After a nine-week absence from the top 10 on the Social 50 chart, One Direction returns to the region, vaulting 14-8 after the debut of their video for "You & I" on April 18. The nine-week vacation from the region was the group's longest time away since they first breached the top 10 on Jan. 28, 2012.
The Social 50 ranks the most popular artists on YouTube, Vevo, Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, Wikipedia, Myspace and Instagram. The chart's methodology blends weekly additions of friends/fans/followers along with artist page views, song plays and reactions as measured by music analytics company Next Big Sound.
One Direction's 101 percent increase in weekly video plays (in the week ending April 20) comes primarily from Vevo, where the act scored 34 million views to their channel. The boost in online conversation surrounding the video release is evidenced by the 37 percent rise in reactions across Twitter and Facebook for the week, which helped lead to the 4 percent rise in weekly fan acquisition.