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Pandora & iHeartRadio release 2015 music metrics; we compare thumbs

Pandora and iHeartRadio sent us music metrics for 2015 — perhaps on the premature side, considering three huge releases (Justin Bieber, One Direction, Adele) in the past two weeks. We’re betting that audience preference data will be significantly altered by December 31.

Still, any ten-and-a-half-month snapshot  from these two streaming powerhouses is interesting. Pandora’s release is a top-100 list of most-thumbed-up tracks. iHeart sent thumb data also (top 10), plus station creations based on artists and songs.

Here is how the two services, and their users, compare in top-10 thumbs:

PANDORA iHEARTRADIO
The Weeknd: “Earned It” Ed Sheeran: “Thinking Out Loud”
Wiz Khalifa: “See You Again” Taylor Swift: “Shake It Off”
Mark Ronson: “Uptown Funk” Taylor Swift: “Blank Space”
Ed Sheeran: “Thinking Out Loud” Meghan Trainor: “All About That Bass”
Nicki Minaj: “Only” Ariana Grande: “Love Me Harder”
Taylor Swift: “Blank Space” Maroon 5: “Animals”
Fetty Wap: “Trap Queen” Meghan Trainor: “Lips Are Movin'”
The Weeknd: “The Hills” Taylor Swift: “Style”
Big Sean: “I Don’t F*** With You” Ed Sheeran: “Don’t”
Ellie Goulding: “Love Me Like You Do” Fall Out Boy: “Centuries”

Although The Weeknd appears twice in Pandora’s most-thumbed list, and not at all for iHeart, the Weeknd is iHeart’s #2 station seed for artist-based stations. The most popular artist station is Taylor Swift.

And even though Mark Ronson’s hit “Uptown Funk” is not a top-10 thumb for iHeart (#3 in Pandora), that song is the #1 song-based station in iHeart.

Brad Hill

One Comment

  1. My take – iHeart’s audience has been cultivated by the company’s mainstream emphasis (build it, they will come), whereas the Pandora audience is more “populist” (give the people what they want).

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