The Super Bowl Halftime Show’s Biggest Acts & Their Fans On YouTube

February 03, 2017

From iconic solo performers such as James Brown and Michael Jackson, to supergroups like The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, the Super Bowl Halftime show has become one of the game’s most anticipated events. Considering the number of legendary musicians who have performed, we began to wonder: how does an artist’s Super Bowl performance help grow their fanbase on YouTube?

The Impact a Super Bowl Halftime Performance has on Artists' Subscribers

 Last year, we examined the views bumps that artists’ videos receive following their Super Bowl performances. This year, we decided to focus on YouTube subscribers


Looking back at the artists who have performed in the past 4 years, it was Destiny’s Child who had the greatest increase in official channel subscribers following the 2013 Super Bowl, with an increase of 427%. For this same performance, Beyoncé herself saw an increase of 196%. The huge increase in subscribers on the official Destiny’s Child YouTube channel was most likely due to the long-awaited reunion of the group, who had not performed together since 2007.

When Beyoncé returned to perform at the Super Bowl in 2016, she saw a subscriber bump of 145%, but the moment belonged to headliners Coldplay, who saw a subscriber bump of 234% for their Super Bowl debut.

Love For the Halftime Show’s Songs

It’s clear that even established artists with vast worldwide fanbases can grow their audience online as a result of playing the Super Bowl Halftime stage. The songs they play on game day reach millions of listeners around the world. They grow even more popular as old fans reconnect with past favorites and new listeners discover tracks for the first time. Among all Super Bowl Halftime artists over the last four years, who has had the largest increase in views for the songs that they performed?


Among the past four years’ headliners — Coldplay, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars and Beyoncé — it was Beyoncé who had the greatest increase in YouTube video views for songs performed at the Super Bowl (a 54.8% increase). This was more than double the increase in views for Coldplay (27%), Katy Perry (23.9%), and Bruno Mars (21%).

This year, Lady Gaga is set to entertain the millions watching Super Bowl LI. Check back here for more Super Bowl analyses!
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Your In-Depth Interactive Guide to YouTube Rewind 2016

December 07, 2016

Introducing The YouTube Music Viral Charts

November 29, 2016

Today we’re launching another charts feature on youtube.com/artists, called Viral Videos, where we’ll be spotlighting 50 music videos that are catching fire on YouTube each week. This is in addition to charts we’ve launched that show you the most popular tracks, artists, and music videos on YouTube.

To give a sense of the breadth of genres and artists that comprise the Viral Videos chart, we’ve put together a recap of the top 10, below:

1. Britney Spears ft. Tinashe -"Slumber Party"

The Princess of Pop ascends to the top of this week’s Viral Chart with the second single from her 2016 album Glory.



2. Kehlani - "Distraction"

Following up her immensely successful mix tapes, Kehlani’s “Distraction,” the second single from her upcoming debut album, SWEETSEXYSAVAGE, is in the second spot.



3. Shakira ft. Maluma - "Chantaje"

 With the help of YouTube’s sizable Latin viewership, Shakira’s “Chantaje” lands at #3.



4. Lil’ Yachty ft. Quavo, Skippa da Flippa - "Minnesota"

The newly released video for “Minnesota,” the second of the two tracks that garnered Lil’ Yachty tremendous attention in 2015 (the first is “1 night”), is the fourth-most viral music video this week.



5. Noah Cyrus ft. Labrinth - "Make Me (Cry)"

Noah Cyrus continues to set herself apart from elder sister Miley with this Lana Del Rey-esque ballad, at #5.



6. Pentatonix - "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"

Pentatonix’s characteristically polished five-part harmony of a traditional English carol, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” is gaining traction in time for Christmas.



7. Ariana Grande ft. Nicki Minaj - "Side to Side" (Live From The 2016 American Music Awards)

Ariana Grande’s American Music Awards performance of the immensely popular “Side To Side” — the track received over 500 million views in under 3 months — was one of our most viral videos last week.



8. Piko Taro - "PPAP vs AXEL F"

Piko Taro's viral “Pen Pineapple Apple Pen” meets Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F,” the classic 80s track featured in Beverly Hills Cop.



9. OK Go - "The One Moment"

OK Go maintain their tradition of releasing some of the most imaginative videos on YouTube with “The One Moment.” It’s also the newest video in our Viral Chart top 10, released on Nov. 24.



10. Grace VanderWaal - "I Don't Know My Name"

Grace Vanderwaal is the youngest artist on our Viral Chart this week. The twelve-year-old ukulele player and singer-songwriter debuts the video for “I Don’t Know My Name,” made up of her fans’ artwork, at #10.



To check out the rest of the Top 50, head over to the YouTube Charts page and click the Viral Videos tab.
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Can YouTube Fans Predict the Latin GRAMMY Winners?

November 14, 2016

On November 17, the Latin GRAMMY Awards will honor the biggest names in Latin music. With YouTube viewers around the world watching more Latin music than ever — 55 Latin artists have songs in the YouTube Top 100 music charts this year alone — we decided to look at which nominees would have the highest chance of winning if the winners were selected based on views of their songs on YouTube during the GRAMMY eligibility period.

Latin GRAMMY Predictions: Record of the Year
When it comes to the Record of the Year, this year’s Latin GRAMMYs have a clear winner if song popularity is our metric of choice. Among the nominees, Enrique Iglesias and Wisin’s “Duele El Corazón” is far and away the most-played track on YouTube.



Latin GRAMMY Predictions: Song of the Year
While Record of the Year honors the performer alongside the producers, engineers, and mixers of the track, the Song of the Year award recognizes the songwriters behind some of the biggest hits of the year. Among the ten nominated tracks, Enrique Iglesias & Wisin’s “Duele El Corazón” once again stands out as the most-watched track:



Best New Artist
The Best New Artist category for this year’s Latin GRAMMYs is -- when compared to the Song of the Year and Record of the Year -- a much closer race. Nevertheless, Manuel Medrano’s YouTube views over the past year and a half suggest that the singer of “Bajo El Agua” and “Una Y Otra Vez” are more popular than newcomers Mon Laferte (“Tu Falta De Querer”), Morat (“Cuánto Me Duele”), and Joss Favela (“Cuando Fuimos Nada”).



Latin GRAMMY Predictions: Urban Song of the Year
If YouTube’s weekly Top 100 Charts are our barometer for highlighting the songs that people love, Latin Urban music is tremendously popular on YouTube. The most popular song of all the Urban Song of The Year nominees is Yandel’s “Encantadora,” beating out the likes of Cosculluela & Daddy Yankee’s “A Donde Voy” and De La Ghetto’s “Acércate.”



Urban Album of the Year
J. Balvin is one of only four Latin artists (the others being Enrique Iglesias, Shakira, and Romeo Santos) who, at the time of writing, have videos that have received over a billion views. Although Balvin’s billion-view song, “Ay Vamos,” was on a previous album, tracks like “Ginza” and “Safari” have proven immensely popular, and have led to his Energía being the most listened-to album of all nominees. Farruko’s Visionary is next in line, followed by Emicida’s Sobre Crianças, Quadris, Pesadelos E Lições De Casa…, El B’s Luz, and Arianna Puello’s Despierta.



How closely will popularity sync with the decisions of this year's Latin GRAMMY judges? We'll have to wait until November 17 to find out!

-- Posted by the YouTube Culture & Trends Team
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