Nicki Minaj climbs the Billboard Social 50 this week, moving 30-22, after dropping her “Lookin Ass” video on Feb. 14. The black and white video — and the ensuing controversy that is sparked — helped her to receive over 17.6 million overall plays for the week to her Vevo channel (a 7% increase over the previous week).
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.
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When the video dropped, the cover art released with the song featured a repurposed photo of Malcolm X which enraged fans. Minaj deleted the photos and responded personally to the outrage on Instagram.
She wrote: “I apologize. That was never the official artwork nor is this an official single. This is a conversation. Not a single. I am in the video shooting at ‘Lookin Ass Ni**az’ and there happened to be an iconic photo of Malcolm X ready to do the same thing for what he believed in!!!!”
The photo itself has since received more than 140,000 post likes, contributing to the 90% rise in engagement she experienced on the platform for the week.
Farther down the chart, Christina Aguilera jumps 48-39 after announcing her engagement to Matt Rutler with a picture on Instagram. The picture has received more than 38,000 likes since it was first posted on on February 14.
The post helped drive a 163% rise in engagement which lead to 13,000 new fans on the photo sharing platform. Fans celebrated the engagement on Twitter as well, where mentions of Aguilera increased by 94% over the previous week.
In the top 10, Shakira remains at No. 1 for the fourth week in a row while Miley Cyrus climbs 3-2, displacing Justin Bieber, who falls 2-3. Katy Perry ascends (6-4) along with Eminem (7-5) and Taylor Swift (11-6).
As for the rest of the top 10, Bruno Mars moves 4-7, Rihanna slides 5-8 and Britney Spears rebounds 16-9. Demi Lovato closes out the region, rising 13-10.