Ariana Grande’s Spice Girls Cover Yields Social 50 Chart Gain
An impromptu cover helps Ariana Grande rise 6-2 on the latest Social 50 chart dated Sept. 2 and "Weird Al" Yankovic re-enters the chart for the first time since 2014.
An impromptu cover helps Ariana Grande rise 6-2 on the latest Social 50 chart dated Sept. 2.
The Social 50 is powered by data tracked by music analytics company Next Big Sound and ranks the most popular artists on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Wikipedia and Tumblr. The chart’s methodology blends weekly additions of friends/fans/followers along with artist page views and engagement. The chart’s latest tracking week ended Aug. 17.
The singer posted a clip on Instagram Aug. 15 of her singing Spice Girls’ “Say You’ll Be There” in a bathroom, adding in a hashtag: “#imissagoodharmonicasolo.”
She also tweeted out portions of the lyrics, which led some of her younger fans to question whether the words to the 1997 hit were actually lyrics to a new Grande song. Grande had to let them down gently a few minutes later, questioning, “am I old?”
That and more from the start of Grande’s latest tour stops in Asia saw the singer gain 279 percent in Twitter mentions and 241 percent in Instagram reactions in the tracking week, according to Next Big Sound.
Further down the Social 50 at No. 34, “Weird Al” Yankovic re-enters the Social 50, charting for the first time since the ranking dated Aug. 2, 2014, with a 2,074 percent gain in Wikipedia views, rising to 501,000 for the week. The culprit for the gain: Yankovic appeared on HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on Aug. 13, performing a song called “Please Don’t Nuke Us, North Korea” following host Oliver’s segment on the country. Yankovic also leapt 127 percent in Twitter mentions following the episode.
Meanwhile, Taeyang of K-pop group Big Bang makes his maiden Social 50 appearance, debuting at No. 47 after releasing White Night, his first album in three years. He jumped 68 percent in Instagram followers, adding 46,000, and accrued 5.5 million Instagram reactions. White Night debuted at No. 1 on World Albums (his second LP to do so), selling 2,000 copies, according to Nielsen Music.
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