual property to potentially profit off of.
- While the Zandhr account has since been taken down, our data suggests the fake artist accrued 9.5K Spotify followers and almost 30K monthly Spotify listeners, in addition to landing an “Ariana Grande - Every Song” playlist with some 20K+ followers of its own.
- Playboi Carti found himself in a similar predicament when three different fake accounts — Lil Kambo, Unocarti, and Unocompac — started uploading his tracks, with some pitch-shifting his songs in an attempt to disguise the illegitimate uploads.
- While both Lil Kambo and Unocarti’s profiles appear to have been taken down, the former amassed a 50K+ playlist reach from 37 playlists and the latter almost a 20K playlist reach from 19 playlists.
- Unocompac, meanwhile, appears to still have at least one Playboi Carti song up, enjoying 14K Spotify followers and a 30K playlist reach from 54 playlists.
- The best — or worst — part is that Unocompac’s artist gallery on Spotify includes three out-of-focus nighttime shots of a white suburban teenager posing and throwing up fake gang signs.
- Shaking my damn head.
- While this all might seem rather innocuous, as most of these accounts never amass more than a couple of thousand followers, it’s important to remember ...
- One, fake artist accounts effectively steal intellectual property and income from the legitimate artists they’re “impersonating.”
- And two, fake artist accounts devalue the work of all legitimate artists who have put their blood, sweat, and tears into making and marketing their art.
- While this phenomenon probably isn’t something to worry about in the short-term, how it’s handled now will determine how big of a problem it becomes in the long-term.
- With so many metadata errors, artist-song mismatches, and unclaimed blackbox royalties as a result, the last thing artists need is an army of mysterious impersonators gaming the system.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Monday, July 1st, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- Happy Monday, and we’ll see you tomorrow!

Enter the World of Streaming Manipulation, Part 1 - Fake Playlists Jun 28, 2019

Highlights
- Fake streams! Playlist manipulation! Fake artists! There’s a lot of buzz about it, but what does this look like in the data?
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, June 28th, 2019.
Enter the World of Streaming Manipulation
- Last week’s streaming code of conduct was signed by more than 20 major companies across the industry to combat streaming fraud, which is good for artist compensation and more forthcoming to the fans.
- How can we think about this prickly topic from a music data perspective? And when we say “this”, it’s not just fake streams. It’s also playlist manipulation and fake artist accounts.
- For sure, we are in very murky waters, and there is little actual data on the phenomenon.
  - Recently American indie label Hopeless Records estimated 3-4 percent of global streams could be fraudulent.
  - But a 2015 MBW article mentions how 60% or more Twitter followers on top artist accounts could also be fake.
  - Granted, these are different types of fraudulent behavior, but it’s also a huge delta to try to account for.
  - What we can do though is search for red flags in the music data available to us.
- For example: if we look at playlist manipulation, here’s one way to look at the data to try to identify potentially iffy behavior:
  - We scanned the playlist charts looking for abnormally high 28-day follower increases, and found a non-editorial hip-hop genre playlist with a 262% increase in followers in the past month.
  - While that could just be great marketing, currently having 110K followers-an impressive number-its max artist monthly listeners, however, is only ~470, which doesn’t seem to match up.
    - This means that the only artist on the playlist that gets a lot of its unique listeners from here is getting less than 1% of its supposed followers actually listening to them.
    - Again, possible, especially since the playlist has about 100 current tracks on it, but it’s ranked in the first third of the playlist, so it’s not likely.
  - That artist, which only has a little over 200 followers, is playlisted among high-profile artists like Eminem, Kanye West and Cardi B, presumably to draw traffic, which would be smart marketing if done legitimately, but if so many followers are not streaming the actual tracks...it smells a little fishy.
  - If that weren’t enough, there’s a three-piece pop band with only 16 followers, and two other rap artists who have 4 and 17 Spotify followers, respectively.
    - All three have their listed label as a series of numbers, then “Records DK” or “DK2”, which is a default label for the distributor DistroKid, if left untouched.
    - DistroKid is one of the most popular digital distributors available to independent artists and an official partner distributor with Spotify.
  - If that still isn’t enough, all the playlist album artwork looks like carbon copies of official Spotify playlist album art. Again, good marketing tactic...or borderline deception?
    - So while it’s admittedly an analytical leap, it is very possible that a playlist curator is buying illegitimate playlist followers to make themselves look good, they dupe unknowing artists into thinking they are getting amazing exposure, and the curator gets paid accordingly and in our opinion, unfairly.
    - We could be completely 100% wrong on this, but the point is, there are certain ways you can look at the music data to try to suss out what’s likely real, and what at least should raise some red flags.
- We’ll try to unpack some other types of illegitimate activity from a data perspective next week.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, June 28th, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
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And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and see you on Monday!

Tour, Catalog, and Marketing in Southeast Asia's Trigger Cities Jun 27, 2019

Highlights
- Follow us down to the trigger cities of Southeast Asia where their Shazam, Spotify, and YouTube charts have some big implications for tour strategy and catalog exploitation.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday, June 27th, 2019.
Trigger Cities in Southeast Asia
- On our blog this week, Jason did an epic analysis of Southeast Asia’s trigger cities, revealing what implications their Shazam, Spotify, and YouTube charts have for tour strategy and catalog exploitation.
- We’re just scratching the surface of it here.
- First, Shazam. From Singapore’s 41 pop genre tags to Jakarta’s 40 to Kuala Lumpur’s 37 down to Bangkok’s 30, an overwhelming Southeast Asian love of pop music in the past month would be an understatement.
- However, the region doesn’t appear to care much about querying hip-hop or rap, as the genre only makes a 10th place appearance in Jakarta.
- On Spotify, K-pop group BLACKPINK is currently the hottest act throughout the region, having 2.11M monthly listeners in the past month.
- Our good friend Lauv (remember him from our June 3 episode?) slides into #2 with 2.10M monthly listeners.
- With the exception of BLACKPINK, all other artists have US or UK origins.
- Given Spotify’s northern European origins and that its most popular artists are also of Western origin, this makes sense.
- Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, however, seems to exist in its own silo.
- More commonly known as Saigon, locals prefer Korean acts, sharing a love of K-pop boy band SEVENTEEN with Bangkok.
- But the city’s #1 most listened-to artist on Spotify is their “queen of V-pop,” Mỹ Tâm.
- An outlier here, however, is Ho Chi Minh City’s third most listened to artist on Spotify: Nashville’s Landon Austin.
- Austin’s covers are apparently catnip for Southeast Asia’s love of non-controversial pop, because his top five cities by Spotify monthly listeners are all in Southeast Asia.
- Should Austin be touring the region like a madman, then?
- Based on the available data, it sure looks like it, but we can’t rule out the possibility of bots and bought streams — for which a lot more research still has to be done.
- On YouTube, BLACKPINK and BTS, two of Korea’s biggest international acts, consistently appear in the top 10 artists by YouTube daily video views.
- Aggregating the top 10 artists of each of the six Southeast Asian cities for YouTube daily views, the #6 most viewed artist is Brad Kane.
- If you missed our May 16 podcast episode on Quezon City, Kane was the titular character’s original singing voice for the 1992 Disney animated film Aladdin, which has just been re-released as a live action film starring Will Smith.
- The fact that the New York City actor, singer, and producer’s rendition of “A Whole New World” has stirred up so much engagement 27 years later in Southeast Asia says something about how locals consume music … not necessarily to support the artist, but for their own karaoke endeavors!
- So, if you’re looking to exploit catalog records, this might be the perfect spot.
- But don’t count out domestic artists.
- Three Southeast Asian artists make the region’s top 10 most viewed: Bangkok trap rapper YOUNGOHM (at #4 with 1.1M daily views), Indonesian singer Nella Kharisma (at #7 with 637K daily views), and Bangkok punk rock band Labanoon (at #9 with 589K daily views).
- One distinct takeaway with these domestic artists is that their YouTube support comes exclusively from their home countries.
- Since all three are proudly delivering content in their mother tongues, they are likely limiting their global market appeal, but it’s also why they resonate so well with their fellow country people.
- As Jason puts it, looking at a certain market’s music data raises our awareness about who the fans are, what their specific cultural histories have been, and how they are now living as a reflection of it.
- Well said, but something to consider beyond the computer screen is the fact that digital behavior doesn’t always correspond directly to behavior in the real world.
- Which is why, before you completely tailor your tour or marketing strategy to your streaming data, make sure you’ve considered all avenues of information.
- Spotify numbers don’t always translate to ticket sales.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday, June 27th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- If you want to read Jason’s piece in full and look at some pretty charts, it’s up on our blog at blog.chartmetric.io.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Thursday, and see you tomorrow!

2019 Women’s World Cup: USWNT Carli Lloyd’s and Alex Morgan’s Playlists! Jun 26, 2019

Highlights
- Soccer fans unite: the 2019 Women’s World Cup has been happening in France all month, but what are U.S. team’s biggest stars listening to as they head into the quarterfinals?
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, June 26, 2019.
Playlisting the Women’s World Cup
- The World Cup defending champions, the United States, are scheduled to play host nation France in the quarterfinals on Friday, June 28th.
- The U.S. squad won the last World Cup in 2015 for the third consecutive time in Canada, and are favored to win this year as well, and that’s large in part due to a couple of the team’s biggest stars: two-time US Soccer Player of the Year Alex Morgan and two-time FIFA Player of the Year Carli Lloyd.
- And guess what? They have playlists!
- Hailing from Southern California, Co-Captain Alex Morgan has a co-branded “Alex Morgan | Workout Playlist” with Beats by Dr. Dre as the listed curator.
  - The American striker currently has 12 tracks on the list, with mostly mellow and moody pop selections including Maggie Rogers, Hozier, and José González.
  - The playlist’s sonic characteristics are not what you would expect: they are less energetic and more mid-tempo, acoustic jams.
    - The Energy ratings for the songs, which run from 0 to 100, are only moderately high, mostly lying in the 30 to 80 range with tracks from Lauren Daigle and George Ezra.
    - The Acousticness ratings are quite well-distributed from 10 to 90, meaning Morgan seems to appreciate acoustic guitars as much as electronic beats.
    - And dare we say that Morgan likes getting moody with her Beats earbuds on, with one-third of the playlist in the 20-30 Valence range, which measures positive emotional sentiment. Some of these darker vibes come from artists Vera Blue and Leon Bridges.
- Now hailing from New Jersey, fellow Co-Captain Carli Lloyd’s “Metabolic Kick Mix playlist”, which is curated under the NikeWomen curator profile, is all about that high energy.
  - Currently an attacking midfielder on the US squad, her Spotify playlist has 12 tracks and over 800 followers, featuring amped-up pop and rock records from Maroon 5, Imagine Dragons, and Ellie Goulding.
  - Lloyd’s playlist tends towards the electronic side of things and with more emotionally uplifting sentiment:
    - Her tracks rate high on Energy and Beats Per Minute, with seven tracks in the 90-100 Energy range and eight tracks in the 130-140 BPM range, to include Hardwell and a OneRepublic remix.
    - As for Acousticness, Lloyd is not about it! She likes the electronic beats, most tracks in the low 10-20 acousticness range.
    - But for Valence, she likes getting into the darker vibes as well, with most tracks in the 40 to 60 range, including a Betty Who banger and the sole acoustic track from John Mayer, which is positioned last in the playlist, and likely great for a workout cool-down and stretch.
- So, if you’re looking to sweat with some of America’s top athletes putting it all on the line this week, look no further.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, June 26, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Wednesday, see you tomorrow!

The Data Behind the BET Awards Jun 25, 2019

Highlights
- Sunday’s BET Awards had winners, losers, and everything in between. Here’s the data behind the biggest moments.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tuesday, June 25, 2019.
The Data Behind the BET Awards
- Now that the dust has settled from Sunday’s BET Awards, let’s look at the data behind the ceremony’s bright spots.
- One of the evening’s most special moments happened when the award for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist went to Nipsey Hussle, who died tragically on March 31 in Los Angeles.
- The rapper also received the Humanitarian Award, which his grandmother graciously accepted.
- While Nipsey’s star was already on the rise before the tragedy, immediately following the news of his death, fans undeniably pushed his work onto the world stage, bumping him from an estimated 2.2 million monthly Spotify listeners to an April 26 peak of an estimated 11.8 million monthly Spotify listeners.
- His posthumous feature with John Legend on DJ Khaled’s “Higher” continues to make its presence known on Apple Music’s African and Caribbean Top 100 playlists, in addition to Hip-Hop A-List playlists as well.
- Speaking of, this year’s Best International Act Award went to Nigeria’s Burna Boy and the Best New International Act Award went to South Africa’s Sho Madjozi.
- Burna Boy is currently on 21 Best of the Week Apple Music playlists around the world, and he also finds himself at the top of Spotify’s Hot Hits UK, African Heat, and Afro Hits playlists.
- Sho Madjozi, meanwhile, only finds herself on four editorial playlists on Spotify but on six Best of the Week Apple Music playlists throughout Africa and a number of Top 100 Apple Music playlists in various African countries.
- While she’s largely regional now, Madjozi’s BET recognition indicates a growing potential for overseas visibility.
- Now, can we talk about how much Mary J. Blige and Lizzo owned the stage?
- Blige is a living R&B/hip-hop legend, and her performance on and off that stage proved it.
- Instead of losing followers and listeners as her music ages, she continues to gain them.
- In 2016, Blige’s followers sat just under 500K, but today, she’s at an estimated 1.9 million on Spotify.
- While the change hasn’t been quite as drastic for her monthly listenership, her shrinking listener to follower ratio and her growing follower conversion (she’s gaining at least 1K Spotify followers daily) indicates she’s still got it.
- Her YouTube views bolster this point by sporting a strong “weekend bump” every Friday through Sunday, suggesting people still party down with the queen of hip-hop soul.
- Lizzo meanwhile, can apparently twerk and play the flute all at once, but she’s got a ways to go when it comes to follower conversion.
- Unlike Blige’s 3:1 listener to follower ratio, which makes sense given the longevity of her career, Lizzo’s is at 36:1, meaning 17.5 million people might be listening to her a month on Spotify, but if she wants Blige’s longevity, her 500K followers are going to have to start snowballing to catch up.
- A high ratio for an emerging artist is usually a promising sign, however, so Lizzo has plenty to look forward to.
- All numbers and names aside, the real winner here was the awards ceremony itself.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Tuesday, June 25, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Tuesday, see you tomorrow!

New Music Friday Monday: the Royal Rise of King Princess Jun 24, 2019

Highlights
- In just over a year, King Princess has gone from 10 Spotify playlists to more than 1,000 and 5,000 Twitter followers to more than 100,000. Now, they’re on Mark Ronson’s new track, “Pieces of Us.”
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Monday, June 24, 2019.
New Music Friday Monday: the Royal Rise of King Princess
- In just a year, King Princess has gone from a humble 10 Spotify playlists to a star-powered 1K, and 5K Twitter followers to 100K+.
- The 20-year-old, New York City-born singer-songwriter/producer now finds themselves on Mark Ronson’s June 17 release, “Pieces of Us,” which currently sits at the No. 5 spot on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist.
- How’d they get there so quickly?
- Using the Analyze function on their artist page to compare their Spotify playlist evolution with their social follows, we can chart it.
- On March 9, 2018, King Princess had just under 5K Twitter followers and was only on 10 Spotify playlists.
- That’s great for a young indie artist, but clearly not on par with the metrics typical Mark Ronson collaborators (who include Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Adele, Miley Cyrus, and Amy Winehouse) usually boast.
- By June 21, 2018, King Princess got closer with almost 30K Twitter followers and 237 Spotify playlists.
- Mind you, that exponential jump was in a matter of just three measly months.
- Fast forward to March 9, 2019, and King Princess hit just a bit more than 92K Twitter followers, 374K Instagram followers, and was on 1,000 Spotify playlists.
- By then, they had also been booked to play this year’s Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Governors Ball festivals.
- Today, the alternative pop star has some 111K Twitter followers, 450K+ Instagram followers, about 25K Facebook fans, and sits on more than 1K Spotify playlists.
- In less than a year and a half, King Princess’ Spotify Popularity Index went from 0 to 75 out of 100.
- But it’s not all out of thin air.
- In February 2017, they became the first artist to sign to Mark Ronson’s Zelig Recordings, which is a Columbia Records imprint ultimately owned by Sony.
- It’s only natural for them to be featured on Mark Ronson’s “Pieces of Us,” which was released on June 17, and currently sits in the No. 5 spot on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist.
- You might say, with a little help from Ronson, King Princess’ royal rise was written in the stars all along.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Monday, June 24, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Monday, see you tomorrow!

A2IM Indie Week, Day 4: Beggars Group and Kill Rock Stars Jun 21, 2019

Highlights
- Following a panel including Beggars Group’s Martin Mills and Kill Rock Star’s Portia Sabin, we’re looking at artists on their rosters and asking, “What makes them two of indie music’s longest lasting labels?”
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, June 21, 2019.
A2IM Indie Week, Day 4
- Several Indie icons closed out A2IM’s Indie Week in New York City yesterday, two of them being the legendary Martin Mills and Dr. Portia Sabin sharing what’s helped them make Beggars Group and Kill Rock Stars, respectively, some of indie music’s longest lasting labels.
- Beggars Group is the parent company of 4AD, Rough Trade Records, Matador, XL Recordings and Young Turks.
- Mills started it in London in 1977, and his many labels have gone on to sign everyone from Adele to Radiohead.
- While Adele hasn’t released anything for some time, her 25 album, which released physically in November 2015 and digitally in June 2016 via a joint deal between XL Recordings and Sony’s Columbia, “single-handedly revived global album sales”, according to the Guardian.
- The album’s streaming success is no joke either, as it’s maintained a 70-80 Spotify Popularity Index score over the last three years, and has been included on upwards of 12.5K Spotify playlists.
- That kind of success under XL’s guidance gave Adele the leverage to be able to sign an enormous and unprecedented £90 million deal with Sony in May 2016.
- No doubt the industry will be keen to check her next album from one of the industry’s biggest major labels.
- Now entering the underground, since 2006, Sabin has run Pacific Northwest-based indie label Kill Rock Stars, which has been a home to riot grrrl legends Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney, the late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, and folk rockers the Decemberists.
- Sabin’s roster is more niche than Mills’, but Kill Rock Stars’ ability to navigate catalog digitization and promotion has allowed their artists to prosper.
- Smith, for instance, maintains some 1.4M monthly listeners on Spotify, despite the fact that he passed away tragically in 2003.
- In March 2017, Kill Rock Stars released an expanded edition of his 1997 album Either/Or, which helped increase Smith’s Spotify followers by around 70 percent to 430K and spiked his monthly listenership by an estimated 250K.
- Whether by keen artist development or catalog revitalization, Beggars Group and Kill Rock Stars have each found a way to not only survive longer than most indie labels, but to also thrive while doing so.
Outro
- That’s it for Indie Week and your Daily Data Dump for Friday, June 21, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- Happy Friday, and have a great weekend!

A2IM Indie Week, Day 3: Reeperbahn Festival Jun 20, 2019

2019-06-20 // A2IM Indie Week, Day 3: Reeperbahn Festival

Highlights
- Hamburg’s Reeperbahn Festival is presenting seven different acts on Day 3 of A2IM’s Indie Week, and we will check out how they’re doing in the data world.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday, June 20, 2019.
A2IM Indie Week, Day 3
- At the corner of Allen and Houston on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, NYC, last night, six bands shared their live music as an official part of A2IM’s Indie Week: the Reeperbahn Festival, New York Edition.
- Based around the entertainment and red-light district in Hamburg, Germany, since 2006, the Reeperbahn Festival will be putting on more than 900 events in the area this September with international artists of all genres, in addition to a conference for music and related industry professionals.
- In the 07:30-08:00pm slot was Winnipeg, Canada’s Yes We Mystic, with their melodic and experimental indie rock sound.
  - With 7K Spotify monthly listeners and their top four listener cities being Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Montreal, they have obviously created a stir in their home country very effectively.
  - Half of their 2.2K Instagram followers are from their hometown of Winnipeg, so Reeperbahn has done a lovely job of finding a truly homegrown act and bringing them to a bigger stage.
- Jerusalem-born singer-songwriter-producer ORI graced the stage in the 8:05-8:35pm slot.
  - Using original looping samples of his own voice and instrumentation, he’s got over 10K monthly listeners and his 2017 single “Black Book” is currently on the The Austin 100 playlist from NPR Music and the official SXSW 2019 playlist, where he played two official sets this past March.
  - His current Spotify Popularity Index may only be at 28 for now, but his work has also been sampled by Kendrick Lamar and Jay Rock.
- Closing out the night in the 11:20-midnight slot was Surfbort, most likely because they are a hard act to follow with their hottest tracks titled “Hippoe Vomit Inhaler”, “Pretty little fucker” and “Dicks”.
  - The Brooklyn-based punk outfit is named after a Beyoncé lyric and is just under 20K monthly listeners and is featured on Green Day’s “Oakland Coffee” playlist as well as the official SXSW 2019 playlist, as they also played a set in Austin last spring.
- In other slots were Germany’s Leoniden and Gurr, Austria’s Mira Lu Kovacs, and America’s Renata Zeiguer (US), but check them out...if Hamburg’s Reeperbahn NY Edition picked them, they’re sure to be worth the listen and maybe your latest favorite sound.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday, June 20, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Thursday, and we’ll see you tomorrow!

A2IM Indie Week, Day 2: Spotify’s Indie Curators Jun 19, 2019

2019-06-19 // A2IM Indie Week, Day 2: Spotify’s Indie Curators

Highlights
- Spotify and major label curators always move the needle, but with Day 2 of A2IM’s Indie Week in the bag, we’re looking at important indies of the bunch.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, June 19, 2019.
A2IM Indie Week, Day 2
- With Day 2 of A2IM’s Indie Week in the bag, we’re looking at important indie curators moving the needle on Spotify.
- Way up at the top is PopFiltr, with nearly 5 million playlist followers across 13 playlists.
- Boasting a 13 percent follower growth rate over the last 28-day period, PopFiltr has plenty to brag about, and artists or labels can submit their songs for consideration at popfiltr.com.
- Indiemono is another hidden gem, with 2.2 million playlist followers across a jaw-dropping 252 playlists, which a little something for everyone.
- In the last 28 days, Indiemono experienced a 3 percent follower growth rate, and they also offer an easy song submission process at indiemono.com.
- There’s also the indie indies, or the individual curators who are so good at what they do, they continue to kill it flying solo.
- Take Ignatious Pop, for example, whose 451 playlists have just over 2 million followers and a 4 percent growth rate in the last 28 days.
- Or Jesuss Vargas Gonzalez, whose 93 playlists have 1.5 million followers and an 11 percent growth rate in the last 28 days.
- Landing their playlists is probably going to be a bit harder, as they’re less about submissions and more about discoveries.
- Also keep an eye on up-and-comers Playlist Pop, with a 71 percent growth rate….
- Independent Hits, with a 539 percent growth rate, meaning they’re probably new and growing really fast….
- And ambitious LA-based indie label and playlist network Plvylists (who’ve swapped out the “A” for a “V”), with a 125 percent growth rate.
- The more that major streaming platforms corral the radio market, the more important curators will become as promoters of what’s hot, what’s new, and what’s never been heard.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, June 19, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Wednesday, and we’ll see you tomorrow from Indie Week!

On the Road: A2IM Indie Week, Day 1 Jun 18, 2019

Highlights
- We’re on the road! We’re at A2IM’s Indie Week in New York City, Day 1 is over and my feet hurt.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tuesday, June 18, 2019.
A2IM Indie Week, Day 1
- Hi all, Jason reporting from New York City and this will admittedly be a quick one.
- Day 1 of Indie Week is over, wanted to first share some thoughts before we call it a night.
- In talks today with various labels, distributors, agencies and so on involved with different sectors of the music business, three takeaways were as follows:
  - People might not always need super-charged, crazy data ninja magic insights...they simply want to know that they got on a playlist.
    - Sometimes there’s so much going with multiple artists on a label roster or they have 30 Spotify or Apple for Artists tabs open, all with multiple tracks on playlists in different territories…
    - ...and you just want to know with a simple notification that a certain track made a playlist. We hear you, and simple can also be best.
  - Stream count does not always equal revenue in other categories, like merchandise or branding opportunities or ticket sales.
    - Dependent on genre or the way an artist engages with their fans, they may not be creating crazy streaming numbers on the typical music platforms, but they’ll still be selling out multiple shows or merch items.
      - Maybe they resonate more on physical, or YouTube or terrestrial radio or TikTok, but the streaming playlist world isn’t the end all, be all.
      - On the same token, just because an artist is highly touted with ba-jillion streams, doesn’t necessarily mean they do as well in other revenue categories.
      - So make sure you’re taking all types of data into account, not just spins...any maybe what you really need to be tracking still has yet to find a quality, scalable data solution.
  - Sharing data insights with your artists can help encourage desired behavior.
    - Maybe your artist doesn’t like social media. Maybe they don’t want to tour in a particular part of town. Maybe they don’t want to work on a collaboration with another artist who could widen your fan base...these are all understandable things that from an artist’s perspective, might not be very obvious moves and might feel too “businessey” for them to buy into as a creative being.
    - But most artists today I’d argue are quite data-savvy, and if you shared a certain chart of how that one Tweet you did get them to do helped get them 10 or 100 more followers for them to connect with down the road, all the better. Or that even though they just want to tour stateside...what if they saw their last EP over-indexed by 35% in monthly listeners in Jakarta, Indonesia in the past month...maybe it’s time to renew that passport?
    - All this to say: of course you’re sharing your coolest data insights with your marketing team or promotion person or what have you….but consider being more proactive with sharing them with your artist, because they might just appreciate it!
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Tuesday, June 18, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Tuesday, we’ll see you tomorrow from Indie Week! Peace.

New Music Friday Monday: Fresh Indie on Amazon (Khruangbin, Julien Baker, Vagabon) Jun 17, 2019

Highlights
- We’re on the road! We’re at A2IM’s Indie Week in New York City and so we’ll publish our music data-related thoughts and experiences for you starting in tomorrow’s episode in case you can’t make it.
- But for today, we’ll celebrate the indie community on Amazon Music with an indie-focused New Music Friday Monday!
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Monday, June 17, 2019.
New Music Friday Monday: Fresh Indie on Amazon
- Hopping over to the “Fresh Indie” playlist on Amazon Music, we’ve got no less than 60 tracks of the most brand spanking new independent music in the streaming world.
- The tracks all come from over 35 different indie labels to include 4AD, ATO Records and XL recordings.
- Over 64% of the artists featured are from the US, 16% from the UK, and then Canada/Norway/Australia/New Zealand making up the rest of the Anglo-focused playlist.
- Just under half of the list has either the indiepop, folk-pop or indietronica genre tag attached to it, with 15+ other genre tags thrown in to make for a diverse-sounding set.
- In the #4 position is the funk-addled “Mary Always” instrumental track by Houston-born band Khruangbin, mixing soul, dub, psychedelia, and Thai funk.
  - The track is currently on nine Spotify editorial playlists including All New Indie w/ 958K followers and 2 Apple editorial playlists including Today’s Indie Rock.
  - The great playlist promotion is coming out of Bloomington, Indiana, where the track’s Dead Oceans label is housed with the Secretly Group, an umbrella of indie labels putting out rock music of different flavors.
- In the #9 spot is the spacious, introspective track “Conversation Piece” by Memphis, Tennessee’s Julien Baker.
  - Currently on no Spotify editorial playlists and 1 Apple editorial playlist, the Late Night Menu, the Matador Records release is the latest from the singer-songwriter known for heart-wrenching lyricism and melody.
  - What’s uber cool about Baker is that she is also part of supergroup boygenius, also under Matador, with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, kind of following the K-pop model of supergroup splitting off into solo careers, but just the reverse, as boygenius formed in 2018 and each member had solo careers as early as 2014.
- Last but not least is “Flood Hands” by Vagabon, coming from Nonesuch Records.
  - Vagabon is in the #12 slot on the Amazon playlist, currently on 3 Spotify editorial playlists, also including All New Indie with Khruangbin and 2 Apple editorial playlists, also including Today’s Indie Rock.
  - Released on June 13, it’s the latest from the Cameroon-born multi-instrumentalist now based in NYC...where we are this week for A2IM’s Indie Week!
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Monday, June 17, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- Happy Monday, we’ll see you tomorrow from NYC’s Indie Week floor! Bye.

Found on Friday: 4 Indian Playback Singers and 2 Norteño Bandas Killing the YouTube Game Jun 14, 2019

Highlights
- Do you know what a playback singer is? Or how about that Mexican Norteño music has German polka in it? I sure didn’t, but our A&R tool did!
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, June 14th, 2019.
Found on Friday: 4 Indian Playback Singers and 2 Norteño Bandas
- So checking into our A&R tool which roams the Interwebs for the biggest delta, or change, in between now and 28 days ago, we focus on the singular metric of total YouTube views via their artist channel.
- Looking at the Top 20 biggest gains, what’s not surprising? Billie Eilish at #5, that’s cool, Will Smith at #7 after the new Aladdin movie releasing, that’s also awesome…
- But you know what’s really hot? Indian playback singers, because they occupy positions 1 through 4!
- A playback singer in Bollywood masterfully records world-class vocals for songs for the on-camera actors to lip-sync to during shooting.
  - For us Westerners who are obsessed with authenticity, let’s just imagine a publicly accepted form of lip-sync that not only helps create great Indian movies, but also celebrates the playback singers themselves.
  - In the #1 spot is Calcutta-born Kumar Sanu with 30% YouTube view growth to 16.5M, who also just appeared on TV show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs, which pits 5-15 year olds against each other in a singing competition.
  - In the #2 position is Arijit Singh who saw 20% YouTube view growth to 18.7M, and just released “Bekhayali” from Indian dramatic film Kabir Singh on June 3rd.
  - Coming #3 on our list, but #1 in the Bollywood industry, is Lata Mangeshkar with 19% view growth to 9M, but it’s honestly a footnote to one of the most well-known and highly-respected playback singers ever.
  - Mangeshkar has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist with over 30K tracks in 20 different languages, the recipient of the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor (equivalent to the US Presidential Medal of Freedom), recipient of France’s Legion of Honour, and publicly selected as 10th Greatest Indian of modern times.
  - How’s that for achievement? I really don’t think she cares about her YouTube views right now, nor should she. Hats off to her.
- Moving to Mexico, Norteño music is a genre of Northern Mexico that blends German polka and waltz traditions with Mexican ones.
- For all of us not familiar with Mexican music, the key instruments that define Norteño is the accordion (gracias a los europeos) and the bajo sexto, which translates to “sixth bass”, and looks like a 12-string guitar, but is used as a bass instrument.
  - Now in the #6 position is Los Invasores De Nuevo León, with 10% YouTube view growth to 26M.
  - The Latin Grammy-nominated Los Invasores, or “The Invaders of Nuevo León”, formed in 1978, and are currently on tour in south Texas,
  - In the #16 position is Los Tucanes De Tijuana, with 5% view growth to 132M.
  - “Los Tucanes”, or “The Toucans of Tijuana”, made history this year as first norteño act to play Coachella, also getting keys to the city.
  - And if you want to catch up with some meme action, look up the “La Chona” challenge...their fast-paced 1994 record received a revival last year when uploaders recorded themselves dancing to “La Chona” outside their moving vehicles, a la Drake’s “In My Feelings”.
Outro
- Bueno! That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, June 14th, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Please give us a shout-out on iTunes. If you’re on an iPhone, dodge those crafty notifications and just scroll down on the Daily Data Dump page in your Apple Podcasts app or in the Ratings and Review tab in your iTunes app on your laptop, and show some love, Rutger and I appreciate it.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and see you on Monday!

Excursion Thursday: Trigger City São Paulo, Brazil Jun 13, 2019

Highlights
- It’s time to hit the road again, so we’re heading down south to trigger city São Paulo, Brazil. What makes it such an important global music marketplace?
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday, June 13th, 2019.
Excursion Thursday: Trigger City São Paulo, Brazil
- We’re hitting the road again, heading down south to trigger city São Paulo, Brazil, to see what makes it such an important global music marketplace.
- First, it’s important to note that São Paulo is also a state in Brazil — naturally, the state in which São Paulo, the city, is located.
- Obviously, this presents some major metadata problems, which are compounded by the fact that São Paulo (with a tilde) and “Sao Paulo” (without a tilde) are reported as different cities.
- Adjusting for metadata errors, the city, which is Brazil’s wealthiest and most populous, is ranked third in the world for non-unique monthly Spotify listeners, based on our calculations from a week in May.
- For that same week, São Paulo came in ninth for global YouTube views.
- They’re really living up to their city motto, “I am not led; I lead.”
- It’s not just local artists and the longstanding sertanejo style updated for younger people skyrocketing São Paulo with regional streams.
- Scanning our top artists charts, the city comes up on three of the Top 10 artists — namely, J Balvin, Justin Bieber, and Shawn Mendes — as somewhere people listen most.
- Of the Top 100 artists globally according to our Cross-Platform Performance metric, São Paulo is in the Top 5 listener cities for 26, or just a bit more than a quarter, of them.
- Zooming in a bit and looking at Top Artists by Spotify Monthly Listeners on São Paulo’s city page, Brazilian artists do tend to dominate, with the 10 most listened-to artists, except for Lady Gaga, calling Brazil home.
- On Top Artists by YouTube Views, the Top 10 are all Brazilian as well, but when it comes to Top Artists by Shazam Chart Occurrences, only two Brazilians make the Top 10, suggesting São Paulo locals are loyal to their countrymen and countrywomen on major streaming platforms, but Shazam is where they learn what’s happening in the Anglo music world.
- And they certainly have an ear for British and American hits like “Giant” by Calvin Harris and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man or “Happier” by Marshmello and Bastille.
- With a population comparable to New York City and Los Angeles combined, São Paulo tops each of those cities on the global stage, thanks to a musical ecosystem — not to mention tradition — as robust as the Amazon rainforest and an appetite for pop hits from their neighbors on the northern side of the Tropic of Cancer.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday, June 13th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- If you’re interested in learning more about trigger cities, check out Jason’s in-depth analysis on our blog at blog.chartmetric.io.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.com
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Thursday, and see you tomorrow!

Measuring Artist Success Across Platforms? Let Data Scientist Josh Hayes Light the Way Jun 12, 2019

Highlights
- Special interview episode today: Does data science scare you? Does it keep you up at night when you hear or read about it at a panel or on some podcast, and you think to yourself, “I have no idea what they are talking about.”
- Rest easy and let Chartmetric’s Resident Data Scientist assuage your fears.
- How do you measure artist success across multiple streaming, social and other Internets platforms? We might have something for you.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason and Josh here at Chartmetric usually with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, June 12th, 2019.
Interview Outline
- What is Cross-Platform Performance scoring and ranking on Chartmetric?
  - Josh’s blog article / CPP explanation
- CPP measurements
  - Stage: This is the amount of “reach” or “exposure” that an artist has over audiences. The bigger the stage, the more people actively listening, watching, or consuming what the artist is creating.
  - Followers: This is the size of an artist’s “fanbase” or an artist’s “stickiness” with audiences. Followers have opted into tracking an artist and therefore are more likely to re-engage with the artist’s products in the future. Followers are not actively engaging with an artist all the time, but artists have an easier job of connecting with followers than non-followers.
- Cool CPP video to visualize the data science (made by Graphic & Motion Design Artist Anastasiya Bulavkina)
- Philosophical debate: what is “best” nowadays?
- Is there a way for people to reach out to you on the Interwebs, Josh?
  - Josh’s LinkedIn profile
  - hi (at) chartmetric (dot) com
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, June 12th, 2019. This is Josh and Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- Happy Wednesday, see you tomorrow!

Technique Tuesday: DJ Khaled vs. Tyler, the Creator Jun 11, 2019

2019-06-11 // Technique Tuesday: DJ Khaled vs. Tyler, the Creator

Highlights
- DJ Khaled is taking on Billboard’s charting calculations and Tyler, the Creator is caught in the crossfire. So, how do the two artists stack up in the streaming world?
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tuesday, June 11th, 2019.
Technique Tuesday: DJ Khaled vs. Tyler, the Creator
- Yesterday, Music Business Worldwide and Pitchfork reported that DJ Khaled, who just released his new album “Father of Asahd,” is taking on Billboard’s charting methods following the album’s No. 2 placement on the Billboard 200 Albums chart behind Tyler, the Creator’s “Igor.”
- At the heart of the issue is a discrepancy in physical album sales due to the practice of bundling, or wrapping up the sale of an album with the sale of merchandise.
- Here are the numbers: Billboard credited Tyler, the Creator with 165,000 total album sales for the week, and DJ Khaled with 137,000.
- For “Igor,” that’s 74,000 physical albums sold, 90,000 Streaming Equivalent Albums sold (SEA) and 1,000 Track, or download, Equivalent Albums sold (TEA).
- For “Father of Asahd,” the same breakdown came out to 35,000 physical, 95,000 SEA, and 7,000 TEA.
- So far, the ostensibly arbitrary SEA measurement isn’t DJ Khaled’s issue here, but if he really is pursuing a lawsuit, then Billboard’s charting methods for streams could come under scrutiny as well.
- Here’s how they’re calculating it: According to the New York Times’ Ben Sisario, four years ago, 1,500 streams equalled the equivalent of one physical album sale, but Billboard’s new method comes out to 1,250 for paid streams and 3,750 for free streams.
- We can’t measure differentiated streams for DJ Khaled and Tyler, the Creator according to Billboard’s new method, but we can use our Analyze function to visibly compare the changes in their monthly Spotify listeners on a custom chart.
- While Tyler starts off at an estimated 6.5 million monthly listeners, DJ Khaled is at an estimated 18 million around the release of their albums on May 17.
- By the end of the week, Tyler has crossed the 10 mil threshold and DJ Khaled has racked up an estimated 20.7 mil.
- This means Tyler experienced a more than 50% growth rate in monthly listeners and DJ Khaled only around 15% for their album debut week ending on May 23.
- However, DJ Khaled still ends up with around twice as many monthly Spotify listeners for the week.
- Does this translate to what Billboard calculated as each artist’s SEA? That’s difficult to say, because each unique monthly listener only gets counted once for every 28-day period -- no matter how many times they play a track.
- While DJ Khaled is more exposed on the playlist front, Tyler saw a bigger gain in monthly listeners during their album release week.
- Tyler also overtook Khaled’s Spotify Popularity Index score with a 92, vs. Khaled’s 88, out of 100.
- Based on this data, Tyler’s “Igor” is complementing his catalogue and driving more of his streaming collectively, while DJ Khaled’s success depends on a handful of mega hits.
- It’s a cult hip-hop icon vs. a Top 40 superstar, but DJ Khaled, with some 2.8 billion YouTube video views for the week in question, compared to just 442 million for Tyler, the Creator, shouldn’t have too much to complain about.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Tuesday, June 11th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- Happy Tuesday, see you tomorrow!

New Music Friday Monday: Shazam’s Best New Music Recommendations…on Apple Music? Jun 10, 2019

Highlights
- Shazam isn’t just in the music fingerprinting and identification game — it’s also playlisting on Apple Music with Shazam Recommends: Best New Music.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Monday, June 10, 2019.
New Music Friday Monday: Shazam’s Best New Music Recommendations … on Apple Music?
- Did you know that Shazam moonlights as playlisting curator on Apple Music?
- It’s currently managing 11 official playlists, including a mix of prediction-oriented genre-based ones like “Shazam Risers: Latin” or “Shazam Risers: K-Pop”, or exclusive celebrity playlists from the likes of David Guetta or BLACKPINK.
- Interestingly, Shazam also runs the “Shazam Recommends: The Best New Music” playlist, which is refreshed primarily on Fridays and Saturdays.
- Apple acquired Shazam in September of 2018, though we have Shazam playlists dating back to early 2017.
- So now that Shazam is now officially an Apple asset, it’s likely Apple Music is incorporating Shazam’s unique predictive dataset as a way to predict future hits...but does it actually work?
- If we compare last week’s Shazam “Best New Music” playlist with the Apple Music Top 100 charts today, we can try to see if- at least within the Apple Music platform- that actually becomes true or not.
- After some quick spot checks, the Shazam “Best New Music” playlist is actually global: it’s the same tracks and ordering no matter which country storefront you’re listening from. So the best comparison would naturally be the Apple Music Top 100 Global chart.
- The last Shazam “Best New Music” playlist was updated on June 1st, and comparing it to today’s Apple Top 100 global chart, there are actually four tracks in common:
  - “The London” by Young Thug at #2 on the Top 100
  - “Cross Me” by Ed Sheeran at #28
  - “Don’t Call Me Up” by Mabel at #59
  - “Easier” by Five Seconds of Summer at #66 of the Top 100
- So out of last week’s “Best New Music” playlist, 4 of out of the 24 total tracks ended up charting one week later, about 15%. Pretty cool.
- Now, cross-checking last week’s “Best New Music” playlist, but now comparing it to Shazam’s own Top 200 chart, which is its own chart independent of the Apple platform, we have the same, and only the same, four tracks pop up: the ones from Young Thug, Ed Sheeran, Mabel and Five Seconds of Summer.
- That’s interesting because finding tracks that are only on Apple’s Top charts are subject to Apple algorithms and other playlists, while Shazam Top charts are privy to being played in public spaces and people having the app and Shazaming those tracks.
- But to find the same track on both charts, must really mean that the tracks are achieving a kind of success both in user curiosity and actual streaming activity on one of biggest platforms in the world.
- Now, what feeds Shazam’s “Best New Music” playlist in the first place, as they are all new releases and so Shazam doesn’t really have any data on them...well, we don’t know either.
- Maybe they are doing granular music analysis on the song waveforms or maybe it’s just a result of traditional playlist pitching, but what we can measure in the data, is see which ones stick. Just give it a week!
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Monday, June 10, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Monday, see you tomorrow!

Playlist Reach Uncovers a Galician DJ, an American lo-fi beats producer and an Irish Literary Songwriter Jun 07, 2019

Highlights
- It’s Found on Friday, and we’re using Spotify playlist adds and reach to introduce you to a tropical DJ from Spain, an American lo-fi beats producer and an Irish singer-songwriter with literary flair.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday, June 7th, 2019.
Found on Friday: Playlist Reach Uncovers a Galician DJ, an American lo-fi beats producer and an Irish Literary Songwriter
- It’s Found on Friday, which means we are digitally crate-digging for new artists in the proverbial streaming record shops of the Internets, and this time through the lens of “reach”.
- In the world of social media, reach is the unique number of people who see a particular piece of content, and we can contrast that with “impressions”, which are the total number of times they see that content, and “engagement”, which is the number of interactions those audience members actively take upon that content.
- In Spotify’s streaming world, reach in one sense is obviously playlisting, and we can aggregate how many followers a particular playlist has, and at the artist-level, aggregate how many total playlist followers that artist has at any given point.
- These of course are non-unique follower counts, as we all are probably following dozens if not hundreds of playlists from each of our single profiles.
- Nevertheless, it’s still a measure of reach, and that can be an important metric for determining which artists are in a great position to break.
- Now ranked by number of new popular playlists adds in the past 30 days, Spanish DJ Zeper occupies the #1 spot today.
- From Pontevedra, Galicia, the young producer has a very accessible tropical dance vibe that has Majestic Casual vibes and would easily fit in any college student’s chillout or study playlist.
- Currently on 50 playlists with 10K or more followers, Zeper’s total playlist reach is over 2.8M followers, growing over 45K total followers since last week.
- His latest release was “Stop” on May 31st collaborating with another emerging artist KRIMETZ.
- Now added on an additional 39 playlists with over 10K followers each is American artist Hurley Mower.
- With his polished take on the lo-fi beats genre, Mower gained nearly another 30K aggregated playlist followers in the past week, bringing him over the 2M mark.
- With 207K monthly listeners and only 5.3K followers on his own Spotify profile, he’s got a listener to follower ratio of 38, which definitely puts him well into the promising artist category for that metric.
- Last but not least is Jealous of the Birds. Such an interesting name.
- On 5 playlists with more than 10K followers, the Irish singer-songwriter has over 767K total playlist followers, including Spotify’s Evening Acoustic playlist in the 84/100 spot and the Sad Indie playlist in the 60/80 position.
- She’s no stranger to attention however, her previous tracks have been from NPR’s All Songs Considered and BBC Radio 1’s Tune of the Week.
- No matter what you’re vibe, there’s some new artists hanging out on your smartphone, check them out this weekend!

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, June 7th, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Do you like this podcast? Does it help your day? If so, this is the part where we grovel at your feet for an iTunes rating or review...we are a business to business podcast, so it’s not like we’re trying to blow up, but if we can grow our audience some more to maybe start a music data interest community, we think that could be a really cool thing.
So if you like what we do, please give us a shout-out on iTunes. If you’re on an iPhone, just scroll all the way down on the Daily Data Dump page in your Apple Podcasts app or in the Ratings and Review tab in your iTunes app on your laptop, and show some love, Rutger and I will do a silent happy dance for every star that we get.
Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and see you on Monday!

Honoring D-Day With Popular Normandy Locals in Rouen, France Jun 06, 2019

2019-06-06 // Excursion Thursday: Honoring D-Day With Popular Normandy Locals in Rouen, France

Highlights
- It’s Excursion Thursday, and in honor of D-Day, we’re heading to Rouen, France, to see which Normandy locals are the most popular right now.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday, June 6th, 2019.
Excursion Thursday: Honoring D-Day With Popular Normandy Locals in Rouen, France
- On this D-Day edition of Excursion Thursday, which marks 75 years since the Normandy landings during World War II, we’re heading to Normandy’s capital, Rouen, France, to see which Normandy locals are the most popular right now.
- During the Middle Ages, Rouen was one of the most important cities in Europe, and in 1944, it was left in ruins in the aftermath of D-Day operations.
- Today, the city has a population of somewhere around 112,000, and its most notable current or former local from the music world is 19-year-old tropical house DJ and producer Petit Biscuit — remember him from Monday’s episode?
- He’s currently the 685th most popular artist on Spotify according to monthly listeners and is ranked a bit more than 2,000th across Spotify, YouTube, Deezer, SoundCloud, Instagram, Facebook, Wikipedia, and Twitter, according to our new Cross-Platform Performance, or CPP, score.
- While Kanka’s “deep and hypnotic bass” has him at around 36,000th when it comes to monthly Spotify listeners, across all platforms, the dub star is at around 89K, according to CPP.
- Indie pop outfit Tahiti 80, who formed while students at the University of Rouen, are arguably the more popular locals, with a Spotify monthly listener rank that’s barely higher than Kanka’s, but with a CPP ranking of around 25K, that puts them some 63,000 spots ahead of fellow compatriot Kanka and almost 23,000 spots behind Rouen comrade Petit Biscuit.
- Rouen indie rockers La Maison Tellier seem to have a bit more uniformity between their Spotify monthly listener rank of 48K and their CPP ranking of around 59K.
- Outside of Normandy, Parisian DJ David Guetta is ranked 18th on Spotify but 9th according to CPP, and Parisian legend Serge Gainsbourg is in the mid 5,000s and around 3,000th.
- And for a little global perspective, Taylor Swift is ranked 16th on Spotify but 5th according to CPP, Beyonce is 46th and 15th, Ariana Grande is 9th and 2nd, and the Beatles are 114th and 103rd.
- Keep in mind, however, that there are an estimated 1.5 million artists in this data pool, so even Kanka’s CPP rank of almost 89,000 puts him in the top 6 percent.
- Not too shabby.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday, June 6th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Thursday, thank you to all of our veterans out there, and see you tomorrow!

How City-Centric Music Data Gets to Your Screen with Software Engineer Komala Prabhu Jun 05, 2019

Highlights
- Special interview episode: Why and how does city-centric music data help out the business?
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason and Komala here at Chartmetric usually with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, June 5th, 2019.
City-Level Music Data with Chartmetric software engineer Komala Prabhu
- And after all that, you now have app.chartmetric.com/city-list for Premium users!
- If you are a free tier user, you are in luck: use the coupon code PODCAST53 in your Settings menu, and you will get a 14-day free Premium trial.
- Thank you Komala for taking the time!
- Komala's LinkedIn
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, June 5th, 2019. This is Komala and Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- Happy Wednesday, see you tomorrow!

Charting the End of iTunes Jun 04, 2019

2019-06-04 // Charting the End of iTunes

Highlights
- In the wake of Apple’s announcement that it will end the iTunes digital download as we know it, we’re scanning the iTunes Charts to see what, if anything, will be lost.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tuesday, June 4th, 2019.
Charting the End of iTunes
- Today, we’re looking at the U.S. iTunes Charts following Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) announcement that it will be ending the iTunes digital download as we know it and spinning out the iTunes app into three separate apps for Apple Music, podcasts, and television.
- What will that mean for the music you already purchased and downloaded? Rest assured, Apple is making provisions for the digital downloads you already own.
- The company wouldn’t be ending the iTunes digital download era without good cause — namely, most consumers stream; they don’t mp3 anymore.
- That said, what will be lost? We’re gonna walk you through how to figure that out using the iTunes Top 100 Tracks and iTunes Albums charts for U.S. storefronts.
- Looking solely at chart position, there’s a lot of correlation between high performing pop downloads and high performing pop streams on Apple’s iTunes and Music apps, respectively.
- Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Old Town Road,” Katy Perry’s “Never Really Over,” Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber’s “I Don’t Care,” and Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” being prime examples.
- Differences emerge with different genres, however. At No. 2 on the U.S. iTunes chart for June 3rd is John Rich’s “Shut Up About Politics,” which is nowhere on the Apple Music Daily Tracks chart.
- Blake Shelton’s “God’s Country,” which is at No. 6 on the U.S. iTunes chart for June 3rd, ranks just 89th on the U.S. Apple Music Daily Tracks.
- It’s a similar story for Morgan Wallen’s “Whiskey Glasses” at No. 7 on iTunes but No. 71 on Apple Music, and for Luke Combs’ “Beer Never Broke My Heart” at No. 12 on iTunes but No. 64 on Apple Music.
- What will this mean for country fans who tend to prefer digital downloads? In 2017, Pandora's chief executive, Tim Westergren, saw promise in converting country listeners into paying subscribers considering how active country fans and artists are on the platform.
- We’ll see if the end of iTunes chases country fans from Apple to Pandora, but that would still require an adjustment from a download oriented consumer base to a streaming oriented consumer base.
- iTunes has also been huge for another important segment of the music industry: movie soundtracks.
- Looking at chart summaries by artist, Elton John and Will Smith have nine and four tracks on the iTunes Top 100, respectively, and it’s all thanks to the recent Elton John biopic, Rocket Man, and Guy Ritchie’s live-action Aladdin movie, starring Will Smith as the genie.
- Jumping over to the iTunes Albums in All Genres chart for June 3rd, the Aladdin soundtrack is at No. 3 and various Elton John albums and/or compilations scatter the top 10.
- Amazingly, the soundtrack for The Greatest Showman — a movie released two years ago — is at No. 9.
- While the end of iTunes probably won’t affect income streams for most artists — as the majority of music consumers have largely forgotten about mp3s anyway — for country music stars and artists on movie soundtracks, the end of this era just might sting a little.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Tuesday, June 4th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
- Happy Tuesday, see you tomorrow!

2019-06-03 // New Music Friday Monday: Deezer’s Radar Weekly [Lauv, Petit Biscuit, dodie] Jun 03, 2019

Highlights
- It’s New Music Friday Monday, and we’re checking out some do-it-yourself artists on Deezer’s Radar Weekly playlist with 141K global fans.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Monday, June 3rd, 2019.
New Music Friday Monday: Deezer’s Radar Weekly DIY artists
- Welcome back to the work week!
- Today we’re checking out not Spotify’s “New Music Friday” nor Apple’s “Best of the Week”, but Deezer’s Radar Weekly playlist with 40 new releases.
- Taking the top three playlist positions are the 808-driven track “Mother’s Daughter” from Miley Cyrus and Sony, the electropop record “Never Really Over” from Katy Perry and Universal and then the mid-tempo “Find U Again” track by Mark Ronson and Camila Cabello, also from Sony.
- But as Radar Weekly is Deezer’s 149th most followed playlist, these leading positions might not mean much to Deezer’s wider audience...the platform’s most popular playlists are geographic-specific featuring more domestic repertoire.
- So even though Radar Weekly is self-described as having the “biggest new releases of the week”, Deezer’s listeners seem to prefer music that speaks to their own culture without outside influence.
- However, since this playlist’s 141K fans probably come to Radar Weekly for more of a global sound, we thought it’d be worth checking out some DIY artists who also prefer doing their own thing, without the influence of a label.
- So in the #8 slot is DIY pop star Lauv living up to the sadboi persona with the melancholy anthem “Sad Forever,” marking the 2nd single off of his upcoming sophomore LP, “How I’m Feeling.”
- On Spotify, Lauv has a Popularity Index of 88 out of 100 and 26M Monthly Listeners, and remains an independent artist thanks to a licensing deal with Kobalt’s AWAL.
- Check out the mostly Asian-driven playlist evolution of his 2017 hit track “I Like Me Better” in a recent article we’ve written in the show notes.
- In the 23rd spot on Radar Weekly is “We Were Young,” by French DJ and music producer Petit Biscuit, who self releases his music on his own label, aptly titled Petit Biscuit Music.
- His soul-infused tropical house comes from a mind only 19 years old, already collecting some 320K Deezer fans, with a Spotify Popularity of 77 out of 100.
- Last but not least is dodie, an English singer-songwriter and YouTuber who also self-releases her music, including the minimal-sounding and intimate track “Guiltless” in the #30 position this week.
- She’s racked up over 8K Deezer fans, over 1M Twitter and IG followers and over 1.8M YouTube subscribers, sans label.
- So while major pop stars might seem to outshine the do-it-yourselfers at the top of playlists like Deezer’s Radar Weekly, take a chance and hit shuffle play, cause you just might find a few new DIY artists to follow.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Monday, June 3rd, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com
Happy Monday, see you tomorrow!

2019-05-31 // Found on Friday: A Dutch YouTube Personality, a Turkish Rocker, and Sisters in a Cover Band May 31, 2019

Highlights

It’s Found on Friday, and we’re celebrating the big five-oh by unearthing some breaking artists according to social and Spotify follows.

Mission

Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.

Date

This is your Data Dump for Friday, May 31st, 2019.

Found on Friday: A Dutch YouTube Personality, a Turkish Rocker, and Sisters in a Cover Band

It’s Found on Friday, and we’re celebrating our 50th episode by unearthing three artists breaking on the social and Spotify follow growth charts.
First up: 22-year-old Dutch YouTube personality and rising European pop star Simon De Wit, aka Blanks, who experienced a 27 percent growth in SoundCloud followers over the last 28 day period.
Along with SoundCloud growth, he’s also experienced a 52 percent increase in Spotify followers and a 27.6 percent increase in Instagram followers.
Blanks’ bio reads, “Make yourself happy,” and he’s got to be feeling pretty happy about those stats right about now.
His beachy, funky pop vibe is sure to put a smile on listeners faces as well.
Next up, it’s Turkish rocker Ufuk Beydemir, who is absolutely killing it on Insta with a 595 percent increase in followers.
And it’s translating well on other platforms, too, with a 31 percent increase in Spotify followers over the last 28 day period.
I don’t speak Turkish, but I don’t think you really need to to understand the wistfulness in his catchy and accessible rock ballads.
Thought cover bands couldn’t gain traction? Think again. American sisters Sidney and Caitlin Powell, who comprise folk duo Neoni, are going viral thanks to their acoustic renditions of prominent pop songs like Despacito by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee.
Just a quick glance at their YouTube channel reveals the sheer breadth of their covers, from Evanescence to Gnarls Barkley songs.
But enough of the fluff, what about the numbers? Neoni have gone from zero to 100 (and then some) in their Spotify followers over the last 28 day period, which far surpasses any growth they’re seeing on other platforms. Their Instagram follower growth is down, in fact, by .6 percent, and their SoundCloud followers are up by only .9 percent.
From May 14 to May 15, Neoni’s follower count skyrocketed from 179 to 16,730, which is interesting, because they don’t appear to have been added to any prominent playlists.
While this smells like a metadata error at first sniff, a closer whiff shows why it’s not.
What that exponential growth tells us is that Neoni either just joined Spotify within the last month and happened to bring some of their YouTube popularity with them all of the sudden, or…. something else is going on.
Ah, the power of a name change. With a little digging, we find that Neoni used to be called Facing West, and the Powell sisters announced their official name change on Instagram on May 4.
Looking at Facing West’s Spotify follower stats reveals an astonishing drop from 16,682 to 59. Can you guess when that happened? Yep, May 14 to May 15.
It might have taken 10 days, but through their label or distributor, the sisters were able to transfer their Spotify follower count from Facing West to Neoni, which accounts for the lopsided, and ultimately deceiving, growth percentage for Neoni’s Spotify followers.
All that to say, sometimes, numbers can be deceiving if you’re not looking at the bigger picture.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, May 31st, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
Happy Friday, have a great weekend, and see you on Monday!

2019-05-30 // Excursion Thursday: Tokyo, Japan May 30, 2019

Highlights
- It’s Excursion Thursday, we’re teleporting to Tokyo, Japan, where local music matters for Spotify and Instagram, but not for Shazam. What does that say about public and private listening habits in Tokyo?
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday, May 30th, 2019.
Excursion Thursday:
- As Japan’s capital and the world’s largest city with a population of around 38 million, Tokyo is the heart of the No. 2 music market in the world.
- Despite streaming’s rescue of the global music industry from a $14.6B decline in global revenue since the 2000s, a lot of Japanese simply don’t care as 71% of their local recorded music revenue in 2018 came from physical sales.
- Along with their love of physical music goods, Japan’s consumer base also remains faithful to its local artists. According to Ichiro Asatsuma, Chairman of Fujipacific Music., the breakdown of the country’s physical sales is typically 85-90% Japanese repertoire and 10-15% international.
- Now how does this percentage distribution hold up in Tokyo’s digital market?
- Looking at Top Artists by Spotify Monthly Listeners in the past month, 18 of the top 25 are Japanese, and by recent Instagram Followers, 15 of the Top 25 Artists are also local.
- But Spotify and Instagram are generally more private platforms when it comes to use, at least in comparison to an audio fingerprinting app like Shazam, which is utilized in a public space like a bar or a club.
- So, what’s the Shazam spread look like? Of the 25 Top Artists by Shazam Chart Occurrences in the past month, only three are Japanese.
- So recently, locals tend to prefer Japanese artists on Spotify and Instagram, at 72 and 60 percent respectively, but not at quite the same 85-90 percent distribution that Asatsuma suggests for physical.
- On Shazam, the preference for Japanese artists bottoms out at only 12% domestic.
- This suggests that Tokyo locals are more likely to listen to their fellow countrymen and women when they’re in a personal streaming mode and they’re simply curious about foreign music when they’re in a public environment.
- But YouTube, arguably the most “global” platform of this bunch and the 2nd most visited website in the world, seems to have more of a globalizing effect on Tokyo’s use of it.
- Looking at Top Artists by local YouTube Video Views, only eight of the top 25 are Japanese. Same story when it comes to Top Tracks by local YouTube Views, with just three of the top 10 originating in Japan. That’s a 32 and a 30 percent distribution, respectively, indicating international preference just might increase the more global the streaming platform gets.
- Granted, these streaming stats are from the last 28 days, so they’re more current, and also susceptible to fluctuation and recent releases...so if a few Japanese bangers make some great YouTube videos next month, then the numbers might be telling a different story.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday, May 30th, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Thursday, see you tomorrow!

2019-05-29 // Winner Wednesday: Does SoundCloud Have More Edge? May 29, 2019

Highlights

It’s Winner Wednesday, and we’re scanning the top of the SoundCloud and QQ Music charts to see what moods are winning out on two very different streaming platforms.

Mission

Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.

Date

This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, May 29th, 2019.

Winner Wednesday:

Welcome back to this week’s Winner Wednesday, where we’re scanning the SoundCloud and QQ Music charts to see what song valences are winning out on those two very different streaming platforms.
First, what the heck is valence? Think of it as the mood or emotional quality of a track. With high valence songs, there’s going to be more positive or cheerful energy, and low valence songs are going to sound a bit more negative, sad, or angry. In other words, 100 percent valence suggests a song might be the happiest you’ve ever heard. 0 percent valence suggests it’s going to be downright depressing.
Note that we measure valence irrespective of lyrical content, so there’s plenty potential for a low valence song to have uplifting lyrics, but that’s not typically the case.
Looking at the top of the SoundCloud charts for May 18-24, there’s a clear and unsurprising frontrunner when it comes to genre: hip-hop. In fact, the genre overwhelms the Top 100 consistently, making the Swedish-founded streaming service almost exclusively important to the rap scene.
Why does this matter for valence? SoundCloud was crucial for helping niche sub-genres like emo rap and trap — both of which tend to be characterized by melancholy — go mainstream. So much so, in fact, that dark and gritty “SoundCloud rap” has become a genre altogether.
So, is it borne out in the data? For the most part, yes. At No. 1, “Shotta Flow” by NLE Choppa has a 45 percent valence measurement; at No. 3, “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X is at 47 percent; and if we dip down to No. 4 and No. 5, “Pop Out” by Polo G featuring Lil TJay is only at 25 percent and Earfquake by Tyler, the Creator is only at 41 percent. The outlier here is “Suge” by DaBaby, which is at No. 2 with 85 percent valence.
And that brings us to Chinese streaming service and Tencent subsidiary, QQ Music.
Looking at the platform’s Western Music Chart behavior during a similar timeframe, pop and dance are the genre frontrunners, with 50 of 96 songs tagged with those genre identifiers.
Here, hip-hop only accounts for eight.
With pop and dance frontloading QQ Music’s Western Music Chart, you’d probably expect high valence songs at the top. Would you be right?
“Me!” by Taylor Swift featuring Panic! At the Disco’s Brendon Urie, “Rescue Me” by One Republic, and “If I Can’t Have You” by Shawn Mendes hit the high notes here with 66, 64, and 82 percent valence measurements, respectively. But Carly Rae Jepsen and Lana Del Rey, at No. 4 and No. 5, bring out our sensitive side with 37 and 45 percent.
Taking the average valence of the top five on each of these charts gives us a total score of 48.6 percent valence for SoundCloud. QQ Music, meanwhile, is a bit less moody at 58.8 percent valence.
So, does SoundCloud have more edge? We can’t say that definitively across the board, but we can say that the top of the SoundCloud Chart is less positively valenced than the top of QQ’s Western Music Chart when it comes to mood — and it’s all in the genres each streaming service caters to, which might suggest something about audience geography. Does China have a bigger appetite for happy pop than Westerners with a palette more open to edgy rap?

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, May 29th, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
Have a winning Wednesday, see you tomorrow!

2019-05-28 // New Music Friday Tuesday: Apple’s Best of the Week & Labels May 28, 2019

Highlights
- Major labels usually dominate top music playlists, but Apple’s Global Release Day playlist, Best of the Week, tells a different story.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tuesday, May 28th, 2019.
New Music Friday Monday:
- Hope the American listeners enjoyed Memorial Day and those in the UK Spring Bank Holiday, welcome back to the work week.
- On this New Music Friday Tuesday, we’re revisiting the newest adds to Apple Music’s Best of the Week playlist in the US storefront since we last looked in late March.
- Like Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist, it updates every Global Release Friday.
- With a 28-Day Add Ratio of 100 percent, it’s obviously the most frontline of frontline playlists, and brings 67 new songs to our attention this week.
- In the No. 1, 2, and 3 spots on Friday’s playlist positioning are Ed Sheeran, Young Thug, and YG, with tracks released by Warner and Universal subsidiaries.
- No real surprise here, but new deals and labels are making the spread a bit more interesting: only 11 of the 67 tracks this week were owned and operated by majors, just over 16%.
- The funky track “Playground” by The Internet guitarist and recent Vampire Weekend collaborator Steve Lacy bucks the major label trend altogether with a partnership between music startup 3qtr (Three Quarter), who consider themselves part record label, venture capital, management, and PR firm, and label services company AWAL, or Artists Without a Label, which is owned by publishing and tech firm Kobalt, currently neck and neck with the majors when it comes to market share in publishing.
- At the #5 position on the US Best of the Week is Clairo with chilled-out track “Bags,” who is operating under a 12-song licensing deal with the FADER Label, something that’s becoming increasingly popular for artists wanting to retain ownership and creative control over their copyrights.
- With over 12 million monthly listeners on Spotify, Chance the Rapper released the mid-tempo jam “Cross Me” with Ed Sheeran in the #1 position, still a poster boy for the DIY artist career track.
- Flying Lotus is back in the mix, with a Denzel Curry cameo on “Black Balloons Reprise” and the Warp Records release of his sixth studio album, Flamagra. While presumably a traditional deal, the British electronic label Warp is another notable indie at the top of this week’s best.
- Throwing in other new releases from Google-backed 300 Entertainment, indie country giant Big Machine Label Group, and K-pop’s enormous SM Entertainment agency…what defines “major” and ”indie” starts to get dicey at best.
- The majors might still have the lion’s share of the industry, but this week’s Best of the Week mixes things up and shows today’s artists what a variety of potential career options could look like.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Tuesday, May 28th, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Tuesday, see you tomorrow!

2019-05-24 // What Do J-Pop, Texas Rap, and Swedish Folk Have in Common? May 24, 2019

Highlights

It’s Found on Friday, and we’re digging in with our A&R tool to find breaking artists based on YouTube Channel Views, and that’s important, because YouTube is technically the most popular streaming platform in the world.

Mission

Good morning, it’s Rutger again at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.

Date

This is your Data Dump for Friday, May 24th 2019.

Found on Friday: Momoiro Clover Z, Yella Beezy & Junip

Welcome back to Found on Friday. We’re digging in with our A&R tool to find artists breaking through the surface in a global way.
If we search according to highest growth percentage in YouTube Channel Views, we land on three artists with notable momentum on YouTube right now: Momoiro Clover Z, Yella Beezy, and Junip.
First up, J-pop group, let's call them MCZ for short, the first to make theme music for Sailor Moon, Pokémon,AND Dragonball Z, in addition to being the fourth highest grossing artist in Japan in 2013, based on CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray sales — yes, physical is still VERY important in the Japanese music market — they've experienced a 14 percent growth in their YouTube channel views over the last 28-day period.
Their Spotify monthly listeners have spiked almost 29 percent over the last 30 days as well. But the group is not new, so what shot them to the top of the breaking list? Well ... they did just come out with a new album on May 17th.…
Just about tied with MCZ is Texas rapper Yella Beezy, whose growth percentage is up to 14.4 percent this period from the previous 30 days’ 9.5 percent.
Yella Beezy, whose latest track features Gucci Mane and Quavo from Migos, also soared 16 spots from No. 50 to No. 34 on Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart.
Switching gears altogether now for Sweden’s folk rock duo Junip, composed of soft-spoken singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez and Tobias Winterkorn, who experienced a 13 percent jump in the last 28 day-period. This correlates with a 10.2 percent increase in their YouTube channel subscribers over the last 30 days, which is surprising, as it doesn’t look like they’ve released anything recently…. Maybe fans of Rogue Wave and Ben Howard got turned on to them? We don’t know. What we do know is Junip’s monthly Spotify listeners dropped an estimated .2 percent in the last 30 days, but their Spotify followers increased .4 percent in the same period. So, no, not all streaming services are created equal.
Check out these stats: YouTube is technically the biggest music streaming source in the world, with close to a billion users consuming music via user upload video streaming. Compare that with just over 200 million users consuming music via “traditional” streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, and the importance of YouTube stats as some indication of an artist’s digital presence worldwide becomes clear.
So there you have it — a Japanese idol group, a Texas rapper, and a Swedish folk duo comprise an eclectic trio of international artists on a YouTube hot streak right now.

Outro

That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, May 24th 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
Happy Friday, see you tomorrow!

2019-05-23 // Excursion Thursday: Mumbai, India May 23, 2019

Highlights
- Grab your passports, it’s Excursion Thursday, and we’re headed to Mumbai, India’s largest city and Spotify’s largest potential market.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday, May 23rd, 2019.
Excursion Thursday: Mumbai
- On today’s Excursion Thursday, we’re taking off to India’s most populated city, Mumbai, which has quickly become a testing ground for Spotify’s global expansion strategy.
- Until 1995, the “Hollywood of India” was also called Bombay, what many in India saw as a vestige of British colonialism, hence the name change. The city’s booming movie industry lends the city its other famous moniker, “Bollywood”.
- Mumbai is not only the wealthiest city in India, but it’s also arguably the financial, arts, and entertainment capital of the entire country with an estimated 22.5 million Mumbaikars more than doubling the population of New York City!
- It’s clear why Spotify’s weathering its recent challenges in-country, as India’s population is currently at 1.4 billion and climbing — that’s almost 20 percent of everybody on earth, while North America comprises around 5 percent.
- So, if Spotify’s been able to acquire an estimated 50M monthly active users out of North America’s 366M people and an estimated 60M monthly active users out of Europe’s 743M people, that gives them a market penetration rate lying somewhere between 8 and 15 percent. Apply that to a population of 1.4B, and SPOT’s stock price will rise, for sure.
- So, based on the city’s listening profile….how’s it going? Unfortunately, it’s too early to tap into Spotify’s local monthly listeners, but we can at least look at other Western platforms that are operating there.
- Mumbai’s Shazam and YouTube charts definitely reflect the battle between domestic and foreign repertoire preferences.
- According to the Top 90 tracks by Shazam Chart Occurrences in the past month, a total of 22 bear Indian ISRC codes. That’s around 25% of total Shazam’d tracks we captured, while there are 38 US-based ISRCs present, about 40%.
- Moving to Shazam’s most charted artists in Mumbai over the last 30 days, American rappers Swae Lee and Lil Nas X come in 1st and 3rd with 52 and 47 chart appearances, respectively, and Puerto Rican singer Farruko in 2nd with 50. Fourth and 5th place go to film music composers Vishal-Shekhar and star singer Arijit Singh with 42 and 41 chart appearances each.
- Using Top Tracks by YouTube Views, we see a mixed bag at the top, with T. Swift and Brendon Urie’s “Me!” at 235K average daily views and Katy Perry and Migos’ “Bon Appétit” at 77K daily views in 1st and 3rd place respectively. Second place goes to “Aankh Mare” from Bollywood movie Simmba sitting pretty at 188K views.
- Genre-wise on the Shazam charts in the past month, it’s still a battle between local and foreign fare: with Hip-Hop at 11 genre tags from mostly American artists, Dance at 15 genre tags from an international artist roster, and Pop at 22 genre tags from both Western and Indian artists.
- Twelve of Pop genre tags are from domestic artists, suggesting there’s a slight skew in the past month toward the local when it comes to the genre.
- While Spotify competes with the entrenched Indian streaming service JioSaavn, partly headquartered in Mumbai and specializing in Bollywood music , Mumbai’s demand for both Indian and Western music will prove to either be Spotify’s ace in the hole or rock in its shoe.
Outro
- That’s a wrap for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday, May 23nd, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Hope you’re not too jet-lagged from today’s Excursion Thursday, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

2019-05-22 // Winner Wednesday: Deezer & Spotify Charts...Which Are More Global? May 22, 2019

Highlights
- It’s Winner Wednesday again, and we’re looking at who’s hot on the Spotify and Deezer charts to examine just how global Europe’s biggest streaming services are?
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019.
Winner Wednesday: Deezer & Spotify...who's more global?
- On today’s Winner Wednesday, we’re looking at who’s hot on Europe’s biggest streaming services, Spotify and Deezer, on their Top 200 Spotify and Top 100 Deezer track charts for May 20th.
- The #1 and #2 tracks are the same across both platforms, with “emerging artists” Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber taking the lead spot with “I Don’t Care”, tallying 58.4M streams on Spotify this week and having a 10/10 popularity score on Deezer.
- Holding strong for almost two months now, Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” occupies the #2 position on both apps, with 41.4M streams on Spotify this week and a 9.95/10 popularity score on Deezer currently.
- But starting from #3 down, the differences between Sweden’s Spotify and France’s Deezer are as wide as the North Sea in between them.
- For example, Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Old Town Road (Remix)” was 3rd on Spotify’s chart but only 9th on Deezer, where Daddy Yankee’s “Con Calma” took 3rd on Deezer but only 14th on Spotify.
- Shawn Mendes and the late Avicii both appear in each platform’s Top 10 in different places, but otherwise the tracks are completely different.
- Let’s look at the daily chart summaries: Billie Eilish has 13 songs on Spotify’s Top 200 chart, followed by Tyler, the Creator with 11, Post Malone with 8, with Cardi B and Khalid at 6 tracks each.
- On Deezer, a blast from the past: Neue Deutsche Härte (or German industrial metal) group Rammstein hold the top spot with 10 tracks in the Deezer Top 100 since their May 17th self-titled album release.
- For those that were of musical awareness in 1998, the German rockers managed to peak on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart at #20 and even appear on MTV’s Total Request Live, which was then the epicenter of US pop culture.
- Puerto Rico’s Ozuna followed Rammstein with 8 tracks in the Deezer Top 100, and fellow reggaeton kings Daddy Yankee, J Balvin and Anuel AA took the 3rd, 4th and 5th spot with 6 tracks each that day.
- Note that Spotify’s most placed artists this week are decidedly American, while Deezer’s winners are German, Colombian, and Puerto Rican. So, is Deezer the more global streaming service between the two?
- Well technically, yes: Deezer is operating in 187 countries compared to Spotify’s 79, though stateside, the now publicly-traded Spotify takes up most of our headlines.
- But remember: Deezer really just started expanding into the U.S. since 2016, and is privately owned by American conglomerate Access Industries, who also happens to own all of Warner Music Group.
- So keep your eyes peeled for different charts and each platform’s preferences, as it always helps to remember that no matter where your fans come from, Spotify, Deezer, YouTube, Apple Music, and Amazon listeners all buy the same concert ticket!
Outro
- That’s a wrap for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Have a winning Wednesday, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

2019-05-21 // Technique Tuesday: Curating the Curators May 20, 2019

Highlights
- This Technique Tuesday brings you a fresh way to take a bite out of your data by learning how to curate the curators, the streaming world’s sometimes mysterious movers and doers.
Mission
- No, this isn’t Jason with a cold; it’s Chartmetric’s newest voice, Rutger Rosenborg, and I’m happy to be here uploading charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tuesday, May 21st, 2019.
Technique Tuesday: Curating the Curators
- On today’s Technique Tuesday, we’re bringing you a fresh way to take a bite out of your data with a spoonful of meta-curation.
- Curators are the sometimes mysterious movers and doers of the streaming world determining what’s hot, what’s not, and what might have a shot — and all with a playlist.
- It might not be a surprise to anyone that Apple and Spotify are themselves the biggest curators in the streaming world — after all, they control their own DSPs.
- Let’s look at the green giant, Spotify, which has a whopping 7,000-plus self-curated playlists to its name…. with a staggering 1.1 billion followers. How does that work, if its total user count is something like 200 million, counting both premium and ad-based users? Well, users must like Spotify playlists enough to subscribe to tons of them.
- On the other side of the ring, despite its lower worldwide subscriber count, as a curator, Apple boasts more than twice the number of playlists than Spotify at around 17,500, all said and done.
- C’est tout? Non, less is more for French streaming service Deezer, which interestingly features official curators composed of a combination of geographic or genre based anonymous “editors” and face-forward “editors” like Fabio from Brazil, Emilia from Romania, and Stanislav from Russia. While Deezer’s playlist count is low, on the order of 1,500 or so dispersed amongst some 40-odd official Deezer editors, each editor ranges from thousands to multi-millions of followers.
- There’s also Amazon’s mysterious Music Experts, who dictate all 2,800 playlists in their ecosystem, from “All Hits” to “Country Heat,” and “Pop Culture” to “I Miss the ‘90s.” “Cleaning the House” is a good one too, by the way.
- But we’re talking macro level here. Let’s get into the weeds. As a curator, Spotify is clearly geared toward frontline pop hits, with its “Today’s Top Hits” playlist absolutely dominating the platform in terms of both listenership, at an estimated 5.7 million a month, and also follower count, at 23.2 million. Apple Music, on the other hand, is a bit more evenly dispersed, with its Hip-Hop, Alternative, and Pop sub-curators sitting at around 1,300 playlists each. Jazz, Rock, Indie, and Country hover between 800 and 1,000. Deezer is a bit more difficult to parse, numbers wise, because its curation focus is more geographic based. Suffice it to say, you’re probably not going to want to hit up Fabio for a Country Western pitch anytime soon.
- Still too macro? Then it’s microscope time. What about those other curators — you know, the ones who aren’t necessarily funded by billion-dollar corporations.
- On second thought … Fltr, Digster, and Topsify are three of the biggest third-party playlist curators, and they’re owned by Sony, Universal, and Warner, respectively. While it’s no secret where their curation interests lie, there are still the classic DJ tastemakers like Dmitri Vegas & Like Mike, who boast close to 2 million EDM-focused followers, or market-specific influencers like Hugo Gloss with 1.4 million Brazil-focused followers.
- What’s clear here is that Spotify and Deezer are somewhat more democratic and accessible platforms for individual tastemakers with some skin in the game. Aside from prominent artists, individual users have managed to rack up hundreds of thousands of followers and exert influence on the playlist game. Apple Music and Amazon Music, on the other hand, have a tighter grip on the curation wheel, making their platforms more difficult to penetrate for third-party tastemakers.
Outro
- That’s a wrap for your Daily Data Dump for Tuesday, May 21st, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Have a good rest of your Tuesday, and long live King Bran the Broken!

2019-05-20 // New Music Friday Monday: Amazon’s Brand New Music playlist May 20, 2019

Highlights
- Amazon Music’s Brand New Music playlist features a few new Friday releases similar to Spotify and Apple, we’ve got the quick rundown for you
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Monday May 20th 2019.
New Music Friday Monday: Amazon’s Brand New Music playlist
- It’s New Music Friday Monday and we’re looking at Amazon’s Brand New Music playlist that updated on Friday before the weekend.
- Brand New Music is essentially the tech giant’s version of Spotify’s New Music Friday, currently featuring 70 tracks from big stars to legacy acts to up and comers.
- In the #1 playlist position is the DJ Khaled’s latest track featuring John Legend and the late Nipsey Hussle on “Higher”. Halsey’s “Nightmare” pulls up in the #2 spot while The Black Keys make their comeback with the new single “Go”, coming into the #3 position.
- The three major labels have the most singles on the list this week, with UMG having 14, Sony at 11 and Warner Music at 7. However, there is no shortage of independent labels on the list either, with 4AD, 300 Entertainment and AOMG all representing with one track each.
- Genre-wise, about 30% of the playlist’s tracks feature the “pop” genre tag, the most out of all genres, with Madonna, Mark Ronson and Charli XCX feat. Lizzo in that group.
- “Hip-hop/rap” takes 2nd place with another 20% of the list’s sound with none other than Wu-Tang Clan debuting a new record to accompany their recently-released Showtime documentary series.
- EDM and rock have 6 and 5% of the tracks respectively to round things out, with Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and Maddie & Tae contributing to the “country” genre tags for a total of 4% of the list.
- Brand New Music’s artists this week are mostly from English-speaking countries, almost 85% of it, which fits in nicely with the fact that 72% of the smart speaker market last year was solely based in the US and the UK.
- Between Spotify’s top 10 tracks on the New Music Friday and Brand New Music’s top 10, only 4 of the tracks overlap, coincidentally in the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 7th position.
- And if we throw in Apple Music’s equivalent playlist- Best of the Week- we have the 1st and 2nd position in common with the other two.
- So if you pulled up all three Global Release Day playlists on any of the platforms, you’re guaranteed to hear DJ Khaled and then Halsey, in that order.
- In all three, you’ll also end up hearing Lana Del Rey’s Sublime cover of “Doin’ Time” before you hit track 6.
- There seems to be some slight experimentation going on: for example, you’ll hear Tyler the Creator on all platforms, but his track “WHAT’S GOOD” on Spotify and Amazon, while hearing “EARFQUAKE” on Apple.
- On the Latin front, Colombian rapper Maluma debuts a purely Spanish track “11 PM” on Amazon, while he shows off both Spanish and English vocals on another track, “Tu Vecina (feat. Ty Dolla $ign)” on Apple Music.
- Check out some of these interesting playlist differences for yourself before this Friday comes around!
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Monday May 20th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Monday, see you tomorrow!

2019-05-17 // A rapper, DJ and pop star walk into a bar...and spike in Spotify popularity May 17, 2019

Highlights
- It’s Found on Friday: we dig up an American rapper, a Dutch DJ and Albanian pop star spiking in their Spotify Popularity Index.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday May 17th 2019.
Found on Friday: MAJ, Adam Brown & Xhensila
- It’s Found on Friday where we dip into our A&R tool to find emerging artists making their way into the public eye.
- If we search by the biggest change in Spotify Popularity Index (or SPI) in the past 28 days, we uncover three artists with very different backgrounds: Amercian rapper MAJ, Dutch DJ/producer Adam Brown and Albanian pop star Xhensila.
- I hope I’m saying these artists’ names correctly, here we go.
- Going from 1 to 39 SPI in the past month is MAJ, currently based out of Dallas, Texas, featuring “grunge-inflected production, soulful delivery, and nocturnal hip-hop with stark vulnerability and confessional storytelling.”
- With 155K Spotify monthly listeners and only 3K followers, this gives him a listeners to followers ratio of 51, which for a strong signal for him.
- From April 26th to May 3rd, he enjoyed a #47 slot on the 100-track New Music Friday playlist, which has 3.2M followers currently.
- MAJ is still enjoying a Spotify editorial playlist placement on the Shisha Lounge playlist at 375K followers, but more interestingly, he’s on 27 playlists with more than 10K followers that seem to be focused on sub-culture categories such as “sad” or “emo rap” or gaming culture playlists like EA Sports’ NHL franchise. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that these lower-tier playlists are likely playing a big part in MAJ’s strong rise on the platform.
- Adam Brown in the Netherlands currently has 11 dance music tracks on Spotify, with his latest track “Your Body” being what seems to be driving his SPI rise in the past month from 1 to 31.
- This increase isn’t from Spotify playlisting, as he’s on no editorial playlists, and his biggest one is currently “Dance Hits” by curator globalmusicx with only 6.5K followers.
- The reasons for his jump in SPI in late April is not clear, but by checking his Twitter, it may be from a more organic off-platform source via his own hosted local dance radio show or possibly from club play, given the very electronic music-oriented region and that his #2 and #3 top Spotify monthly listener cities are very locally Dutch: Ermelo and Harderwijk. Definitely butchered those names.
- Last but not least is pop star Xhensila from Albania, who represents the kind of “emerging artist” that is only emerging to the Spotify market, as Xhensila is already a big deal in her part of the world.
- In the past month, she jumped from an SPI of 2 to 56 despite having only 100 monthly listeners with 449 followers for a ratio under 1.
- Her most followed playlist, “Albanian Hits 2019” has 20K followers, but her six total tracks don’t seem to be generating that much attention playlisting wise.
- More than likely, Xhensila’s Spotify popularity is being generated by her 1.3M followers on Instagram, where her streaming link in her IG bio leads to Spotify.
- One of the lessons that can be gleaned here is that Spotify statistics are just Spotify statistics...Xhensila obviously is quite the star in Albania, further proven by her 154K YouTube followers and her nine very popular music videos there, the biggest one hitting 39M views to date.
- So we’ll leave you for the weekend with an American rapper, Dutch DJ and Albanian pop queen to explore...three different paths, three different vibes.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday May 17th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Friday, see you tomorrow!

2019-05-16 // Where the heck is Quezon City? May 16, 2019

Highlights
- It’s Excursion Thursday and we’ll be exploring the music tastes of not London, not New York, not LA….but Quezon City. Don’t know where that is? Well, pack your bags.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday May 16th 2019.
Excursion Thursday: Quezon City
- We’re trying out a new segment called Excursion Thursday where we explore the music profile of a city or region and see what’s good.
- And for kicks, let’s start out with a city you may frequently see in your own streaming platform data but may not be that familiar with: Quezon City in the Philippines.
- If you’re not familiar with the Philippines, it’s a country in SE Asia. South of Taiwan, east of Vietnam, and north of Indonesia.
- It’s really thousands of islands that also feature two official languages: Tagalog and English. This is obviously important for the Western music market and definitely a factor in why the Philippines can play a huge part in how English language artists fare in the region.
- For example, American singer Khalid currently has the most Spotify monthly listeners on the entire Swedish platform at 49.6M.
- While his most popular Spotify cities are LA and London at 1M monthly listeners, and Chicago, Dallas and NYC between 800K to 1M...Quezon City silently pulls up in the #6 spot with a whopping 769K monthly listeners. Not bad for a city you might have not known about.
- Examples in other genres include rapper Travis Scott pulling 202K local monthly listeners and English pop rockers the 1975 featuring 126K themselves.
- Now, Quezon City sits adjacent to Manila, the country’s capital, and loosely speaking, is what Orange County is to Los Angeles, or what Brooklyn is to Manhattan: a bigger, heavily populated extension of its more popular sister city.
- Besides the language connection, part of what is likely driving such strong streaming activity specific to Quezon City is the fact that two of the country’s most popular universities- the University of the Philippines Diliman and Ateneo de Manila- are also located here.
- Some of the top artists by YouTube video daily views show more of a regional focus: K-pop supergroup BLACKPINK currently has 496K local daily views, BTS 215K and Korea/Japan-focused girl group TWICE at 136K.
- However Western artists still stand toe to toe, with Taylor Swift at 253K local daily views, Post Malone coming in at 127K and Brad Kane at 241K.
- Wait what? Who’s Brad Kane, you say? Well, if you were around for the original Disney animated movie Aladdin in 1992, he was the original singing voice for main character on the soundtrack.
- And how does this make sense in Quezon City? Well, if you don’t have any Filipino friends, suffice it to say that karaoke is a national pastime, and well, practicing the Disney hits are probably a part of what’s going on here.
- Now when it comes to Instagram, this is a whole other world. While in the States, Instagram is the natural social media backdrop to the music industry, Western artists just aren’t that popular for Quezon City citizens.
- As a matter of fact, the first Western music artist that shows up on our top followed IG artists is Hailee Steinfeld in 58th place at 62K. And before her are a legion of Filipino artists who, like Steinfeld, either bounce between the worlds of music/TV/film or make OPM.
- Now if you don’t know what OPM is, that stands for Original Pilipino Music, which stands next to the country’s love for Western music, as a matter of pride in their domestic artistry.
- It’s so popular that Spotify made an OPM hub that Music Ally wrote about back in February. The star playlist is called Tatak Pinoy, featuring OPM music and over 1M followers to date...check it out!
- So next time you see Quezon City in your streaming data, hopefully this will put some context to it...and while you’re at it, might as well license your tunes to Filipino karaoke bars posthaste!
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday May 16th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Thursday, see you tomorrow!

2019-05-15 // Who's Trending by Apple Music Playlist Adds? It's not just Taylor Swift May 15, 2019

Highlights
- It’s Winner Wednesday and we’re looking at who got added to the most Apple Music playlists in the past 30 days...and the winner is the polar opposite of Taylor Swift!
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday May 15th 2019.
Winner Wednesdays: Apple Music “Trending on Playlists”
- One chart that we like to check out occasionally is the “Trending on Playlists” chart that we compile here at Chartmetric.
- Trending on Playlists finds the tracks that were added to the most playlists in the past 30 days and sorts them in descending order.
- So we’re essentially looking at not just what the editorial playlists are doing, but also what the 3rd party curators are including to see what the platform’s entire user base is favoring. This is useful because it’s theoretically closer to what “the people” are interested in, as opposed to just what the platform itself is trying to promote.
- But in addition to that, it tends to uncover interesting mini-trends that are underway yet likely unnoticed.
- Let’s check this out for Apple Music. For yesterday, May 14th, we see a few things that are totally expected.
- For example, of the top 200 trending in playlists tracks, the #1 most popular genre tag is “pop” at 52 instances. Hardly surprising. Neither is the #2 genre tag, “hip-hop/rap” at 28 instances.
- When we look at the top most added tracks, we find familiar faces: Taylor Swift leads in the #1 slot with “ME! (feat. Brendon Urie)”, which was released about 3 weeks ago and added to 236 Apple Music playlists since then.
- Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber’s new “I Don’t Care” single was barely in 2nd place with 234 playlist adds and only released last week, and Shawn Mendes’ 2-week-old “If I Can’t Have You” comes in 3rd place with 223 playlist adds.
- The #4 and #5 entries show a significant dropoff at 123 and 101 adds respectfully, which go to Kygo and Rita Ora’s single off the new Pokémon movie soundtrack and Madonna’s recent Latin collaboration with Maluma.
- The rest of the top 200 are below 100 playlist adds and slope down more gently...this shows that at least for yesterday, the cumulative playlist adds are very focused on only a handful of tracks. A few spot checks earlier in 2019 show the same trend on Apple Music. So it’s good to be in the limelight….if you’re one of the chosen few.
- Another neat trend is about ¾ of the top 200 trending in playlists tracks are 1 week to 1 month old, and if you include the really new releases within 1 week, you are looking at 90% of the list.
- This is certainly expected as new releases would tend to be what’s added to the most playlists in the past 30 days.
- But what might be surprising is that 21 of these tracks are pre-releases, which is an Apple Music exclusive feature to date: Madonna and Maluma’s track, Mark Ronson’s new release with Lykke Li and 19 other tracks haven’t been officially released with their album, because those dates are still in the future.
- This goes to show that Apple is clearly using this new pre-release mechanism to great effect with some of the industry’ biggest names as something that helps Apple promote Apple, as well as artists pump up their stream counts and saves upon official album release.
- Last but not least, a third cool insight about trending on playlists are some of the lesser known music that gets highlighted: for example, the label with the most playlist adds yesterday was not a major, but indie label Moon Blanket Records with 25 tracks, far ahead of the second place label with only 10.
- Moon Blanket runs music for the two most added artists yesterday- Cover Kid with 15 adds and Filtered Light with 10- who respectively make relaxation music.
- Cover Kid’s playlist adds include piano soundtrack renditions from popular American animated films like “Up”, “Mulan” and “Inside Out”, while Filtered Light produces religious flute-oriented instrumental tracks.
- And if you think their adds don’t sound like much, Cover Kid has 518 unique track-playlist instances throughout the Apple Music ecosystem while Filtered Light has 859...which is pretty awesome for any act, let alone an indie label.
- So if you’re looking for some unique playlist behavior, feel free to check out any of our Trending on Playlist charts...and in the meantime, I’m going to go learn the flute.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday May 15th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Wednesday, see you tomorrow!

2019-05-14 // Tour Planning as If You're Carly Rae Jepsen May 14, 2019

Highlights
- It’s Technique Tuesday and you’re Carly Rae Jepsen booking a fall tour...how do you select your opening acts using data?
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tuesday May 14th 2019.
Technique Tuesday: Advanced Artist Filtering & Opening Act Planning
- You’re Carly Rae Jepsen, and you just had a super cool Rolling Stone music feature. Next up? Scheduling a tour, of course.
- You’re looking for a few emerging acts to reach out to that have a similar but different sound, a partially-common audience to boost ticket sales and availability to tour in Canada later this year.
- But how can we use data to do this? Well first things first, let’s take stock of how you’re doing.
- I’ve got 3.3M Spotify followers. If I look at my Neighboring Artists tool, I can see that Troye Sivan has about the same amount of followers...but 3x as many monthly listeners at 22M...he’s red hot! I can’t be out-shown.
- Carrie Underwood has about as many followers as me and less monthly listeners at 4.5M...but the genre-match probably isn’t so great since she’s country and I’m more disco-pop.
- Hmm, let me click out to 10 neighboring artists instead of 5….click, click...ooo! Fun.! I love fun. What have they been up to lately? I’ll give them a call.
- So what else can I do? How about the Advanced Filters in the Artist List tool? Sweet.
- So I know I’ve got about 8.5M Spotify monthly listeners and a 75 out of 100 on the Spotify Popularity Index. Pretty nice. Let’s search some artists slightly below those stats...let’s try 4 to 6M monthly listeners. Type type type click.
- 333 artists returned, awesome! Who’ve we got….Desiigner at 6M listeners? Somehow, I think that could totally be cool, but who else we got?
- Nina Nesbitt! Love her! Her Popularity Index is at 72, right around me! Got to call her. Ooo, Sigrid at 5.6M listeners! Love that Norwegian pop, calling her...Tyler, the Creator?! He’s at an 81 Popularity Index and 5.5M listeners...it’s a long shot, but what the heck, let’s try.
- How else can we get more people to call….well, I want to have a big first tour date in Vancouver because that’s where my formative years were, so let’s check the Cities Page for there. Click, click, click.
- Vancouver...alright, what have you been listening to lately?
- Looks like in the past 30 days, according to recent Shazam genre tags, it’s mostly pop with 28! Nice. Ooo, and in 3rd place is Dance with 13 tags. Done, Vancouver, I’m coming back home soon.
- Alright, who are some hometown heroes I can call?
- Nickelback? Ehh. Felix Cartal, who’s that? 2.7M monthly listeners, impressive. Let’s click through to his profile….oooo, disco vibes? Love it. On the list.
- Let’s see who else….oh Teagan and Sara?! Of course! Our fans totally crossover, how’d I not think of them. Done.
- Well let’s see...that’s six awesome, relevant artists to call up that we got in a few minutes’ work. Not bad, Chartmetric, not bad!
Outro
- Why thank you, Carly Rae!
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Tuesday May 14th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Tuesday, see you tomorrow!

2019-05-13 // The Bottom of Spotify's New Music Friday May 13, 2019

Highlights
- Who’s at the bottom of Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist? We’ll explore three acts who aren’t at the top of said list, but are succeeding in their own ways.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Monday May 13th 2019.
The Bottom of Spotify’s New Music Friday
- It’s New Music Friday Monday, and in keeping with tradition, the top spots of Spotify’s premier Global Release Day playlist- New Music Friday (or NMF)- go to the industry’s biggest and brightest.
- Debuting to the list’s 3.2M followers, Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber take the #1 spot with the dancehall-flavored pop track “I Don’t Care”, Logic and Gucci Mane’s “Icy” takes the #2 position, and the late Avicii and crew occupy the #3 spot with the dance record “Tough Love.”
- But Spotify’s NMF is 100 tracks long...so who’s at the bottom of the list and what are they up to?
- Let’s take a look at three acts occupying the bottom 10%: Emotional Oranges in the 93rd, Vince Gill in the 95th and Dutch Melrose in the 100th spot.
- Soulful, chill vibes duo Emotional Oranges seems to be the type of artist you’d expect to find here: a new group with a distinct, trendy sound with a growing reputation.
- At 722K monthly listeners and 22K followers, this gives them a listeners to follower ratio of 32, which is great for any emerging artist.
- Their amount of monthly listeners puts them in the same ballpark as Hyolyn and ZICO, two well-known Korean artists who are still growing their fan bases outside of East Asia, as well as veteran singer-songwriters Natalie Merchant and Billy Bragg.
- For a new emerging act, this kind of company bodes well for Emotional Oranges, as it shows they are already getting the kind of play that current overseas stars and legacy artists with long-established followings are earning.
- Vince Gill in the 95th position of the New Music Friday list is another legacy artist, but from the country world. One of the genre’s brightest stars in the 1990s, he has a room full of Country Music Awards and Grammys to show for it and surely has nothing left to prove.
- But given Mother’s Day was just yesterday, Gill’s timely ballad “A Letter to My Mama” came out with quite the heartfelt sentiment which earned its placement in Spotify’s list.
- Vince Gill’s 1.1M monthly listeners and 251K followers give him a smaller ratio of about 5, which makes sense given his decades-long career, which will raise his follower count on any platform due to his established public profile alone. Given that country isn’t the strongest genre on Spotify, this also lowers the available market Gill has to stream to.
- Nonetheless, Gill’s monthly listener count puts him in same realm as Lin-Manuel Miranda, who’s star is super-bright but currently off-cycle in terms of recent releases, as well as Broadway star Bette Midler whose work needs little promotion to her fans who already know her work well.
- Last but not least in the 100 spot on New Music Friday is LA-based producer Dutch Melrose with the electronic track “White Wine”.
- Dutch Melrose has 341 followers on Spotify...not 341 thousand, but actually 341, which might be quite unexpected for any artist getting a track onto the NMF playlist.
- He does have over 20K monthly listeners however, likely coming from PopFiltr’s Young and Hot playlist with 345K followers in the #2 position and over 20 other non-editorial playlists he’s placed on.
- This gives him a listener to follower ratio of about 60, which is a great sign for any artist, though a little less meaningful with such a low follower count.
- However, this also does indicate an opportunity for a viral fanbase, if he’s able to engage potential fans via Instagram and other platforms.
- All things said, to grab any spot on Spotify’s New Music Friday as an independent artist with not even 400 followers is quite the feat!
- Good luck to him, Vince Gill and Emotional Oranges as they enjoy the rest of the week on NMF.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Monday May 13th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Monday, see you tomorrow!

2019-05-10 // Amazon Top Country 100 & the Alexa-Genre Complex May 10, 2019

Highlights
- Amazon Music’s Top 100 Country chart features a wide selection of artists, but their long time on chart suggests a wider platform trend towards stagnancy in several genres
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday May 10th 2019.
Amazon Music: Top 100 Songs - Country
- On the Amazon Music Top Songs Country chart yesterday, Lil Nas X took the #1 spot with the Billy Ray Cyrus collaboration “Old Town Road”, spending 30 days there so far.
- North Carolina’s Luke Combs took the #2 spot with the ballad “Crazy Beautiful”, only its second day on the chart, despite being released a year ago.
- And the heartbroken lyrics of “Whiskey Glasses” kept its current chart peak at #3 from Tennessee’s Morgan Wallen, after living on the chart for 69 days.
- The Top 100 tracks on the chart feature several artists with a handful records among them: for example, Jason Aldean, Thomas Rhett, Dan + Shay, Florida Georgia Line and Kane Brown all have four tracks charting, while Luke Combs, Maren Morris, Brett Young, Luke Byran and Chris Stapleton all have three.
- Label-wise, the Top 100 also are well-distributed, with Columbia Nashville taking 10 of the tracks, Capitol Records Nashville with 9, and Warner Bros., Broken Bow and RCA Records Nashville all taking 8 tracks each.
Time on Chart & the Alexa-Genre Complex
- In terms of time on chart, the Amazon Top Country 100 is fairly stagnant: 86 of the tracks have been there for at least one month, with 22 of them there for a year and a half! That’s nearly a quarter of a Top 100 chart not changing, and a sign of what I’ll playfully call for now the Alexa-Genre Complex.
- For one of America’s most popular and productive genres, this is fairly bad news for any emerging country artists that are fighting to squeeze into the Alexa-driven platform, while obviously great news for the few top artists benefitting from a stagnant chart.
- If we take a look at a few other Amazon genres, this chart behavior is surprisingly consistent: the Dance/Electronic genre features 87 tracks in its Top 100 that have charted for more than a month with 26 for more than 1.5 years, while 86 records in Rap & Hip Hop charted for a month plus, with 25 for more than 1.5 years.
- The Pop genre also follows suit with 85 tracks for more than a month and 20 for more than 1.5 years.
- It’s almost clockwork how predictable the charts are irrelevant of the genre, and likely says something about Amazon algorithmic behavior rather than each audience’s listening preferences, which would presumably show some sort of differentiation.
- When aggregating all the genres however, the trend somewhat weakens, with only 71 of the top tracks being 1-month plus, which suggests that this trend might be coded just for genre, and is a cascading effect from genre-focused playlisting.
- This would make sense given that when Alexa is engaged, user utterances would likely be something like “Alexa, play some country music” or something similar and giving those top artists more stream time. (sorry if I just triggered your Alexa)
- Another interesting takeaway is how most of the 1.5-year plus tracks stack towards the top third of the chart, and almost exclusively in the Top 50, meaning that the bottom half of the Amazon charts tends to be more fluid.
- So if you’re an emerging artist, expect your success on Amazon Music to be mostly all in or virtually nothing, and if you’re the small population getting lukewarm play, maybe it’s time to make some calls to push that track into that coveted upper Alexa stratosphere.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday May 10th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Friday, have a great weekend!

2019-05-03 // Billboard Music Awards 2019: Ozuna and Lauren Daigle May 03, 2019

Highlights
- Drake took home a bag of Billboard Music Awards, but Ozuna and Lauren Daigle represent for the Latin and CCM fans
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
- FYI - the Chartmetric team will be in Nashville for the Music Biz Conference next week, so if you’re there, please say hello at our Wednesday night panel, but if not, the podcast will be back on Friday May 10th.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday May 3rd 2019.
Billboard Music Awards 2019: Ozuna & Lauren Daigle
- The 2019 Billboard Music Awards, or BBMAs, happened on Wednesday night, and Drake took home the most awards with 12 and Cardi B showing up in 18 categories with 21 nominations total.
- As a US-based company with the finalists determined by their own private award process, it would make sense that Billboard heavily decorated two of the biggest chart-topping artists in the English-speaking West.
- But what about winners that are also big in their own right, but just catering to a different segment of the population?
- Two of those winners are Puerto Rico’s Ozuna and Louisiana native Lauren Daigle. Ozuna is now one of Latin music’s biggest reggaetón artists and Daigle has risen to become a star in the Contemporary Christian Music genre.
- It’s certainly arguable that neither artist should be put into a box, so to say, but the nature of the Billboard Award categories they won in- Top Latin Artist/Album/Song for Ozuna and Top Christian Artist/Album/Song for Daigle- certainly encourage that kind of thinking.
- So in the data, it’s interesting to see how these conceptualizations play out, and where it doesn’t seem to matter much.
- For example, with Ozuna, his mostly Spanish language content obviously plays towards Latin-American areas: his top five Spotify monthly listener cities are Mexico City, Santiago, Madrid, Buenos Aires and Lima.
- With Daigle, hers are Dallas, Paris, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles. A 2015 Gallup poll found that about 75% of the US identify as Christian, so it would make sense that Daigle plays best stateside, but a strong trend in Paris over the last few months is curious.
- In the last three months alone, she grew her unique monthly listeners over 400% to 105K, while in the same time period, the other four top cities grew less than 30%.
- Evidence of her success in the French-speaking capital is the fact that she was added to Paris-based Deezer Music’s #1 playlist- Les titres du moment with 9.8M fans- on April 6th, almost as a recognition that her popularity was cross-platform and not limited to just Spotify.
- For Ozuna, while most of his top YouTube countries are Spanish-speaking (such as Mexico, Argentina and Colombia), his second biggest country is the United States at almost 16% of his Daily Views at 2.8M.
- With the 2017 US Census reporting that 13% or almost 40M Americans speak Spanish, it makes sense that even a mostly English-speaking country outranks other Spanish-speaking countries due to sheer population size.
- For example, Ozuna’s third biggest YouTube country, Argentina, has a total population of 45M, which is only slightly bigger than the US Spanish-speaking population at almost 40M.
- So all of this to say that when targeting an artist’s demographic, it usually pays off to understand their market size and where they are, because some data trends are expected but sometimes, quite unexpected.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday May 3rd 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Friday, have a great weekend! We’ll either see you in Nashville or here on the podcast next Friday!

2019-05-02 // Stagecoach 2019 Emerging Artists: Becca Mancari, Charley Crockett and Ruby Boots May 02, 2019

Highlights
- Country superstars headlined this past weekend’s Stagecoach festival in Indio, California...but who played the early afternoon slots and what does their data look like?
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday May 2nd 2019.
Stagecoach & Non-Headliners
- Stagecoach, “California’s Country Music Festival”, wrapped up this past weekend in Indio, on the same grounds that Coachella had been on the couple weeks prior.
- While superstars Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt and Jason Aldean headlined each day of the weekend festival, what about the non-headliners? Who are they and how are they doing?
- Billed last and in the smallest print on the Stagecoach lineup poster, Becca Mancari, Charley Crockett and Ruby Boots had their chance to make their mark in early afternoon performance slots on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
- Ruby Boots is a Nashville-based Australian with a more edgy indie rock/Americana sound and seems to be the most junior of the three, with 16K monthly listeners and 2K followers on Spotify.
- Mancari sports a softer, acoustic folk persona and has the most monthly listeners at 183K and the best listener to follower ratio at 45.
- Native Texan Charley Crockett goes for a retro album art look to accompany his Southern blues sound, and has the most followers at 17K and the highest Spotify Popularity Index score at 51.
- An interesting takeaway emerges when looking at all three artists’ current playlists: Spotify seems to be the only platform really giving emerging country artists editorial attention.
- Mancari, for example, is currently on 10 Spotify editorial playlists, including Infinite Acoustic at 2M follows, Acoustic Love at 1.4M and Evening Acoustic at 1.3M. Ruby Boots and Crockett are each on four editorial playlists themselves, while all three are on anywhere from 53 to 71 playlists total on the platform if including third-party curators.
- Apple Music and Deezer however, feature none of the emerging country artists on any editorial playlists, which suggests less of a sensitivity towards the genre’s budding talent.
- Amazon Music is somewhere in the middle: the tech giant’s platform includes all three artists on their official Stagecoach 2019 playlist, while Mancari features on Best Folk Songs of 2017 and Autumn Folk Sunset, while Crockett features on New in Blues and Americana Soul.
- In terms of Stagecoach effects, Ruby Boots seems to have gained the most from her live performance: she saw a 74% increase in Spotify monthly listeners in Los Angeles since the day before last weekend, while Mancari only saw 20% and Crockett saw the least at 14%.
- However, what the three artists all have in common is Instagram follower demographics: their male to female balance is about half, while their majority ethnicity is mostly White / Caucasian in the 80 and 90 percentiles.
- Congratulations to these three artists on their big Stagecoard weekend and hopefully we’ll see more of them in the months to come.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday May 2nd 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Thursday, see you tomorrow!

2019-05-01 // Meme Check: It's Gonna Be Me by *NSYNC May 01, 2019

Highlights
- Meme check: It’s May 1st, and the *NSYNC track “It’s Gonna Be Me” becomes a thing again for 24 hours
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday May 1st 2019.
Meme check: It’s Gonna Be Me
- For all the 80s & 90s children out there, we knew where American superstar Justin Timberlake came from, and it’s name was *NSYNC.
- The boy band extraordinaire enjoyed many a hit in their day...but none of them have risen to such internet meme-dom as the track “It’s Gonna Be Me”, off their 2000 album No Strings Attached.
- According to knowyourmeme, it all started in 2012 when a Tumblr post associated the song with the beginning of said month and a picture of Timberlake in his infamous curly hair era. The meme is essentially highlighting the way the singer accented the word “me” to where it sounded like the month of “May”.
- It’s enough of a thing that the American appliance company Maytag is using it in a brilliant ad campaign this year entitled- you guessed it- #itsgonnabemaytag
- Since late 2017, it’s enjoyed a Spotify Popularity Index in the 60s range out of a 100 scale, which is one of *NSYNC’s more popular tracks alongside the mid-tempo “Bye Bye Bye” and ballad “This I Promise You”.
- Throughout 2018, “It’s Gonna Be Me” averaged a YouTube daily view count in the 40-50K range. Around May 1st, it peaked to about 5x its norm to 260K views, and then plateaued out to its average within a few days. It currently sits at 94.7M total views.
- An interesting behavior in its YouTube views is that it doesn’t exhibit the “weekend spike” that usually occurs with popular music. Its pattern actually looks quite random, which could be an interesting insight into how the public interacts with various types of hits according to release date.
- Current Top 40 hits will most likely show strong weekend bumps due to their being included on the most high-profile playlists that get played over the weekend, while older catalog hits are listened to at more random intervals and less susceptible to day of week behaviors.
- “It’s Gonna Be Me” lives out its legacy on various 90s and 2000s best hits playlists, the most popular one being Spotify’s “All Out 90s” at 4.2M followers with the track in the 33rd position out of 90.
- On radio since Sept 2018, it’s only got a handful of daily spins among the most influential 300 US radio stations, though the NE states seem to still love the track.
- The Nassau-Suffolk, New York and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania markets have both aired “It’s Gonna Be Me” 65 and 51 times over the past eight months, and that hasn’t even included May!
- So if you’re looking for a social media wave to ride today, make sure you hashtag properly, because hey #itsgonnabemay
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday May 1st 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy May, see you tomorrow!

2019-04-30 // Technique Tuesday: The Game of Thrones soundtrack & track playlist distribution Apr 30, 2019

Highlights
- Technique Tuesday: The Game of Thrones album drops on Friday and we delve into its tracks’ playlist distribution
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tuesday April 30th 2019.
Technique Tuesday: For The Throne album
- Last Friday, HBO’s Game of Thrones worked with Sony’s Columbia Records to release the 14-track album For The Throne, featuring music inspired by the massive series across pop, rap, Latin, rock and folk genres.
- Three of the tracks were released earlier in the month as teasers to the full-length album, and a few days in, it’s a great time to take a pulse of how its performing in the market.
- We’ll do that by examining how the popularity among its tracks are distributed via their playlisting distribution.
- The fan reaction on Spotify and Apple Music seem to be strong: if measured by total current playlists that the tracks are included on, For the Throne was on~650 playlists on Spotify and ~130 on Apple Music.
- To put that in perspective, it beats out the Greatest Showman soundtrack, which is on ~600 playlists on Spotify, but it wasn’t quite enough for others.
- For example, the Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse soundtrack which was released in December of last year is currently on ~2200 Spotify playlists and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody is on an astonishing ~8900, though that soundtrack benefits from Queen’s tracks pre-existing for decades before they were included in the film’s album.
- It’s worth noting that these albums are just like normal album releases in that they usually depend on a leading track to market the rest of the collection.
- For For The Throne, that track is “Power is Power” by SZA, The Weeknd and Travis Scott, which is on 436 Spotify playlists, including the #17 position on Today’s Top Hits, while the next most playlisted track on the album is “Too Many Gods” by A$AP Rocky and Joey Bada$$ at 128 playlists, which is a decent dropoff.
- The Greatest Showman soundtrack, which is unique among this group as it showcases the fact that its parent film is actually a musical, also shows a fairly well-distributed playlist dropoff among its three most playlisted tracks as they go from ~320, to ~290, then to ~150 playlists.
- With the Spiderman soundtrack however, the dropoff is much higher, as Post Malone and Swae Lee’s massively popular “Sunflower” track is on ~1,850 playlists while the next track is only on ~200.
- Now if a soundtrack is nothing more than a marketing device for its main product, maybe popularity distribution among its tracks is not such a big deal for the TV or film producers, but for the artists involved, it at least shows how much traction the actual music has, as the artists likely got involved for the exposure more than anything else.
- The editorial playlist support is strong on Spotify, with 56 of those lists containing the album tracks, to include Today’s Top Hits at 23M followers, Teen Party at 3.9M and New Music Friday at 3.1M.
- Apple Music’s editorial support however is much weaker, with only one A-List playlist listing any of the album’s tracks, and only three of their A&R-focused “Breaking” playlists (such as Breaking Alternative or Breaking Latino) doing the same.
- So while the marketing support from the actual platforms can be touch and go, it should at least be comforting for For The Throne’s artists, to know that its fans on Spotify at least are getting their GoT fix via their earbuds, in between episodes.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Tuesday April 30th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Tuesday, see you tomorrow!

2019-04-29 // New Music Friday Monday: Deezer’s Brand New UK playlist Apr 29, 2019

Highlights
- It’s New Music Friday Monday: Deezer’s Brand New UK playlist is all about pop this week and dominates Spotify’s New Music Friday playlists by follower count.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Monday April 29th 2019.
Deezer: Brand New UK playlist
- Always astute at differentiating segments of their international user base, Deezer separates several of their New Music Friday playlists by country. So much so that their #3 most followed playlist overall is actually one of them: the Brand New UK playlist.
- At 5.9M fans, this frontline-focused playlist is curated by Adam - their UK & Ireland Editor, who also selects the Deezer Hits UK playlist and Trending Ireland playlists at 334K and 170K fans respectively.
- Over the past year, Brand New UK exhibits a follower count history that curiously looks like a publicly traded stock price: going up for a few months, then going down for a few months.
- It’s currently on an upswing, gaining over 500 fans over the past month, but it’s certainly different from the steady and rarely-wavering follower growth that most of Spotify’s top playlists have shown in recent years.
- Nevertheless, Brand New UK remains one of Deezer’s flagship playlists and this week, is 32% pop, with 31 of the 60 tracks containing the tag.
- Both rap and EDM come next with 7 genre tags each in this week’s list.
- 43% of the artists represented are from the United States, while 33% are from the UK. The rest of the list features artists from eight other territories including Sweden, Brazil, France.
- Leading off in the #1 position is veteran grime rapper Stormzy with “Vossi Bop”, whose music video features actor Idris Elba and marks Stormzy’s first solo release since 2017.
- Taylor Swift takes the #2 slot with Panic! At The Disco’s Brendon Urie for the track “ME!” and Lauv’s new single “Drugs & The Internet” slides into third place.
Brand New UK vs. other NMF playlists
- Comparing with Spotify’s equivalent playlist, New Music Friday, the selection of artists based on nationality becomes quite clear early on.
- On Brand New UK for example, Stormzy leads the top spot while on Spotify’s globally-focused list his track is in 46th place in the 99-track list.
- Taylor Swift’s track position doesn’t change much on either playlist, because well, she’s Taylor Swift, but on Spotify we don’t see our next UK artist until the #12 position with FKA twigs’ “Cellophane”.
- On Deezer, we already get our second UK artist with Nigerian-British Not3s in the #4 spot, who doesn’t show up at all in Spotify’s New Music Friday.
- Genre-wise, the sounds of both playlists are still similar, as New Music Friday has the same top three genres: pop, rap and EDM. However, NMF skews heavier towards rap, as 21 of its tracks are tagged as such, when Deezer’s list only had 7.
- And to make it all more complicated, Spotify has another playlist called New Music Friday UK, which looks much more like Deezer’s Brand New UK, as it has the same top 3 tracks for example.
- Spotify’s version has a majority of UK artists, with 30 of them present in its 86-song list, with US artists coming in second place with 29 artists.
- Despite all of that however, Deezer still wins out as its 5.9M fan playlist far outnumbers Spotify’s 709K followers for its UK NMF playlist, and even its global NMF at 3.1M.
- So if you’re looking to keep up on Global Release Friday for the latest in UK music, check out Brand New UK on Deezer!
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Monday April 29th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Monday, see you tomorrow!

2019-04-26 // Apple Music's Top 100 Album in the US...Beyoncé All Day Apr 26, 2019

Highlights
- Rap maintains its stronghold in Apple Music’s Top 100 Albums yesterday in the US storefront
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday April 26th 2019.
Apple Music: Top 100 Albums
- Rap and Apple Music continue their close relationship on yesterday’s Top 100 Albums chart for the US.
- Across All Genres, however, it was Beyoncé that was on top in the #1 slot with her album Lemonade released back in April 2016.
- While her Coachella live performance album HOMECOMING was released only last week, that only took the #7 spot yesterday.
- If you’re surprised Lemonade made such a strong debut on the chart three years after its release, it’s because it wasn’t even available!
- Her acclaimed album was available only on Tidal prior to Tuesday, and so coinciding with the release of HOMECOMING, it made the Apple album chart very much a Queen B affair.
- Past that, rap by far had the most genre tags present in the Top 100 album list, with 37 tags, while Pop was in second at 9 tags, and R&B/Soul was in third at 4 tags.
- The #2 spot in the album chart was taken by Charlotte, North Carolina rapper DaBaby with his most recent album Baby on Baby released in February and spending 54 days so far on the chart.
- The #3 position yesterday belonged to Billie Eilish, who’s month-old album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? continues its glorious run on the Apple Music platform.
- The Apple Top 100 Albums chart is currently favoring older albums, as 46 of them are more than six months old.
- In fact, only six of the 100 are new releases this week, Schoolboy Q’s Crash Talk being the highest ranking in the #6 position.
- Once albums make it onto the Top 100, they mostly stay for about 1-6 months, as 47 of yesterday’s bunch spent that amount of time on the Top 100 so far.
- Thomas Rhett, Morgan Wallen and Brooks and Dunn represent country in the #71, 91 and 92 positions, while Bad Bunny and Aventura are in the #27 and 34 spots for Latin.
- And worry not, K-pop fans, BTS’ latest album did make the chart at #23 with MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday April 26th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Friday, have a great weekend!

2019-04-25 // Los Angeles: What's Hot in Hollywood? Apr 25, 2019

Highlights
- What’s Los Angeles listening to right now? We’ll dive into their Shazam, YouTube, radio, Songkick and Spotify preferences
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday April 25th 2019.
Cities: Los Angeles
- Let’s play a game!
- New feature: Cities
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday April 25th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Thursday, see you tomorrow!

2019-04-24 // Top 30 Trending Music Videos on YouTube Apr 24, 2019

Highlights
- It’s Winner Wednesday: Rap, Latin and K-pop rule the Top 30 Trending Music Videos on YouTube this week
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday April 24th 2019.
Winner Wednesday: YouTube Trending Music Videos
- The Top Songs on YouTube in the US this week aren’t too surprising, with Lil Nas X continuing to dominate the video streaming platform with an additional 48.2M views for “Old Town Road” feat. Billy Ray Cyrus.
- But if you switch over to the Trending Music Videos, things get a little more interesting: rapper Lil Dicky’s “Earth” takes the #1 Trending YouTube Music Video spot.
- The Philadelphia rapper who frequently releases comedic rap songs with high-profile collaborations does it again, this time for Mother Earth.
- Released on April 18th before Earth Day, the video addressing climate change had 34M views as of yesterday.
- Rap power couple Offset and Cardi B took the #2 spot with “Clout”, while K-pop’s BTS takes the #3 position with their still-hot single featuring Halsey, “Boy With Luv”.
- Latin music took 5 of the top 30 spots, including singles from Becky G & Maluma, Bad Bunny and Daddy Yankee, but the highlight is probably the reunion of New York City’s bachata legends Aventura, releasing their first new music in almost a decade with the video “Immortal” in the #20 spot.
- Four of the top 30 videos were taken by K-pop, with TWICE and the fresh-off-Coachella group BLACKPINK placing in the late 20 ranks.
- But it’s BTS that pulled off two of the top videos with the same track: “Boy With Luv” in the #3 spot, and also appearing in the #15 position, but this time, with the official choreography video.
- This is a common practice in the K-pop world, where the official video drops first, then the choreography rehearsal video more than a week later. This maximizes the official video’s view count, while still giving fan service while the track is fresh.
- BTS goes the extra mile in their case, as in their choreography videos, they don’t even use the actual audio on the video besides the low-quality track playing in the dance studio, presumably to drive viewers to the official music video.
- Another case of a track making a double appearance on the trending video list is Florida rapper Kodak Black, in a diss track called “Expeditiously” against Atlanta rapper T.I.
- The original video, which is just a static image with the song is in the #5 spot with the official video coming out four days later in the #8 spot this week.
- It’s worth noting that just like Spotify’s Viral 50 chart or SoundCloud’s New & Hot chart, YouTube’s trending music video chart is filtered not by total views, but the ones showing the most virality.
- For example, Kodak Black’s #5 position video has 5.6M views while BLACKPINK’s video ranked 29th has 43x more views at 243M. Since YouTube updates this chart weekly, likely we’re looking at an algorithm that prioritizes the most views in the past seven days, which makes sense given the recent nature of the top charting video release dates.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday April 24th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Wednesday, see you tomorrow!

2019-04-23 // Technique Tuesday: Spotify Listener to Follower Ratio & Lizzo Apr 23, 2019

Highlights
- It’s Technique Tuesday! We’re diving into the Spotify listener to follower ratio with Coachella darling Lizzo
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tuesday April 23rd 2019.
Technique Tuesday: Listener to Follower Ratio w/ Lizzo
- Let’s try a new segment called Technique Tuesday, where we take a deep dive into music data concepts.
- What better artist to start the segment with than Houston-born, Minneapolis-based artist Lizzo?
- Playing both weekends at this year’s Coachella, Lizzo has stood out as a beloved figure for her candid nature, body positivity, and hot music.
- On Spotify, Lizzo’s data is showing signs of a promising emerging artist. At 243K followers and 5.4M monthly listeners, this gives her a great listener to follower ratio of 23.1.
- The reason a higher listener to follower ratio is a noteworthy vital sign for an artist is it attempts to measure the streaming equivalents of reach and engagement.
- If you’re not familiar with reach or engagement, they are advertising terms that came up with the rise of online or social media ads. Digital advertising is largely responsible for the rise of countless tech giants such as Google and Facebook.
- In a nutshell, reach is simply about recognition and getting your name out there, where as engagement is when people care enough to actively comment, share a post, or even buy tickets or merch.
- Now let’s apply this to music streaming, which is not necessarily a social media-like environment, but the concepts can still be applied.
- If an artist hasn’t yet been promoted in top-tier playlist spots or other promotional campaigns in streaming app front pages, this will lessen the chance for users to be led to their artist profile to follow them and subsequently raise the artist’s follower count. In this case, this lower follower count would indicate lower reach.
- But if that same artist has a relatively outsized monthly listener count, it’s as if despite the short amount of reach, they are still getting lots of plays across unique listeners. This can be due to listing on user-generated tastemaker playlists or strong sharing of a favorite track via messaging between friends, for example. This higher listener count, in this case, would signify higher engagement.
- It’s not a perfect analogy, but dividing the amount of monthly listeners by their followers is like comparing their engagement with their reach. If you have 10 followers but 1 monthly listener, you simply advertise yourself well. However, if you have 1 follower but 10 monthly listeners, you must make awesome music. And this is exactly what the ratio tries to take into account.
- So to bring it back to Lizzo, her music, in this way, is currently 23 times more popular than her reputation as a public figure.
- Her ratio of 23.1 for example, puts her in the same realm as Lauv at 23.2 and Noah Cyrus at 23.6.
- Even though Lauv has around 5x more followers and Noah Cyrus has almost twice as many monthly listeners, both artists’ careers on the rise like Lizzo’s. The benefit of the ratio then is being able to compare the current trajectory of an artist’s streaming presence with other artists, even if those artists are at different stages of their careers.
- So congrats to Lizzo on her stellar Coachella performances, and here’s to checking out more listener to follower ratios in your daily work.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Tuesday April 23rd 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Tuesday, see you tomorrow!

2019-04-22 // New Music Friday Monday: Apple Music's "Best of the Week" playlist Apr 22, 2019

Highlights
- It’s New Music Friday Monday: Apple Music’s Best of the Week playlist showcases three different Latin & US artist collaborations
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Monday April 22nd 2019.
New Music Friday Monday
- Welcome back to your work week.
- On Friday April 19th, Apple Music updated its flagship Global Release Day playlist, Best of the Week, with 73 songs totalling just over 4 hours playtime for the US storefront.
- Leading off the list is the lead single off the upcoming Game of Thrones soundtrack, “Power Is Power”, by SZA, The Weeknd and Travis Scott.
- The HBO show’s album is set to release on this Friday April 26th, so you’ll be sure to hear more about them soon.
- In the #2 position is none other than Ms. Beychella herself, Beyoncé’s cover of “Before I Let Go” by Maze and Frankie Beverly.
- The track’s release on last Wednesday coincided with the Netflix release of “Homecoming”, the documentary revolving around Queen B’s epic 2018 Coachella performance.
Latin & US artist collaborations
- In the #3, 4 and 5 positions of Apple’s Best of the Week playlist, we have several star-studded Spanish/English collaborations.
- Kicking it off is America’s Madonna and Colombia’s Maluma on “Medellín”, a low-key reggaetón track that is leading off Madonna’s Madame X album that’s due in June.
- “Medellín” is on 20 editorial Apple playlists including the #1 spot on Today’s Hits in Portugal, Costa Rica, Bolivia and Panama.
- The track showcases Apple Music’s unique ability to pre-release albums, as when you navigate to the track’s album on the platform, you can see the entire album’s tracks and artists with an album description featuring album art, while on Spotify, it’s simply released as a standalone single.
- The #4 position on Best of the Week is a remix of the wildly successful “Con Calma feat. Snow” by Puerto Rico’s Daddy Yankee.
- American pop star Katy Perry has stepped in on a Spanish/English remix which Forbes compares to another attempt at a Justin Bieber-powered “Despacito” remix.
- The data is showing only lukewarm support however, featuring on only 14 Apple Music editorial playlists and 16 Spotify editorial lists. While these include Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits and New Music Friday playlists, the track is only in the #24 and #11 positions respectively.
- The track is getting slightly warmer coverage in Apple Music, featuring in the #3 position on Today’s Hits in 16 countries and Future Hits in 18 storefronts, but we’ll just have to see how the track performs in the days to come.
- Lastly in the #5 position of Apple’s Best of the Week list, is the “Calma - Alicia Remix” by Puerto Rican artists Pedro Capó and Farruko with American star Alicia Keys.
- The slow Latin grooves in the remix are the same as the original track by Capó, much like the Daddy Yankee and Katy Perry remix in which the production itself does not change besides the new English vocal.
- “Calma” is also featured on Today’s Hits in 16 country storefronts in the #2 position and two top 5 spots on the US and Dominican Republic Best of the Week lists.
- Most interestingly, none of these three Latin/US artist collaborations were picked up in any official Amazon Music playlists, but that’s something we’ll have to keep monitoring, as the trend of multi-lingual collaborations between Latin and American recording artists show no signs of slowing.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Monday April 22nd 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at a new website: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Monday, see you tomorrow!

2019-04-19 // The Gender Gap on the Music Charts Apr 19, 2019

Highlights
- Digging into the music charts Gender Gap with data scientist Joshua Hayes
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we usually upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday April 19th 2019.
Gender Gap article
- Today, we’re going to do something a little more in-depth.
- A few days ago, Chartmetric released a blog article about the gender gap in the music charts, to include Billboard, Spotify and Apple Music charts and also across country boundaries and genres.
- Check it out, article link is the show notes.
- But first, let me introduce the author of the piece, data scientist and newest team member of Chartmetric, Josh Hayes.
- Josh is a Data Science Doctoral Fellow, Sociology PhD from UC Davis with additional degrees at Stanford and Michigan State, and is neck deep in data science projects.
- Gist of the article
- The converging of Spotify, Apple Music and Billboard
- Chartmetric Score - connection to revenue
- Super high/low female track, baseline male track dynamic
- Post-Grande era
- Genres
  - Pop
  - Latin
  - Hip-Hop
  - Country
  - All Genres
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday April 19th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at a new website: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Friday, have a lovely weekend!

2019-04-18 // Amazon Music Top 100 Songs chart, Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower" Apr 18, 2019

Highlights
- Country tops yesterday’s Amazon Music Top 100 Songs chart
- Post Malone and Swae Lee’s “Sunflower” continues to grow into everyone’s ears
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday April 18th 2019.
Chart Spotlight
- Yesterday’s Amazon Music Top Songs chart was ruled by country, as the top 100 tracks on the Alexa-driven platform featured 26 country genre tags.
- Pop came in 2nd place with 23 tags, and rap & hip-hop came in 3rd with 16.
- Billie Eilish continues her chart domination with having the most tracks with a total of eight, ranging from positions #12-90.
- Seven of them are from her latest album, released on April 1st.
- As for the top 100 songs and how long they’ve spent on the chart, it’s starting to reflect a nature similar to the Spotify Top 200, in that the majority of the tracks linger on for at least 1-6 months, though not more than 6 months like the Swedish platform this week.
- Only 10 of the Amazon chart tracks are within a week old, with the newest entry only being 2 days old, and that’s from American singer-songwriter Khalid and his chilled out track “Talk” off his album Free Spirit, released on April 5th.
- Tracking back to country’s run on yesterday’s chart, leading in the #1 and #3 position is Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road”, with the original version leading the remix with Billy Ray Cyrus. Amazon categorizes these tracks as country, differing from Billboard’s initial opinion of the track.
- Brett Young and Maren Morris are in the #13 and #14 spots, while HARDY and Brett Young (with another track this time) bring up the rear in the #99 and #100 positions.
Track Spotlight
- Now in the #2 spot yesterday, is a track that just won’t go away: “Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee.
- The dreamy, 2.5-minute track juxtaposing a strained relationship with a sunflower has over 671M spins on Spotify, with a track popularity score of 98 out of 100.
- It’s also the most played song off the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse original soundtrack on Spotify, the track releasing in October of last year, two months before the entire album and animated film released in December.
- It’s no secret that a killer track combined with a hugely popular movie is a magic formula. One only has to point to Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s “See You Again” off the Fast & Furious 7 OST to remember how viral a movie track can get.
- With a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score, $375M worldwide gross box office, and endless of positive comments across social media, Post Malone and Swae Lee seem to have really struck gold.
- The soundtrack itself was reportedly curated to sound like what the film’s teen Spiderman, Miles Morales, listens to.
- “Sunflower” is currently on 93 Spotify editorial playlists and 38 Apple Music editorial lists, but interestingly, the track isn’t on many high profile ones.
- While it is on Spotify’s Global Top 50, the next most followed playlist is the personalized Mood Booster with 3.2M followers, which due to the playlist’s track randomization, the track itself might not even show up.
- As for Apple Music, it’s only on one Today’s Hits playlist in China and two A-List playlists in Norway and Canada, also not much of a promotional push.
- Not to discount the track itself, but the fact that the track is enjoying its sixth month of popularity without the support of editorial playlists suggests the importance of listeners associating a song with another piece of pop culture outside of the music industry.
- As Post Malone is certainly no stranger to massively successful hits, the fact that “Sunflower” is his fifth most popular music video with 500M YouTube views says that a killer track + a killer movie = a winning combination.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday April 18th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at app.chartmetric.com/signup
- And article links and show notes are at a new website: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Thursday, see you tomorrow!

2019-04-17 // *NSYNC at Coachella and Michael Jackson's legacy in Leaving Neverland Apr 17, 2019

Highlights
- *NSync performs at Coachella w/ Ariana Grande and Michael Jackson’s legacy deals with Leaving Neverland...but does this affect their music data?
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday April 17th 2019.
Legacy acts in the spotlight
- Most of the time, music data is all about the frontline releases, the next emerging artists and global superstars...but what about legacy acts?
- Loosely defined, legacy acts are any artists that have had a successful career and have since left their glory days, yet still hold sway over the general public.
- In this sense, late 90s/early 2000s American boy band *NSYNC and the late Michael Jackson fit this definition.
- But sometimes, the work of such acts bubble up again for one reason or another, and sometimes they are good, and sometimes not so much.
- Exhibit 1: Just this past Sunday, reigning American pop queen Ariana Grande invited NSYNC on stage (minus Justin Timberlake) to perform a few of their hits as part of her headlining set. The various teasers leading up to the event have given way to performance reviews on all the music outlets, and while the effect is diluted on Ms. Grande’s red-hot career, how does this affect the former group that haven’t released original material since 2001?
- Legacy acts on streaming services are an odd juxtaposition of the old and the new, but for NSYNC, they are enjoying streaming metrics that would otherwise be great for an up and coming act.
- At 6.1M Spotify monthly listeners and 914K followers, this gives them listener to follower ratio of 6.7, putting them ahead of Charli XCX and even Billie Eilish. This actually makes a lot of sense for the group, because a high ratio is usually the result of a highly loyal but small following with little to no marketing reach…and a now-defunct yet hugely famous 2000s boy band pretty much fits that bill to a T.
- In terms of immediate effects observed, they’re pretty much nil: no major editorial playlists on either Spotify, Apple, Amazon or Deezer added NSYNC records, and while their Spotify daily follower count jumped roughly 50%, it was only an additional 600 or so followers from their norm.
- If anything, their Twitter daily followers jumped 10x after Sunday and their Instagram daily followers popped 15x their norm, which makes sense given the very Instagrammable nature of Coachella, but already there seems to be no long-term effects.
- Now while there was a fun, no strings attached nature to the one-time Coachella performance, Michael Jackson’s legacy has recently taken a turn for the not-so-flattering.
- At the beginning of March, HBO released a documentary called Finding Neverland directed by British filmmaker Dan Reed, which focuses on the testimonials of two now-grown men that were allegedly sexually abused as children by the former King of Pop.
- Both traditional and social media were not quiet about the exposé, but nevertheless, Michael Jackson’s music data profile doesn’t seem to have really experienced much of any difference: his Spotify daily follower patterns show no real changes since March and his monthly listener count slowed slightly from 22.3M at the beginning of the month to 21.5M currently. This metric is largely buoyed by Drake’s sampling of Jackson in the track “Don’t Matter to Me” on Drake’s juggernaut album Scorpion.
- After Finding Neverland’s release, Jackson’s YouTube daily channel subscribers only briefly fluctuated to twice his average then cut in half from his average before returning back to normal, and his Wikipedia page views peaked at 6x his daily norm until returning back his average of about 30K views a few weeks after.
- What may be most interesting is how radio airplay has reacted: among 300 of the most influential US radio stations, they collectively went from spinning Jackson’s music roughly 100-150 times a day during the holiday months of Nov/Dec last year, and now trickling down to just 10 spins a day as of early April.
- Due to the limited airtime stations have and the more localized connection they have to their listeners, this might create more accountability and the need to insulate themselves from angry listeners revolted by the documentary.
- All in all, some say that in the show business, “any publicity is good publicity”, but from a music data perspective, at least for these artists, maybe it should be “any publicity doesn’t affect our legacy much.”
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday April 17th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.io/signup
- And article links and show notes are at a new website: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Wednesday, see you tomorrow!

2019-04-16 // Coachella Weekend 1 and Game of Thrones playlists Apr 16, 2019

Highlights
- Coachella Weekend 1 and the Game of Thrones Season 8 opener just dropped...so what does this mean for their playlists?
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tuesday April 16th 2019.
Coachella & Game of Thrones spotlight
- What should we think of event-based playlists? Are they important components of branding strategy? A fun extra for superfans? Or just a marketing afterthought that captures a few of curious bypassers?
- Most people involved in Western pop culture were tuned into either one of two things this past weekend: Coachella Week 1 happening in the deserts of California, or the Game of Thrones season 8 opener in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
- Let’s take a moment to examine both pop culture behemoths in the context of this larger question at hand. (I’ll consider the TV series Game of Thrones an “event” due to its recent season opener.)
- Both events maintain a curator profile on both Spotify and Apple Music. User “Coachella” is the obvious one for the music festival, while the show’s user profile is named “Game of Thrones” on Spotify, but on Apple Music, it is “Music from Game of Thrones”.
- Coachella on Spotify currently has six public playlists, with five of them focused on different parts of the day. For example, the “Made in the Shade” playlist is for chilling out in the morning, and “Nights and Lights” is for turning up at night.
- But most of Coachella’s 214K followers are for their “2019 Lineup” playlist, which is 161 songs long and runs for 10.5 hours. It’s mostly a one song per artist list, and frontline oriented.
- Childish Gambino currently sits in the #1 position on this playlist with the breezy “Feels Like Summer” track, and as of Sunday, had 38K unique monthly listeners coming from this playlist specifically, which is a pretty neat.
- Janelle Monae in the #5 spot got 26K monthly listeners from it and Smino, in the last #161 position got about 6.5K listeners. So if we assumed your average user played from beginning to end for a 10.5-hour playlist, still having 25% of your audience is not bad.
- However, it wouldn’t be surprising if for such a long list, users also shuffled and searched within it to find some sounds they liked...for the artist involved, it’s a decent way to get a few new followers as a side benefit of playing at the highly-coveted event.
- For Game of Thrones, it’s a different kind of involvement for the fan, though: the main draw is not the music, but the TV show, so playlists are like an extension of the brand.
- The Game of Thrones presence on Apple Music is rather straightforward: 50 tracks of Ramin Djawadi doing what the Emmy Award-winning score composer does.
- But for Spotify, the show takes a more creative tack: they have featured 30 different playlists based on characters in the show, featuring a picture of them and simply titled after their name.
- For example, hardcore warrior Khal Drogo at 3.2K followers features 25 songs of pure metal and the playlist for scheming queen Cersei Lannister starts off with Ariana Grande’s “Dangerous Woman”.
- The most popular playlist is for the righteous Jon Snow at 21.7K followers, so it’s not like these musical extensions of the characters are pulling major attention for the show or the music artists contained within them, but what does help is when Spotify officially backs you:
- The official Spotify-curated “Game of Thrones: The End is Coming” playlist sits at 155K followers, and features 3.5 hours of varied music, including Rage Against the Machine’s “Sleep Now in the Fire”.
- The rap-rock track, sitting in the #1 playlist spot, has drawn 128K unique monthly listeners to the band, for a track that was released back in 1999, which is great for them.
- So what does it all mean for events or brands? I guess it depends on how creative you are with it, and while it doesn’t draw major listening power, it provides a fun diversion for your true fans.
- And for artists? Why not get on them? Any attachment to a major cultural force can only be good for audience reach, and it’s virtually no additional work. And if that playlist is officially curated by Spotify, all the better.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Tuesday April 16th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.io/signup
- And article links and show notes are at a new website: podcast.chartmetric.com.
- Happy Tuesday, see you tomorrow!

2019-04-15 // New Music Friday Monday: BTS & Halsey Apr 15, 2019

Highlights
- K-pop group BTS features American star Halsey on Spotify’s New Music Friday in the #4 slot for another global smash for both acts
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Monday April 15th 2019.
New Music Friday Monday
- Let’s try out a new segment called New Music Friday Monday, where we dip into the data and artists behind a new release that came out over the weekend.
- On Friday April 12th, Korean boy band BTS continued their long-term strategy for the American market by enlisting the help of Jersey-born, LA-based singer Halsey in the new record “Boy With Luv”, who sings background vocals for the track.
- “Boy With Luv” is the key of B minor, with a speed of 120 beats per minute, which means that its upbeat tempo turns what’s normally a sad-sounding chord progression into a danceable, driving kind of tension.
- The Echo Nest score of 80 out of 100 in the Valence scale confirms that the song’s emotional sentiment is mostly positive, with a bit of sadness to it for good measure.
- The 3-minute and 49-second track is currently on 74 Spotify editorial playlists and 19 Apple Music editorial playlists, including the #6 spot on Today’s Top Hits and the #4 position on the Today’s Hits in US Apple storefront.
- You might guess that both superstar names have similar playlist footprints on either platform, but they are markedly different: for example on Spotify, about 3% of BTS’ total playlists they’re on are editorial, and Halsey’s portion of editorial playlists is about the same. However, Halsey’s total playlist reach is 208M followers, while BTS’ is 113M at the moment.
- Also, Halsey’s monthly listeners to follower ratio is at 5.9, which puts her in the viral realm of Billie Eilish and DJ Snake. BTS’s ratio is a somewhat unflattering 0.8, which puts them in the company of Justin Bieber and another K-pop boy band called BIGBANG, who both experienced public opinion issues as of late.
- One way to interpret these signals is that following an artist is a one-time action, whereas monthly listeners is an ongoing signal measured in a 28-day window.
- So for Bieber and BIGBANG, despite their popularity earning them high follower counts at their highest peak, their respective PR issues have cost them somewhat in recent listeners.
- However, why would this put the squeaky clean, up-and-coming BTS in the same ballpark? It’s hard to say, but one reason may actually be the strength of their marketing strategies: they’ve done such a good job at putting BTS in the spotlight via Western late night shows, talk radio, magazine interviews and awards appearances, that it’s earned them a lot of reach, but not enough engagement to keep up.
- For example, Chartmetric users, who are most strongly represented in Western countries, follow BTS the most on our tool, while superstars Drake and Ariana Grande are the #2 and #3 most followed, but only by a significant gap.
- Or to put it all of this simply, the curiosity is high, but the follow-through is still catching up.
- However, BTS also brings something to the table for Halsey, who not only makes an on-camera appearance in the “Boy With Luv” music video, but also dances choreography with them.
- BTS’ 16.6M Instagram followers are mostly based in Asia while over 40% of Halsey’s 12.4M followers are in the US and Brazil. Despite playing shows across the Pacific, this BTS collaboration brings Halsey front and center to a whole new demographic.
- And now that the video’s become the most viewed debut in the first 24 hours in YouTube history, Halsey has now cemented her place in the ever-evolving story of BTS, all around the world.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Monday April 15th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Free accounts are at chartmetric.io/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: chartmetric.transistor.fm/episodes.
- Happy Monday, see you tomorrow!

2019-04-12 // Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande and the Spotify Popularity Index Apr 12, 2019

Highlights
- There can only be one! Billie Eilish takes the coveted 100 Spotify Popularity Index from Ariana Grande.
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday April 12th 2019.
Friday Fun Fact
- We’re going to try a new segment today called Friday Fun Fact where we do a little deep dive into a particular piece of data.
- Thanks to Komala, one of our brilliant engineers, we noticed that on Wednesday this week, American artist Billie Eilish has received the honor of #1 most popular artist on Spotify according to not followers, not monthly listeners, but to a number we call the Spotify Popularity Index, or SPI.
- What in the world is that? You don’t see it as a normal Spotify user in the app, but it sure sounds important, and it must be used for something...right?
- According to Spotify’s API documentation, the number is “The popularity of the artist. The value will be between 0 and 100, with 100 being the most popular. The artist’s popularity is calculated from the popularity of all the artist’s tracks.” We’ve also noticed that it’s re-calculated about once a day.
- Before we go further, let’s take a look at the top 5 according to SPI: #2 and #3 is Ariana Grande and Drake at 99, Khalid at 98 and then Post Malone at 97.
- Apparently there can only be one artist in the 100 SPI spot, and from Feb 11th to April 9th, the crown was worn by Ariana Grande.
- Now if the SPI is calculated from the SPI of the individual tracks, this would make sense as Grande released her last full-length album Thank U, Next on that Friday February 8th, which naturally launched her into the #1 popularity spot within a few days.
- In turn, Billie Eilish’s newer album, WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, was released on Friday March 29th, and it took her a little under two weeks to take the crown.
- Why did Eilish take about 12 days and Grande only 3? Likely because of the recent competition. Because before Grande in the #1 spot, it was Toronto’s very own Drake with his massively promoted Scorpion album, who was there for over half a year, from June 2018 until Grande’s February album.
- While Drake is currently in 882 editorial Spotify playlists, Grande at least had the benefit of time on her side for the Scorpion effect to dull its shine slightly.
- Eilish’s album however, despite Grande currently being in 828 editorial playlists versus Eilish’s 283, needed a few more days to fight through Grande’s very strong presence on the platform.
- Remember that it’s the popularity of each track that makes up the artist’s SPI, and so their fans’ connection with their material may also come into play as a factor: according to a Music Business Worldwide article on March 21st, Eilish’s 800K album pre-adds on Apple Music shattered any previous record on the platform. While it’s obviously not Spotify, it does say something about how her fans seem to be dedicated to the album, while Grande’s body of work seems to be driven towards singles.
- It’s also worth noting that Grande’s least played track of her album, “make up” at 47M spins, beats out more than 60% of Eilish’s album tracks by spins, meaning that it must be more about each track’s virality, for lack of a better term, than aggregate numbers, meaning that time, indeed, must play a major factor.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday April 12th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Look out for our new article on the success of female artists on the charts from our newest data scientist team member Josh, on our Medium blog at blog.chartmetric.io.
- Feel free to sign up for a free account at chartmetric.io/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: chartmetric.transistor.fm/episodes.
- Happy Friday, have a lovely weekend.

2019-04-11 // Berlin's Shazam chart, The Prince Karma success in Europe Apr 11, 2019

Highlights
- Berlin enjoyed some reggaetón and dance music on yesterday’s Shazam chart
- DJ/producer The Prince Karma recalls some Chainsmokers viral success in greater Europe
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday April 11th 2019.
Chart Highlight
- Let’s take a look at Berlin’s Shazam chart yesterday, which featured 50 tracks.
- It was a very pop-oriented list, with 18 “pop” genre tags leading as the most common and the “dance” genre tag coming in 2nd with 8 occurences.
- American singer-songwriter Ava Max was the only artist to have more than one track, with “So Am I” and “Sweet but Psycho” taking the #10 and #27 positions.
- Daddy Yankee’s “Con Calma feat. Snow” was the #1 most Shazamed track in Berlin, having been in their Top 50 for 48 days now with 3M Shazams total.
- The cheeky dance tune “Later Bitches” by The Prince Karma at Ultra Music took the #2 spot in Berlin. It was released back in May of last year and has a total of 5.2M Shazams globally.
- The #3 position was occupied by the Madism dance remix of “Someone You Loved” by Scotland’s Lewis Capaldi. That is its current peak position in Berlin and has a total of 1.5M Shazams.
- In terms of track age and time on chart, Berlin’s taste in music tends to be in middle of the road, as most of the chart is neither new or old, 27 of the tracks being anywhere from 1-6 months since release.
- And once they do make it to their city’s top 50, the tracks stay there for about the same amount of time, 1-6 months.
Artist Highlight
- Tracking back to the #2 position, the song “Later Bitches” has played out very well for DJ/producer The Prince Karma.
- There’s little information out on the Ultra Music label artist, but according to chartsinfrance.net, he is originally from Turkey and has been enjoying the success of his track since late last year.
- Somewhat similar to The Chainsmokers’ first hit “#SELFIE” in 2014, “Later Bitches” features a simple lead instrument hook, a four-on-the-floor kick drum beat, and funny spoken lines coming from an overzealous clubber like “what the hell do you mean I have to wait in line” and “I shouldn’t have had that last shot”.
- The Prince Karma has 1.7M Spotify monthly listeners and only 9K followers, giving him an astronomical listener to follower ratio of 197 that points towards an artist currently experiencing a viral hit. This ratio places him in the realm of no global superstars, but does put him in the company of likely other viral emerging artists such as acoustic UK songwriters Clementine Duo at a 197 ratio and Swedish singer-songwriter Plasi at 196.
- Mirroring his success on the Berlin Shazam chart, The Prince Karma is currently on the Top Hits Deutschland playlist on Spotify at 1.7M followers, while having been featured on Dance Party, Dance Rising and the Global Viral 50 playlists.
- The track also features on Apple Music’s Daily Top 100 Germany and Today’s Hits playlists in the German storefront, and the #73 position on the 7th most followed playlist on the Deezer platform, Orange Select.
- Probably the most interesting fact regarding the DJ’s only released track, the official YouTube video has 3.5M views since Sept 2018, but another video pre-dating the official one has 40.8M views, on a YouTube channel d2eTV (“Down to Earth”).
- Down2Earth Music Group is a multi-functional music company whose YouTube channel has an international presence, as the “Later Bitches” top comments section has comments in English, Polish, Russian and German...which makes sense as The Prince Karma has just finished up a Central & Eastern European tour.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday April 11th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Feel free to sign up for a free account at chartmetric.io/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: chartmetric.transistor.fm/episodes.
- Happy Thursday, see you tomorrow.

2019-04-10 // Today's Top Hits on Spotify and Billboard Emerging Artist Kiana Ledé Apr 10, 2019

Highlights
- Today’s Top Hits at almost 23M followers remains Spotify’s crown jewel
- Billboard Emerging Artist Kiana Ledé begins to spread her wings
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday April 10th 2019.
Playlist Highlight
- With 9M more followers than the #2 Spotify playlist, Today’s Top Hits remains playlist supreme on the Swedish streaming platform.
- Growing at 1% (or ~170K) followers in the past month, the list is at 22.9M of them and is due to break the 23M mark within a month.
- For the past 2.5 years, it’s been disciplined at keeping only 50 tracks, though this week, it’s added a few more to total 53.
- Leading that list is Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus with the “Old Town Road - Remix”, and American singer-songwriter Alec Benjamin in the #2 spot with the sad breakup song “Let Me Down Slowly”.
- The inescapable Billie Eilish holds down the bronze medal at #3 with the kick-drum-driven “bad guy” off her hot new album.
- 55% of Today’s Top Hits this week comes from American artists, while 10% of the list comes from the United Kingdom, including Glasgow’s indietronica CHVURCHES and London-based Rita Ora in a collaboration with Brazil’s Anitta.
- Puerto Rico contributes to about 5% of the list with tracks from reggaetón kings Daddy Yankee, Ozuna and Farruko.
- In terms of track adds and removals, most of the frontline playlist gets added on Global Release Friday, but Today’s Top Hits tends to remove tracks more loosely across Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
- In the past month, 58% of the tracklist got refreshed, and the adds are typically new releases. This week for example, 31 of the 53 tracks are brand new.
- Despite Today’s Top Hits reputation as a place for new records, it’s good to remember that once a track gets put on, it tends to live there: over 75% of the historical tracks they’ve placed stay on for 1-6 months.
- For a deeper dive, check out our Today’s Top Hits blog post in the show notes.
Artist Highlight
- “I don't gotta be in love with you to love you”. That is a lyric from Phoenix-born, LA-based artist Kiana Ledé, who is hiding down in the #46 spot of Today’s Top Hits with the sultry and bittersweet breakup track “EX”.
- The R&B singer who moonlighted as an actor on MTV’s Scream and Netflix’s All About the Washingtons, her music career has been on a major marketing push since last month.
- With 5.2M Spotify monthly listeners and 213K followers, this puts her at an excellent listener to follower ratio of 25. For context, AWAL superstar Lauv is at 24.1 and young American pop star MAX at 25.3.
- Ledé’s playlist situation completely blew up in March, adding the 4.9M follower Are & Be Spotify playlist and 1.8M follower Hot Rhythmic playlist, as well as being added to the sexual contextual playlists Love, Sex and Water at 1.6M and Bedroom Jams just under 1M.
- She’s in the #33 position on the 65-track Today’s Hits Apple playlist in the US, and virtually all of the storefronts for the A-List: R&B playlist, ranging from position #16-33 depending on the country.
- On Amazon Music, she’s on six editorial playlists, including the genre-focused Introducing: / Fresh / and Chill R&B playlists.
- Not limited to digital, her radio play in the South is strong with over 430 radio spins in Florida, 374 spins in Lousiana and 343 spins in Texas since the beginning of the year.
- With her smooth sound, Hollywood connections and her recent publicity push on Billboard, we’re sure to see more of Ms. Ledé in the months to come.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday April 10th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Feel free to sign up for a free account at chartmetric.io/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: chartmetric.transistor.fm/episodes.
- Happy Wednesday, see you tomorrow.

2019-04-09 // Spotify's Viral 50 chart and Russian trap duo Rauf & Faik Apr 09, 2019

Highlights
- Spotify’s Viral 50 chart highlights music from around the world
- Russian trap duo Rauf & Faik take off in the Caucasus region
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tuesday April 9th 2019.
Chart Highlight
- On Friday April 5th, the Spotify Viral 50 highlighted the global nature of streaming by featuring a Philadelphia-born Puerto Rican artist remix, an Indonesian R&B collaboration, and a Russian hip-hop duo all in the top 10.
- The #1 spot is occupied by Philadelphia-born, Puerto Rico-raised artist Dalex along with six collaborators in the vibey rap track “Pa Mí - Remix”.
- The original track was 3:30 long, but the new version is a full 6:00, making room for other Latin artists such as Argentina’s Cazzu and Panama’s Sech.
- It’s released by the indie label Rich Music, who signed a distribution deal with Warner Music Latina back in 2017, and the remix itself was released on Feb 6th, spending 33 days so far on the Viral 50.
- The #2 track is slightly newer, released on Feb 21st, and that’s the Indonesian R&B collaboration “Adu Rayu” by Yovie Widianto, Tulus and Glenn Fredly.
- Google translated as “Flirtation”, the easy-listening ballad is also featured on Top Hits Indonesia at 682K followers and on Apple Music’s The A-List: Indonesian Music.
- The #10 track in last Friday’s Viral 50 is Russian hip-hop duo Rauf & Faik with the track “Детство” (dee-YEHTS-vha), or “Childhood”.
- It’s currently at its peak position on the chart, still fresh-faced at only 3 days there, even though it was released half a year ago in Sept 2018.
- The dark, melodic trap song is part of Friday’s genre tag trend, as the tag “trap music” showed up the most at 15 times with “pop rap” showing up 10 times.
- Interestingly, the Viral 50 chart brings in the old and makes them new: 96% of the chart’s tracks are older than one month yet none of them have been on there for more than two, showing a tendency to take what’s already been released and giving them new life.
Artist Highlight in the News
- The occupants of the #10 spot, Russian trap duo Rauf & Faik, are performing well stream-wise with 804K Spotify monthly listeners and 30K followers for a listener to follower ratio of 26, putting them in the realm of Dutch DJ/producer Sam Feldt at 26.2 and Grammy-nominated American artist Tierra Whack at 26.1.
- Rauf & Faik seem to be making lots of waves in Turkey as they are currently featured in the #1 position on the 50-track Hot Hits Türkiye playlist at 354K followers and the Turkey Top 50 with 523K follows in the #7 position.
- On Apple Music, they are on four different Daily Top 100 charts in Turkey, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan, the last of which is their country of origin, though according to our Instagram data, they are currently based in Moscow.
- Their 463K IG followers skew very young and female, with nearly 40% of their followers falling in the 13-17 female demographic.
- With 3/4 of their IG fanbase from Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine alone and 80% of them speaking primarily Russian, the hopes of an overseas crossover seems unlikely.
- But since their dark, spacious trap vibes are undoubtedly taking a page out of Post Malone’s sonic playbook, you just never know.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Tuesday April 9th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Feel free to sign up for a free account at chartmetric.io/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: chartmetric.transistor.fm/episodes.
- Happy Tuesday, see you tomorrow.

2019-04-08 // Amazon Music's Newly Released Songs chart and Sara Bareilles trending on YouTube Apr 08, 2019

Highlights
- Khalid kicks off Amazon Music’s Newly Released Songs chart for Saturday
- American singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles gets extra YouTube views from a young artist in France
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Monday April 8th 2019.
Chart Highlight
- On Saturday, Amazon Music updated their Newly Released Songs daily chart, featuring mostly new music from the day prior.
- 19 of the top 20 tracks were all released on Friday April 5th with the exception of Billie Eilish’s lead single “Bad Guy” off her latest album, which was released the week prior.
- Newly Released Tracks isn’t explicitly ranked persay, but logging onto the service via a browser, it definitely gives a specific order top down, which is what we measure.
- The chilled out track “Don’t Pretend” by Khalid feat. Toronto-based Safe leads off the list in the #1 spot, with the Jonas Brothers releasing their second single “Cool” since their comeback in the #2 position.
- Pulling up third is none other than Smokey Robinson singing background vocals for California-native Anderson .Paak on the throwback R&B-influenced “Make It Better”.
- Of the top 98 newly released tracks, 28 of them went underneath the Interscope Records imprint, which was in collaboration with both Grade A Productions, which is rapper Juice WRLD’s label, and of course, Billie Eilish’s label The Darkroom.
- The fourth most occuring artist on the Amazon new songs chart was P!nk, with three tracks at the 32nd, 47th and 95th positions, including her power pop track “Walk Me Home” and scorned lover-themed “Hustle”.
- Don’t think it’s all about American pop though, as the top 20 also included K-pop’s BLACKPINK in the #6 position with “Kill This Love” and Reba McEntire and Brooks & Dunn represent country in the 8 and 11 spots.
Artist Highlight in the News
- Now in the #5 spot on that chart is California-born singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, who released on Friday the sparse, piano-driven “A Safe Place to Land” feat. John Legend.
- The Grammy, Tony and Emmy-nominated Bareilles has led a very diversified career which has certainly spilled over into the digital music world.
- With 6.2M Spotify monthly listeners and 1.1M followers, her listener to follower ratio is a healthy 6, placing her between Lady Gaga at about 5 and Billie Eilish at about 7.
- She’s currently on 150 Spotify editorial playlists and 11 Apple Music editorial playlists.
- Her fun 2007 hit “Love Song” has still got lots of gas, being in the #85 position on the 100-track Songs to Sing in the Car Spotify playlist, which has a rapidly growing follower base of 7.7M, while “Love Song” also lives on the 6.1M follower playlist “All Out 00s” in the #61 spot.
- The empowering 2013 single “Brave” has its own healthy life on Apple Music, featuring in Essential Motivational Songs in the #9 spot and the #6 position on Feminism Essentials.
- Probably the most interesting data point of late for Ms. Bareilles is in her recent YouTube views in France: in the French syndicated version of the singing TV competition the Voice, a young contestant named Ursula, on March 30th, auditioned for the chair-turning judges Sara Bareilles’ single “Gravity”.
- Ursula’s vulnerable and touching rendition of the 2007 track is most likely behind the 363% increase in YouTube views for Bareilles in the past month, as it went from 3.1K daily views to 14.7K on the same day of the episode airing….bonne chance Ursula, good luck in the competition!
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday April 8th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- Feel free to sign up for a free account at chartmetric.io/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: chartmetric.transistor.fm/episodes.
- Happy Monday, see you tomorrow.

2019-04-05 // Amazon Music's "Country Heat" and Kane Brown steps into the Latin world Apr 05, 2019

Highlights
- Amazon Music’s “Country Heat” playlist features a who’s who in the Nashville scene today, while
- Country artist Kane Brown dips his toes into the Latin world with Becky G
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday April 5th 2019.
Playlist Highlight
- Currently at the top of Amazon Music’s Top Playlists is Country Heat, which lists “Fire tracks from the hottest acts in country music.”
- Currently at 55 songs and just over 3 hours long, it’s of course a mostly American collection of artists besides Aussie Morgan Evans and Canadian group James Barker Band each featuring one track.
- In terms of label representation, it’s pretty well distributed, with Sony Music in the lead with 16 of the current tracks, Universal at 9, indie Big Machine & major Warner Music at 8, and both BMG’s BBR Music Group and indie label Big Loud Records at 4 each.
- Blake Shelton kicks off the #1 spot with his anthemic track “God’s Country”, and Chris Stapleton’s “Millionaire” about how being in love is making him a rich man brings up the rear in the #55 position.
- Interestingly, Country Heat plays no artist favorites, as out of the entire 55 tracks, no artist appears more than once with the slight exception of Luke Combs, who placed his track “Beautiful Crazy” in the #20 spot, but appears as a guest in Brooks & Dunn’s ode to devotion in “Brand New Man” in position #51.
- So if you’re looking for a hot country playlist that seems to like a diverse set of artists, check out Amazon’s Country Heat.
Artist Highlight in the News
- Now pulling into that playlist’s number 13 spot is Tennessee-born, Georgia-raised Kane Brown, who recently made an interesting move into the Latin world.
- Releasing the track “Lost in the Middle of Nowhere” with Mexican-American artist Becky G on March 28th, Brown sang in both English and Spanish, as the duo released two versions of the track on the same day.
- Both signed to Sony Music, they have similar data profiles on Spotify, though Becky G pulls ahead of Kane Brown in some aspects. Becky G’s Spotify popularity index is at 86 out of 100 while Brown is at 79, but he slightly edges her with a listener to follower ratio of 5, while Becky G is at 4.
- This is most likely due to Becky G being on many more Spotify editorial playlists at 245 and having much more exposure to accumulate more followers, while Brown is only on 50 editorial playlists.
- When it comes to daily statistics, Becky G is definitely exposing Brown to a wider crowd as Becky G has 5x more daily Spotify followers, 5x more daily YouTube views, 15x more daily Instagram followers than Brown.
- Becky G’s top five most listened to Spotify cities? Santiago, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Madrid and Lima. Kane Brown’s are all stateside: Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, LA and Houston.
- Going by Instagram followers, Becky G’s fanbase is young but fairly spread out between 13-34, while over half of Kane Brown’s fanbase is between 18-24 only.
- They both cater to a majority female audience, though Becky G’s fanbase is 50% Hispanic and Kane Brown’s is 83% Caucasian, showing where the collaboration can provide the most exposure to new potential fans.
- The song itself definitely caters to each audience, as the country/English version features guitar power chords, acoustic string strumming and a straight backbeat drum pattern, while the Latin/Spanish version features reggae guitar rhythms and the trademark reggaetón beat.
- It looks like the cross-collaboration is going well for Brown as the Spanish version has 3.2M views more than the English version, so to Kane Brown, felicitaciones!
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday April 5th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- If you want to check some of the data yourself, sign up for a free account at chartmetric.io/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: chartmetric.transistor.fm/episodes.
- Happy Friday, and have a great weekend! See you Monday.

2019-04-04 // Sydney's Shazam chart and Dominic Fike growing on Spotify Apr 04, 2019

Highlights
- Sydney, Australia revels in dance beats and romantic pop songs in yesterday’s Shazam chart
- Florida-born Dominic Fike uses contextual playlists to steadily grow his Spotify monthly listener count to 3.5M
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday April 4th 2019.
Charts
- What’s going on down under? Checking yesterday’s Shazam daily charts for Sydney, Australia brings us a very pop-oriented selection with the “pop” genre tag coming up 20 times in the top 43 songs.
- Next most common tag was “Alternative” with seven appearances.
- Ava Max, Billie Eilish, Dean Lewis and Halsey all appeared the most on the chart, scoring two tracks each, while Dominic Fike’s “3 Nights” took the #1 spot which was released back in October of last year.
- Lukas Graham’s ballad “Love Someone” and Loud Luxury’s dance hit “Body (feat. Brando)” both tied for the longest time on the Sydney charts at 59 weeks, piquing Australians’ curiosity for over a year now.
- Taking the #2 spot was a dance remix of “Someone You Loved” by soulful crooner Lewis Capaldi, not to be confused with the Lukas Graham track.
- And LA-based Ava Max not only takes the #3 spot with “So Am I” but she also has the chart’s entry with the most Shazams globally with “Sweet but Psycho” in the #34 spot at 6.2M.
- Despite all the happy, pop-oriented English music, Latin boy band CNCO goes back and forth between Spanish and English in the smooth track “Pretend” at the #16 spot.
- You can check out our Latin boy band deep dive we did on them with a link in this episode’s notes.
Artist Highlight
- Let’s dig a little deeper into Dominic Fike, who took Sydney’s #1 Shazam chart spot yesterday.
- If you divide his 3.5M Spotify monthly listeners by his only 29K followers, his listener to follower ratio is a monstrous 120.
- To put that in perspective, Drake’s ratio is 1.1 and Ariana Grande’s is just under 2, which might not be the most fair comparison since they are some of the world’s biggest artists and therefore have been overexposed in the playlist ecosystem, but it does help you realize how relatively unknown Fike is, and how much traction he does seem to be getting with those that are in the know.
- Fike is on 27 Spotify editorial playlists, including a lot of the Swedish platform’s mid-tier ones such as “Mood Booster” at 3.2M follows, “Good Vibes” at 2.2M and “Weekend Hangouts” at 1.3M. This seems to be a common way for emerging artists to plant their earworms into new listeners, via contextual playlists that cater towards what the listener is doing, versus what the music or artist is about. If you’re interested in learning more, check the show notes for our Medium article on it!
- His track “3 Nights” also made it onto several of Apple’s “Today’s Hits” playlists in the Anglo-centric countries such as the US/Canada/Australia/New Zealand, and have been for about three months each. It also however made it into India’s version as well, maybe looking for a regional crossover.
- With Shawn Mendes, Billie Eilish and Jacob Sartorius all notable followers on his Instagram profile, Dominic Fike looks like he’s got a bright future ahead of him, and his work cut out.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday April 4th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- If you want to check some of the data yourself, sign up for a free account at chartmetric.io/signup
- And article links and show notes are at: chartmetric.transistor.fm/episodes.
- Friday’s almost here! See you tomorrow.

2019-04-03 // UK and US rule the YouTube Music Video chart, new AWAL artist signing and SoulCycle playlisting on Apple Music Apr 03, 2019

Highlights
- British and American artists take over the Top 10 YouTube music video charts in the UK
- AWAL signs a young singer-songwriter with a 100+ listener to follower ratio
- SoulCycle teams up with singer Ciara to make their latest Apple Music featured playlist
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday April 3rd 2019.
Charts
- For the week ending March 28th, the Top 10 YouTube music videos in the United Kingdom were ruled by both the British and the Americans, splitting them in half.
- British hip-hop producer Steel Banglez took the #1 spot at 1.5M views that week with the smooth video “Fashion Week”, which opened in the #1 spot.
- Two grime artists, Russ and Tion Wayne, took the #2 spot, on the YouTube channel GRM Daily, which bills itself as the “epicentre of UK urban culture”, which itself has accumulated over 1.7B views.
- The #3 spot is taken by British MC and producer Wiley, which features none other than actor Idris Elba dropping bars, with the infectious “Boasty” music video. If you’re a fan of Elba’s movie work in Thor, Pacific Rim or The Dark Tower, check out the video which just spent its third week on the chart with just over 1M views.
- Rounding out the list are Americans Maroon 5, Ava Max and YNW Melly in their own videos, but in a 1-2 UK-US punch at the #9 spot, Sam Smith and ex-Fifth Harmony member Normani star in the beautifully-shot “Dancing with a Stranger” music video.
Artist Highlight in the News
- On April 1st, Music Business Worldwide announced the signing of British singer-songwriter Millie Turner to AWAL, Kobalt Music’s recorded music services company.
- Turner is an 18-year-old sporting a relaxed electro-pop sound, which fits the AWAL roster quite nicely, and surely they noticed that despite Turner’s Spotify follower count hovering under a humble 4K, she has over 406K monthly listeners, which gives her a listener to follower ratio of 104, signalling to all algorithms ever made to put her in every playlist imaginable.
- She only has six tracks released on the major platforms, with a curiously strong focus only on Spotify playlists, as she is only on 5 Apple Music ones and 2 Deezer playlists, while being on 51 of Spotify’s.
- Turner seems to be slowly growing her exposure, by featuring tracks like “Eyes on You” and “Night Running” on mid-tier playlists like “New Music Friday UK” at 703K followers and “Indie Pop” at 837K.
- Resonating most in Central to Eastern Europe, she seems to have found quite the following in Istanbul, as she’s increased her monthly listener count from roughly 3K to 23K in the past year, over a 570% increase. Turkish summer tour? We’ll have to wait and see.
Playlist Round-Up
- In the latest on the bands and brands front, NYC-based indoor cycling company SoulCycle released the “Sound by SoulCycle x Ciara” playlist.
- The 15-track Apple Music list runs for 1 hour and 5 minutes and rates in the upper halves of the Echo Nest Energy and Danceability charts, which would perfectly compliment a 60-minute workout that demands you are in high spirits as you get your sweat on.
- Atlanta-based singer Ciara of course gets the ability to debut her latest single, “Thinkin Bout You”, in the leading playlist spot, and takes 11 of the 15 tracks reaching all the way back to 2004 to her hits like “One, Two Step” feat. Missy Elliott and “Goodies” feat. T.I. and Jazze Pha.
- Salt-N-Pepa and Kanye West are mixed into the playlist for good measure, so if you’re into the SoulCycle scene and like some old-school hip-hop and RnB, be on the lookout for this one.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday April 3rd 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- If you have any ideas for artists or new segments for the podcast, let us know at hi@chartmetric.io
- You can always get links and show notes at: chartmetric.transistor.fm/episodes.
- Happy Wednesday, see you tomorrow!

2019-04-02 // Apple Music Top Songs chart, NAV on the Billboard 200 album chart and Spotify's "mint" playlist series Apr 02, 2019

Highlights
- Lil Nas X, Billie Eilish and Nipsey Hussle top the Apple Music Top Songs chart yesterday
- Punjabi-Canadian rapper NAV rules the Billboard 200 album chart
- Regional mint playlists tap the dance floors around the world
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tuesday April 2nd 2019.
Charts
- Apple Music’s Top Songs chart yesterday was dominated by three narratives: the viral psuedo-country hit by Lil Nas X, Billie Eilish’s new album “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?” and the untimely shooting death of LA rapper Nipsey Hussle.
- Of the Top 100 songs that charted, LA-based Billie Eilish came away as the most frequently occuring artist on the chart at 16 tracks total. Two of her older songs “lovely” and “Idontwannabeyouanymore” joined all 14 of her new album’s tracks in an impressive show of force on Apple Music.
- Atlanta rapper Lil Nas X, still managed to take the #1 spot on Apple’s Top Songs chart yesterday, probably in part thanks to the Billboard country chart controversy. Released on Apple only since March 13th, it’s already spent 10 days on the Top Songs chart.
- Finally, the work of LA artist and community activist Nipsey Hussle, after his fatal shooting in front of his clothing store in South Los Angeles, experienced a surge in listening.
- Six of Nipsey’s tracks, including collaborations with Kendrick Lamar and Puff Daddy, made it into the Top 100 songs chart from positions 18 to 76. Five of those were from his last 2018 album “Victory Lap”, which was Grammy-nominated for Best Rap Album.
- Nipsey was 33 years young. May he rest in peace.
Artist Highlight in the News
- Punjabi-Canadian rapper and producer NAV nabbed his first #1 album on the Billboard 200 chart announced on March 31st.
- The Toronto-native, who has tracks with The Weeknd, Travis Scott and Lil Uzi Vert, also has 1.2M Spotify followers and 8.9M monthly listeners, giving him a very impressive listener to follower ratio of 7.
- This bodes well for NAV since this suggests repeated listening despite having a relatively lower follower count.
- NAV’s hometown of Toronto takes fourth place in his most listened-to cities on Spotify, though his rap sound resonates most stateside: namely LA, Chicago, and Dallas.
- His Instagram at 1.5M followers is growing at approximately 2.8K daily.
- His follower base is currently ¾ male and very strong in the 18-24 age range, with Nicki Minaj, Drake and WorldStarHipHop being among his most notable IG followers.
- If you want to check out NAV’s work, you can find him in the #42 slot on Today’s Top Hits with his track “Price on My Head” (feat. the Weeknd).
Playlist Round-Up
- If you’re into electronic music, surely you already know about Spotify’s mint playlist at 5.4M followers and the 9th most followed playlist.
- But do you know about mint Latin? Or mint Canada, mint BR (Brazil), or mint India?
- Mint Latin for example has 1.8M followers and features “the new wave of Latin Electronic producers and DJs”. It currently has 50 tracks and an average track popularity score of 42 out of 100.
- If 42 sounds a little low, our Jan 2018 Medium article on the mint playlist discussed how dance music exists in a different space that is more about the hours-long mix, making any single artist or track, well, not as important.
- Surely this is made clear as mint Latin is a pre-mixed playlist just like its big brother: meaning if you listen from one track to another, a DJ has already made smooth transitions to give you one singular listening experience.
- So if you’re looking for a frontline-oriented playlist featuring dance sounds from certain regions of the world, look no further.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Monday April 2nd 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric.
- You can always get links to episode sources and additional information at: chartmetric.transistor.fm/episodes.
- Happy Tuesday, see you tomorrow!

2019-04-01 // Spotify's "Fresh Finds", Marshmello in India and Amazon Music's "All Hits" playlist Apr 01, 2019

Highlights
- Spotify’s Fresh Finds celebrate indie music in our aggregate chart
- American producer Marshmello sees a 375% increase in Indian YouTube views for his cross-border collaboration
- Amazon Music’s “All Hits” assumes its place as the tech giant’s flagship playlist
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Monday April 1st 2020. Just joking, it’s still 2019. Happy April Fool’s Day.
Charts
- Once a week, our Spotify Fresh Finds chart aggregates the platform’s eight discovery-oriented playlists. For the chart ending on March 28th, there are 402 tracks total with the dance track “Your Love” by French DJ Mercer being the most playlisted of the bunch at 42.
- According to Quartz, Spotify’s non-personalized, human-curated playlist series focuses on a designated set of tastemakers that have proven to show high listening activity on unknown tracks before they become popular.
- For the previous week, Mercer’s dance track appeared on two Fresh Finds playlists: the main one and also the Fresh Finds: Basement playlist, which caters to electronic and dance music fans.
- The main Fresh Finds playlist features 659K followers and the Basement version features 42K, but with its focus on independent artists/labels, the Fresh Finds series is more about taste-making: the few forecasting tomorrow’s sounds for the many.
- 114 of the 402 aggregate tracks have 4+ minute durations, no genre tag appears more than 3 times, and labels/distributors such as DistroKid, !K7, Empire and Platoon led the chart with a total of 16 tracks, companies made their reputations as being fiercely indie….so if you’re lacking in the hipster friend department, check out Fresh Finds to fill in the void.
Artist Highlight in the News
- On February 1st, American DJ/producer Marshmello released an India-US collaboration with Mumbai-based composer Pritam entitled “BIBA”, which currently has a Spotify Popularity Index of 72 out of 100, and over 32M views on YouTube.
- Marshmello’s penchant for innovation has become very clear this year after DJ-ing a live set on the gaming juggernaut that is Fortnite while releasing BIBA at the same time.
- His 1-2 punch of the Fortnite stream on Feb 2nd directly after the Feb 1st BIBA release caused quite a spike of interest in him, with both his daily Wikipedia views and Instagram followers increasing ten-fold.
- However, the strength of BIBA became clear when the official YouTube video released two weeks later on Feb 14th, triggering a 375% increase in daily views in India to 2.1M, and making Indian Instagram followers his second most loyal geographic demo at 9.5%, with his first being the US at 19%.
- At 10.4M Spotify followers and four times as many monthly listeners at 44.7M, Marshmello’s dynamic career moves are obviously paying off.
Playlist Round-Up
- “All Hits” seems to be Amazon Music’s #1 playlist, even though there is no follower count publicly displayed. Both within the app and on the browser, it is consistently one of the first playlists you see in the interface.
- Likely the tech giant’s equivalent to Spotify’s “Today’s Top Hits” or Apple’s “Today’s Hits”, it has 50 tracks currently and total running time of 2 hours and 45 minutes.
- In the past month, tracks have been changed out on Wednesday and Thursday by the default platform curator named “Amazon’s Music Experts”, and roughly half the track tags are “pop” naturally with a strong US focus at 77% American artists.
- “Without Me” from Jersey-born, LA-based singer Halsey occupies the current top spot, the only track of 50 not replaced last week.
- We’ve got limited data on “All Hits” since Amazon Music is a new data source, but stay tuned for later updates as the Alexa-driven platform will only continue to grow the #3 most subscribed to streaming platform in the world.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Monday April 1st 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric, if you’re enjoying the podcast, share it with a colleague.
- If you missed a detail, you can always get full show notes at: chartmetric.transistor.fm/episodes.
- Happy Monday, see you tomorrow!

2019-03-29 // Beatport Top 100 chart and Simon Field in Seattle Mar 29, 2019

Highlights
- Beatport’s Top 100 chart keeps highlighting the latest music in the club world, and today, we’re doing a
- Special artist deep-dive into a Norwegian producer who found streaming success in a far-off land called...Seattle
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday March 29th 2019.
Charts
- Beatport.com is the go-to electronic music marketplace for professional DJs around the world so they can make people dance.
- With over 60K suppliers and labels, 450K customers and 35M unique annual visitors, Beatport is a B2B business at its core: providing high quality downloads so DJs can fill their sonic arsenal.
- It also provides a weekly Top 100 chart that essentially becomes an up-to-date soundtrack to what clubbers are getting down to globally.
- For the week ending March 22nd, “Inside My Head” by UK-based duo Audiojack took the #1 most purchased download for the second week in a row spending 10 days on the chart.
- Spinnin’ Records had the most tracks with 4, including a David Guetta and Tom Staar track, while legendary London-based Ministry of Sound Recordings had 2.
- While you may see some familiar Top 40 names such as Childish Gambino in the #3 spot or Calvin Harris & Rag’n’Bone Man at #5, the Beatport Top 100 is really an anti-pop serum: nearly half the chart’s tracks have 4-minute-plus run times, zero tracks directly releasing into the chart and nearly ⅔ of the list spending less than a week on the chart themselves...meaning lots of track turnover, and lots of opportunities for emerging artists with great dance music.
Artist Highlight in the News
- Here’s an interesting case of streaming’s global nature at its finest: Norway-based house producer Simon Field found unexpected attention in Seattle upon the release of his track “Shake the Tree” on January 25th.
- Field, who sports a 53 Spotify Popularity Index score and 385K monthly listeners despite having only 10K followers, is an example of an emerging artist that organically over-indexes their stream count in a particular city for an unknown reason.
- Upon “Shake the Tree”’s release, it found a snug spot in the #62 position of the 90-track New Music Friday playlist for that week, which then seemed to feed playlist adds within 24 hours on no less than 20 mid-tier playlists ranging from 10 to 80K followers.
- While Sony-owned playlist curator Filtr UK’s “Dance All Night” was among these lists, Field had no major label support in the release, and yet from Feb 21st to March 20th saw a 455% increase in monthly listeners in Seattle, peaking at 7.4K.
- Virtually mirroring Field’s rise in Seattle however, a certain mid-tier playlist called “CloudKid” by the curator of the same name added “Shake the Tree” with 98K followers…..adding the track on Feb 16th, and removing it on March 21st, after which day Field saw an immediate decrease in Spotify listener growth in Seattle after a month long increase.
- Coincidence? Possibly, except for the fact that CloudKid is an influential electronic music label & curator who came up on YouTube, with a channel influencing 2.9M subscribers with over 906M total views.
- While the connection between Seattle and CloudKid’s audience is still unclear, the data suggests at the minimum an appreciation of mid-tier, five-digit follower count playlists helping propagate new music.
- And at its best, Field may have a unique case of cross-platform success where a veteran YouTube curator’s side hustle (or here, a Spotify playlist) gave an unknowing artist streaming success thousands of miles away.
Playlist Round-Up
- (none)
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday March 29th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric, if you’re enjoying the podcast, hit that subscribe button so you get the latest episodes at the earliest time.
- And if you feel like you missed something, you can get full show notes at: chartmetric.transistor.fm/episodes.
- Have a great weekend, see you Monday!

2019-03-28 // Deezer's Top Worldwide chart, Lil Nas X going viral and Deezer's "Selección Editorial" playlist Mar 28, 2019

Highlights
- J Balvin and French rapper Ninho takeover Deezer’s Top Worldwide chart
- Atlanta artist Lil Nas X embodies a viral artist on the rise, and
- “Selección Editorial” is Deezer’s #2 most followed playlist
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday March 28th 2019.
Charts
- Paris-based streaming platform Deezer updated its most-listened-to chart yesterday called Top Worldwide. It functions similar to a playlist, with 367K fans following the top tracks chart.
- Collecting streams from the 187 countries Deezer operates in, Top Worldwide has 100 tracks with French rap duo PNL in the #1 spot with “Au DD”, whose YouTube video released less than a week ago and has 21M views as of yesterday.
- Besides PNL, the rest of the top tracks looks quite familiar with Post Malone, Ariana Grande and Daddy Yankee all showing up in the top 10.
- Leading the Deezer chart with the most entries however, were two artists tied at six tracks each: Colombia’s J Balvin and France’s Ninho.
- Interestingly enough, both rappers’ got there in very different ways: J Balvin’s tracks were all multi-artist collaboration tracks either on someone else’s album or one-off singles, while the Congolese-French Ninho has six of 18 tracks off his new album release “Destin” (des-TAHN) getting its fair share of attention on Deezer.
Artist Highlight in the News
- The viral, genre-defying track “Old Town Road” by emerging Atlanta rapper Lil Nas X made news on Tuesday when Rolling Stone reported that Billboard removed the country-themed trap song from its Hot Country Songs chart.
- Loaded social issues aside, Lil Nas X’s music data profile at this moment is a fascinating study in what viral status looks like.
- With only 19K Spotify followers, he has managed to pull 5.7M monthly listeners, giving him an unworldly 300 listener to follower ratio.
- Currently on Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits playlist in the #12 spot and Apple Music’s Top 100: Global playlist in the #1 spot, Lil Nas X has managed grow a total playlist follower reach of 314K just one month ago, to a playlist follower reach over 55M.
- In only the past ten days, he’s more than doubled his Instagram follower count to 92K, so Billboard Country chart or not, this cowboy sure won’t be by his lonesome.
Playlist Round-Up
- “Selección Editorial” is currently the #2 Deezer playlist on the platform at 6.6M fans. It’s ran by their editorial team in México, who typically change the tracks on Saturday.
- This week, there’s 149 tracks with “pop”, “Latin”, “tropical”, “reggaetón” and “edm” being the most common genre tags.
- The current artist roster surprisingly is 43% from the US and UK, with 29% of them from México, Puerto Rico, Spain and Colombia.
- Selección Editorial caters to frontline material, as ⅔ of the tracks were released within a week of its release, however it changes at a glacial pace: it’s 28-day add ratio is only 5%, meaning that in the last month only 5% of the playlist got refreshed with new tracks.
- Additionally, over 87% of its historical tracks lived there from one to six months, so while your new release has little chance of getting on Selección Editorial, the chosen few do get to spend quite some time on it.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday March 28th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric, if you want to dig into más data, visit chartmetric.io/signup. That’s chartmetric (no s) dot IO slash signup.
- Happy Thursday, see you tomorrow!

2019-03-27 // SoundCloud's New & Hot chart, Twenty One Pilots at Outside Lands festival and Apple Music's "Best of the Week" playlist Mar 27, 2019

Highlights
- Two Egyptian artists top the SoundCloud New & Hot chart this week
- Twenty One Pilots get announced as one of three headliners for San Francisco’s Outside Lands festival
- Apple Music’s “Best of the Week” playlist keeps things lively with 67 tracks in the US storefront
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wednesday March 27th 2019.
Charts
- SoundCloud’s Top 50 weekly chart features what most Westerners would expect: a who’s who of the SoundCloud rap scene, what might not be expected is who’s on SoundCloud’s “New & Hot” weekly chart: half of the New & Hot Top 10 tracks are Egyptian.
- Sitting right alongside Western rappers like A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and NLE Choppa are two Egyptian artists: Tamer Ashour and Mohamed Ramadan.
- Singer and composer Ashour comes away with #1 trending track for this week with the soft ballad “Oloolo Samah” which was released six days ago on his latest album, while actor/rapper Mohamed Ramadan is in the #2 spot with his banger “Virus Song” where he channels a very familiar hip-hop machismo, rapping about how his flow is like a virus.
- The popularity of SoundCloud in Egypt is not entirely new: in February of last year, the Vulture covered the success of Hamza Namira’s “Dari Ya Alby” as a voice for the Arab Spring, to the tune of 67.5M SoundCloud plays.
- But this week, Ashour’s new album takes 4 of the top 10 spots, with Philadelphia rapper PnB Rock taking the #3 spot with “I Like Girls (feat. Lil’ Skies)”.
Artist Highlight in the News
- Columbus, Ohio natives Twenty One Pilots got announced as headliners of the Outside Lands 2019 lineup in San Francisco this August, they’re top-lining the Bay area music festival with Paul Simon and Childish Gambino.
- “The Skeleton Clique”, which is the Twenty One Pilots fandom, must be prepping themselves for tickets sales tomorrow, and are likely behind the 14K daily new followers that the group regularly sees on Spotify.
- With just under 12.2M total followers, the two-man band is currently on 248 Spotify editorial playlists, 50 Apple editorial playlists, and 20 Deezer editorial playlists.
- About to kick off an 8-city Latin American tour including three dates on the Lollapalooza Global circuit, Twenty One Pilots will be busy visiting Buenos Aires, Santiago and São Paulo, surely riding a wave of YouTube success that levitated them to 3.8B YouTube views, which hopefully, is not stressing them out. #skeletonclique
Playlist Round-Up
- Apple Music’s “Best of the Week” editorial playlist is billed as having “some of the world’s most exciting new music”.
- Updating every Friday, the US version currently has 67 tracks, with over 60% of them coming from American artists.
- The top five genre tags are pretty diverse: pop, Latin, reggaeton, tropical and indiepop.
- “Patience” by Aussie Tame Impala, “Tempo” feat. Missy Elliott by American Lizzo and “Te Robaré” by puertorriqueños Nicky Jam and Ozuna are a few of the tracks you’ll find on Best of the Week as of today if you’re in the US.
- 47 of the 67 tracks on the list are at Echo Nest Energy ratings above 70 on a 100-point scale, meaning the curator (Apple Music Pop in this case) is working hard to keep the playlist tone lively.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday March 27th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric, if you want to dig into más data, visit chartmetric.io/signup. That’s chartmetric (no s) dot IO slash signup.
- Happy Wednesday, see you tomorrow!

2019-03-26 // iTunes chart in the US, Diana Ross on YouTube and Spotify's "Desi Hits" for South Asia Mar 26, 2019

Highlights
- Country rules the US iTunes charts yesterday with 38 track tags
- Diana Ross celebrates her 75th birthday with over 102M YouTube views
- South Asia gets down with the leading Desi playlist, “Desi Hits” at 241K followers
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tuesday March 26th 2019.
Charts
- Country fans love their downloads, or at least they did yesterday.
- On Monday for the United States storefront in the iTunes download marketplace, there were 38 tracks in the Top 200 list with the genre tag “country”.
- These genre tags are non-exclusive, meaning that a track can be tagged with multiple genres by Apple internally, but it makes quite the impression when the genre “pop” came in with 36 and “hip-hop/rap” at 32.
- The 38 country tracks are well-distributed across the 200, with the romantic ballad “Beautiful Crazy” by Luke Combs at the #13 spot.
- What’s interesting is despite the genre’s track influence on the iTunes chart, there are no country artists in the top 10 most frequently occuring artists. For example, Motley Crue had the most tracks on yesterday’s iTunes chart with 11, due to their Netflix biopic “The Dirt” releasing on Friday sparking nostalgia for some and curiosity for others.
- Or Queen continues to benefit from their five-month-old “Bohemian Rhapsody” biopic with 10 tracks still on the iTunes chart.
- But fear not, the #1 iTunes track yesterday actually was country: “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper from yet another music film, A Star Is Born….it just got coded by Apple as “soundtrack”, and is just another quirk in the music data world.
Artist Highlight in the News
- Happy birthday to American legend Diana Ross, who turns 75 years young today!
- Yesterday, Rolling Stone published news of her live concert film “Diana Ross: Her Life, Love and Legacy” releasing for only two days today and Thursday, showcasing her epic 1983 NYC Central Park show.
- Ross has healthy numbers in the streaming world, with a 68 Spotify Popularity Index rating, 792K followers and a steadily growing monthly listeners count at 4.2M, growing from 2.9M only a year ago.
- The ex-Supremes member is still rocking her Instagram account at 319K followers, posting lots of throwback footage and glamorous shots of own career, and mostly to fans her junior: over 126K IG followers are 18-24 and 97K are 25-34.
- Though Ms. Ross only sports 6K subscribers on YouTube, her long career of epic music has earned over 102M YouTube views, which, given her low amount of subscribers, shows how much active search and recommended video algorithms keep her music alive. Happy birthday, Miss Ross.
Playlist Round-Up
- With Spotify’s recent launch in India about one month ago, attention is likely turning to the playlist “Desi Hits”, which is Spotify’s leading South Asian playlist at 241K followers.
- Growing followers at 6% over the past month, and changing about a quarter of its tracks every month, “Desi Hits” is the closest thing the platform has to the region’s version of “Today’s Top Hits”, which is at 22M followers.
- While “Desi Hits” obviously has some ground to make up for, keep in mind that India alone is home to over 374M smartphone users, and 1.3B people overall. For comparison, the US market has 251M out of 326M. Or better put, a market penetration rate of only 27% compared to the US’ 77%, showing lots of potential for growth in India.
- The playlist “Desi Hits” is dominated by the giant music and film company T-Series, with 35 of its tracks in the 86-track list coming underneath its banner. You may have heard of the company through its on-going YouTube subscriber battle with YouTuber PewDiePie, as T-Series is now within only 4K subscribers at 91,317,xxx subs.
- “Desi Hits” has virtually all of its tracks in the upper half of the Echo Nest Energy chart, promising lots of danceable beats coming from a set of artists who are 52% from India, but 20% from the UK due to the Indian diaspora.
- Whether looking for bhangra beats or Bollywood mega hits, “Desi Hits” likely has a lot of followers coming its way.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Tuesday March 26th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric, a free account is waiting for you at chartmetric.io/signup. That’s chartmetric (no s) dot IO slash signup.
- Happy Tuesday, see you tomorrow!

2019-03-25 // QQ Music Western charts, Billie Eilish album pre-adds on Apple Music and Deezer's "Les titres du moment" flagship playlist Mar 25, 2019

Highlights
- Greyson Chance places 10 tracks on the QQ Music Western charts last week
- Billie Eilish gets over 800K “pre-adds” on Apple Music, likely with American females under 25 according to Instagram
- Deezer’s #1 playlist “Les titres du moment” continues to dominate the platform’s playlist ecosystem
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Monday March 25th 2019.
Charts
- Texas-born, Oklahoma-bred Greyson Chance takes up 10% of the QQ Music Western charts for the week of March 14th to the 20th.
- QQ Music, according to TechCrunch, is one of the largest music streaming platforms in China, with a reported 800M+ monthly active user base when grouped under the Tencent Music Entertainment umbrella. The Chinese tech conglomerate leverages QQ with its social network WeChat (which has over 1B users- that’s billion with a “b”) to provide the majority of its revenue in social media advertising, live-streaming virtual gifts and premium memberships along with traditional song sales and subscription-based revenue.
- QQ updates a 100-song Western music chart every week with their listeners’ most-streamed tunes, and Greyson Chance got 10 tracks off his newly-released 12-track album “portraits” on the list.
- The AWAL-backed crooner’s top 4 Spotify cities by monthly listeners are all in Asia, specifically Singapore, Quezon City in the Philippines, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.
- Not the only Westerner with an Asia-conscious strategy, the #1 spot on the same week’s QQ chart went to Bulgarian-Russian singer Kristian Kostov, who is currently competing in the Chinese TV singing competition series, 我是歌手, or translated, “I Am A Singer”.
Artist Highlight in the News
- Music Business Worldwide reported on Thursday last week that LA-based Billie Eilish racked up 800K plus album pre-adds on the Apple Music platform, showing a strong engagement with her audience looking forward to the March 29th release date.
- Looking at the phenom’s Instagram follower demographics as of last month, the majority of those pre-adds are likely are coming from American females under 25.
- Her IG handle, @wherearetheavocados, has likely racked up over 15M followers by the time you hear this, and has earned an average of 2.4M likes and 33K comments per post.
- A little over 73% of those followers are female, with 64% of them under the age of 25. 3.1M of the female followers fall into the 13-17 year old age range, while 5.3M of them are in the 18-24 range.
- Just over a third are based in the US, with New York City and LA being the two most popular, but São Paulo pulls into the #3 spot.
- Some of her notable IG followers are Kendall Jenner at 107M followers and Katy Perry at 77M, and maybe they’re among Eilish’s Apple album pre-adds as well!
Playlist Round-Up
- “Les titres du moment” is the most followed playlist on Deezer, with 9.8M fans following the platform’s version of Today’s Top Hits on Spotify or Today’s Hits on Apple Music.
- The #2 Deezer playlist is “Selección Editorial” focusing on Latin content, but it’s far behind at 6.6M fans, leaving the top playlist lots of room to enjoy its leading status.
- “Les titres du moment”, or literally “Titles of the Moment”, currently sports 70 tracks that are mostly frontline-focused and featuring a 37% track add-ratio in the past month.
- Unlike other top playlists on other platforms, this playlist regularly adds and removes tracks throughout the week, mostly from Tuesday to Saturday.
- Almost ¾ of its historical tracks have remained on the list for one to six months, showing that it’s willing to host its more successful records for longer periods.
- Currently, the #1 spot goes to electronic-tinged Belgian singer-songwriter Angéle, the #2 spot to the UK’s Sam Smith & American Normani, and the #13 spot goes to Puerto Rico’s Daddy Yankee...so if you’re looking for an internationally-focused, multi-lingual top hits playlist to mix things up, look no further.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Monday March 25th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric, a free account is waiting for you at chartmetric.io/signup. That’s chartmetric (no s) dot IO slash signup.
- Happy Monday, see you tomorrow!

2019-03-22 // Mexico City's Shazam chart, Jay-Z's "The Blueprint" and Apple Music's "This Week on the Voice" playlist Mar 22, 2019

Highlights
- Maluma and Metallica lead in Shazam chart presence in Mexico City yesterday
- Jay-Z’s album “The Blueprint” is missing from Spotify and Apple Music, but gets added to the US National Recording Registry
- Apple Music’s “This Week on the Voice” continues to refresh its catalog-focused playlist
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Friday March 22nd 2019.
Charts
- Colombian reggaeton artist Maluma and iconic American metal band Metallica find themselves in the same sentence for probably the first time in history, as both had two tracks in the Shazam Top Tracks chart for Mexico City yesterday.
- Shazam updates a 50-track chart daily for each city the music recognition app operates in, and the two artists led in having the most tracks in the short list.
- Maluma’s record “HP” which released last month on Feb 28th is accompanied by his collaboration with fellow Colombian Karol G on the romantic song “Creéme”, which released back in Nov 2018.
- However, that’s not quite as throwback as Metallica’s two tracks “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Orion”, which respectively released in 1984 and 1986.
- Seeing such different tracks being Shazamed so much in various bars and clubs across Mexico City may come as a surprise, but then again, maybe to be expected from a cosmopolitan city that Spotify called last November the “World’s Music Streaming Mecca”.
Artist Highlight in the News
- On Wednesday, Brooklyn’s legendary rapper Jay-Z put another notch in his Yankee cap when his 2001 album “The Blueprint” got added to the US Library of Congress National Recording Registry, which designates "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" recordings in America.
- Despite the accolade, the classic album is missing from two of America’s biggest streaming platforms, Spotify and Apple Music, presumably due to Jay-Z’s involvement with the Tidal streaming service and its focus on exclusivity.
- So how does one track the Hov in the music data world? YouTube and terrestrial radio might work: Mr. Carter has 1.9M YouTube subscribers and over 678M total views on the platform, which for the past two years has shown a very consistent “weekend bump” pattern, and revealing one way in which his fans still consume his material. In the past month, his work week views would bottom out to about 1M daily views, while his weekend views would spring up to 1.3M.
- Terrestrial radio is another place, though Jiggaman might be surprised that his beloved New York City doesn’t play him the most in all of America. In the past six months, Detroit and Milwaukee have given Hov an average of 1435 radio spins, while NYC comes out to 1,056.
Playlist Round-Up
- The American singing competition series “The Voice” is currently in its 16th TV season, and you might not know that the producers also maintain an Apple Music curator account aptly titled, “The Voice”.
- With it, they currently maintain 96 series-related playlists, with “This Week on the Voice” being its most long-running and maintained one.
- In the US Apple Music storefront, the playlist runs parallel with that week’s music performances.
- The curators usually add tracks over the weekend on Saturday, while the episodes this season have aired on Monday and Tuesday nights in America.
- A mostly catalog-focused playlist, it is that rare breed that also features a 100% track add ratio in the past month, due to its unique synchronicity with an ongoing TV series whose songs completely change on a weekly basis.
- The current track list runs as far back as 1967 with the Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody”, and as recent as last year with Luke Combs’ “Beautiful Crazy”.
- A mishmash of karaoke-worthy hits, be sure to add it to your Apple Music app if you want to re-live the episode all the way through to the weekend.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday March 22nd 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric, virtually all this data is available at your fingertips, feel free to sign up for a free account at chartmetric.io/signup. That’s chartmetric (no s) dot IO slash signup.
- Bye for now, have a great weekend!

2019-03-21 // YNW Melly on YouTube Top Songs chart, Yaeji at Lollapalooza 2019 and Spotify's "Rock Classics" playlist Mar 21, 2019

Highlights
- YNW Melly’s “Murder on my Mind” hanging strong in the #2 spot on the YouTube Tracks chart in the US
- New York City-based producer Yaeji is announced as part of the 2019 Lollapalooza lineup
- Spotify’s “Rock Classics” playlist grows steadily at 3% in the past month
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Thursday March 21st 2019.
Charts
- “Murder on my Mind”, a track from American rapper YNW Melly has been a mainstay on the recent YouTube Top Songs chart, which consists of 100 tracks that are updated every week.
- The Florida-based rapper released the YouTube video in Aug 2018, and it currently stands at 148M views, with 12.8M of them occurring for the week of March 8th to the 14th. It sits in the #2 spot on the Top Songs chart.
- This particular YouTube chart differentiates itself from the YouTube Top Music Video chart however, since tracks can also be uploaded by other users in what’s called user-generated content, or UGC. YouTube Content ID, the system that automatically detects audio, will then attribute any UGC views to the same track, which is why “Murder on my Mind” has 12.8M views on the Top Songs chart, and only 8.2M on the Music Video chart.
- Last month, news broke that Melly was arrested for murder charges in Miramar, Florida, which likely was a major factor in keeping the track popular in YouTube views, given its suggestive title and subject matter. “Murder on my Mind” continues a 29-week run on the Top Songs chart, which thus far peaked on February 20th.
Artist Highlight in the News
- Yesterday on Instagram, Lollapalooza announced its 2019 lineup, which will take place in Chicago’s Grant Park on August 1st to the 4th.
- On the official Lolla lineup poster, on 13th line down, is Queens-born, Brooklyn-based DJ/producer Yaeji, whose low-key banger “raingurl” is currently on 265 Spotify playlists and 59 Apple Music playlists.
- She is featured on Spotify’s “Soultronic” playlist, which has 130K followers, as well as one of Apple Music’s premiere “A-List” playlists, entitled “The A-List: New Artists”.
- Yaeji’s underground electronic sound has a smaller audience than some of her Lollapalooza peers, but it’s a loyal one: with 135K followers on Spotify, and 627K monthly listeners on the platform, that gives her a listeners to followers ratio of 4.6.
- So while Lolla headliner Ariana Grande has a 2.0 ratio and fellow headliner Childish Gambino has a 2.5 ratio, Yaeji’s 4.6 suggests her smaller fanbase seems to keep coming back for more listens...and will probably get some Lollapalooza tickets to boot.
Playlist Round-Up
- Who says rock is dead? Spotify’s premiere rock genre playlist entitled “Rock Classics” hangs strong as the 11th most followed playlist on the platform at 5.3M followers.
- Over the past 28 days, it’s gained 164K followers (or 3%), recently passing up Hot Country in 12th place and hip-hop playlist Get Turnt in the 10th spot.
- Rock Classics is a personalized playlist, so the song selections and positions may differ on your profile, but you can find tracks the in the ballpark of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, the Eagles’ “Hotel California” and home of one of the most iconic American guitar riffs, “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns and Roses.
- The playlist tends to be energetic with the majority of the 150 tracks rating a 90 or higher in the 100-point Echo Nest Energy scale, so it should be good for parties and taking the car out for a spin.
- It’s obviously a catalogue-focused playlist, so don’t think of pitching any new music here, but if you work with classic repertoire, this might be one to shoot for before they update, which usually happens on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Thursday March 21st 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric, virtually all this data is available at your fingertips, feel free to sign up for a free account at chartmetric.io/signup. That’s chartmetric (no s) dot IO slash signup.
- Bye for now!

2019-03-20 // Imagine Dragons on Amazon Music Top Songs chart, Karol G & Anuel AA on Instagram and Brazilian Deezer playlists Mar 19, 2019

Highlights
- Imagine Dragons reigns supreme on the Amazon Music Top Songs chart
- Power couple Karol G and Anuel AA make a perfect Instagram pairing
- Deezer Music continues to make in-roads in Brazil with three playlists rapidly growing their follower counts
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wed March 20th 2019.
Charts
- American pop rock band Imagine Dragons is currently dominating the Amazon Music Top Songs chart with six tracks in the 100-track chart.
- According to MIDiA Research’s mid-2018 market report, Amazon Music is the #3 biggest streaming platform in the world by paying subscribers, at 12% market share and 27.9M subscribers.
- As of yesterday March 19th, six of tracks from the Las Vegas-born band stagger the platform’s most played songs from position 10 down to position 82.
- The mid-tempo track “Natural” leads the group from Imagine Dragons’ latest album “Origins” in the number 10 spot, while the sample-laden record “Thunder” is next in the number 26 spot, from their 2017 album “Evolve”.
- In case you were missing their smash hit “Radioactive”, it’s still showing lots of gas left in the tank in the 82nd spot on the Amazon Music chart, while clocking in 849M spins on Spotify.
Artist Highlight in the News
- Colombian artist Karol G and Puerto Rican artist Anuel AA are hanging strong in the Top 100 Spotify artists by monthly listeners, with Karol G at number 87 with 20.7M and Anuel AA at number 64 with 23.7M.
- The Latin power couple publicly built a relationship over most of 2017 and 2018 through an enduring series of Instagram posts together, to their fans delight: their combined IG audience adds up to over 28M followers.
- From a business perspective, their relationship seemingly combines their audiences brilliantly: their top 3 Spotify cities by monthly listeners are virtually identical: Santiago, Mexico City, and Buenos Aires. Their top countries by YouTube views are also the same: Mexico, Colombia and Argentina.
- But according to their Instagram demographics, their gender split is the mirror opposite: ¾ of Karol G’s followers are female and ¼ male, while Anuel AA’s followers are ¾ male and ¼ female. And all that data adds up to a great way to pack their next stadium.
Playlist Round-Up
- Deezer Music, the #5 most used streaming service worldwide by subscriber count, wedged between Tencent Music at #4 and Google at #6, is getting the Brazilian traction they wanted with several new playlists.
- “Vem pro Sertanejo” leads the pack with 48K new followers (or 4% growth) over the past month totalling at 1.2M, which highlights a popular domestic genre that loosely parallels the Brazilian version of American country music.
- “Funkadão”, a high-energy playlist focused filling dance floors, is the 2nd fastest growing playlist at 39K more followers than the last month, totalling at 1M.
- Serving as evidence that Deezer’s domestic repertoire-first approach is working there, Deezer’s third fastest growing playlist is “Sertanejo Apaixonado”, another sertanejo genre list with 6% follower growth in the past month, totalling 554K followers.
- According to Music Ally, a whopping ⅔ of the $90M streaming market in Brazil were subscription-based in 2016, so it looks like they’ve been onto something.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wednesday March 20th 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric, virtually all this data is available at your fingertips, feel free to sign up for a free account at chartmetric.io/signup. That’s chartmetric (no s) dot IO slash signup.
- Bye for now!

2019-03-19 // Apple Music's Daily Top 100 chart, Iggy Azalea on Genius and "The A-List: Country" playlist Mar 18, 2019

Highlights
- Five tracks stick around for 182 days on the Apple Music Daily Top 100 chart
- Iggy Azalea drops her new single “Sally Walker” to 124K Genius views
- The Apple Music “The A-List: Country” playlist sports a 26% new add ratio in the past month
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Tues March 19th 2019.
Charts
- Apple Music’s Daily Top 100 chart, which was initially rolled out in September 2018, shows the popularity of individual tracks on the platform, updating every 24 hours.
- As of yesterday March 18th, not only one, but FIVE tracks hold the record for most days on the Global version of the chart at over half a year, or, 182 days to be exact.
- “SICKO MODE” by Travis Scott, “Happier” by Marshmello & Bastille, “I Like It” by Cardi B/Bad Bunny & J Balvin, “Better Now” by Post Malone, and “Lucid Dreams” by Juice WRLD, have all apparently set up permanent homes on the Apple Music Global Daily Top 100.
- While five tracks having such staying power is impressive, it’s not as surprising that four of them are from rappers: Apple Music has shown to be particularly strong platform for such artists, with 59 of the 100 entries on March 18th’s chart labelled as “hip-hop/rap”.
Artist Highlight in the News
- Australian rapper Iggy Azalea releases her lead single “Sally Walker” on Friday March 15th.
- After leaving her major label deal in 2018, Azalea is set to release her new album “In My Defense” as an independent artist with San Francisco-based EMPIRE Distribution.
- The track “Sally Walker” has accumulated over 17M YouTube views in the three days since its release and is the #47 trending video on the platform and the #1 trending one in the Music category.
- It also is the #2 top song yesterday on Genius at 124K views, and surely adding to Azalea’s total of 1200 followers of her Genius profile.
Playlist Round-Up
- One of Apple Music’s premiere country playlists is “The A-List: Country”, part of the platform’s high-profile A-List playlist series.
- Updated every Friday, this week’s version currently has tracks from Jason Aldean, Maren Morris and Thomas Rhett.
- Out of the 60 current tracks, 13 of the them are with Sony Music, 11 with Universal Music and 7 with Big Machine Label Group.
- As more than 75% of the playlist has been released within the past 18 months, we categorize this playlist as “frontline”, and while 26% of the playlist has been added in the past month, a handful of tracks have lived there for the better part of the year.
- At its extreme, the sweet ballad “Beautiful Crazy” by North Carolina native Luke Combs has been on the list for 304 days.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Tuesday March 19 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric, if you want to dig into your data a little more, feel free to sign up for a free account at chartmetric.io/signup. That’s chartmetric (no s) dot IO slash signup.
- Bye for now!

2019-03-15 // Ariana ruling the Spotify Top 200, Jonas Brothers blowing up YouTube and "Songs to Sing in the Car" grows fast in playlist world Mar 14, 2019

Highlights
- Ariana Grande continues her month-long domination of the Spotify Top 200
- Jonas Brothers hit 20M Daily YouTube Views upon release of “Sucker”
- The Spotify playlist “Songs to Sing in the Car” eyes #5 top playlist with crazy follower growth rate
Mission
- Good morning, it’s Jason here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
Date
- This is your Data Dump for Wed March 13th 2019.
Charts
- The track “7 rings” from American pop queen Ariana Grande continues to be the most played track globally on the Spotify Top 200.
- The trap-influenced flex track, since Jan 30th (12 days after release), has maintained the coveted 100 point score on the Spotify Popularity Index (or SPI).
- If you’re not familiar with SPI, check it out on our Help Page, but it’s a backend metric from Spotify that is applied to artists, tracks and albums to communicate popularity on their platform. It’s normalized between 0-100 and changes at least once daily.
- Bonus data point: In our RadioWave dataset, which aggregates 300 of most influential radio stations across the US, “7 rings” is most popular in San Francisco with 573 spins, Seattle next with 495 spins, and Chicago at 392.
Artist Highlight in the News
- The Jonas Brothers make their comeback with their release of their mid-tempo pop track “Sucker”, releasing their YouTube video on Feb 28th, which currently sits at 67M views.
- Debuting as a group in 2005, they now scored their first #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 with the new release.
- During the week prior to the video, the brothers had an average of 140-150K Daily YouTube Views across their repertoire...but once the “Sucker” video released, they hit a peak of 20.9M views in one day, adding to their cumulative YouTube views total to over 177M.
- Interestingly, on March 5th, Indian fans beat out the rest of the world in their love for the Jonas Brothers by showing a 29K% increase in YouTube views to 388K, and beating out the next country, which was the UK at 274K. It certainly doesn’t hurt that superstar Priyanka Chopra features in the video and married Nick Jonas last year.
Playlist Round-Up
- If you’re a train commuter, you might not be aware, but Spotify’s #6 most followed playlist is “Songs to Sing in the Car”, at 7.5M followers.
- Made up of pop hits from Cardi B all the way back to Destiny’s Child, it is ahead of the #7 playlist, “All Out 2000s” at 5.9M followers, and nipping at the heels of “Baila Reggaeton” at 9.1M.
- However, “Songs to Sing in the Car” is growing at a voracious rate of 6% in the past 28 days, which comes out to about 439K followers per month.
- If Baila Reggaeton doesn’t raise its current monthly growth of 85K per month, then it will be overtaken by the car singalong playlist by August 2019.
- Pro tip: “Songs to Sing in the Car” is a personalized playlist that shuffles rank and song selection for each individual Spotify user, so what you see in your playlist, might differ from your buddy’s.
Outro
- That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Wed March 13 2019. This is Jason from Chartmetric, if you want to dig into your data a little more, feel free to sign up for a free account at chartmetric.io/signup
- Bye for now!

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