Shazam Announces 2013 Predictions - Including French Montana, Bei Maejor and Aluna George

London – 30 November 2012 - Shazam®, the world’s leading media engagement company, today released its predictions of the artists it thinks will break big during 2013, with French Montana, Bei Maejor and Aluna George leading the list.  It also listed the most-tagged songs of 2012, including Gotye’s “Somebody I Used to Know” and “We Are Young” by Fun., which received nearly 15 million and 8 million tags, respectively.  Rihanna and Gotye topped the list for most-tagged artists. 

2013 New Artists to Watch

The Shazam music team analyzed internet hype and other publicly available information about breaking artists, then compared against Shazam’s data to indicate which acts are trending with fans.  Shazam predicts that the artists expected to make headlines in 2013 are:

• French Montana – an American Moroccan rapper, his collaboration with Rick Ross and Lil Wayne, “Pop That”, was one of the breakthrough singles of 2012.
• Bei Maejor – after finding success as a writer and producer with Trey Songz and Justin Bieber, he now looks to break big in 2013 with new solo material.
• Aluna George – comprised of Aluna Francis and George Reid, this London band has been turning heads with their R&B-infused electronic sound.
• Joey Bada$$ - only in the game a year, this young Brooklyn rapper is already gaining attention with his 90’s- style hip-hop.
• Becky G – with Simon Cowell and will.i.am as fans, she already has two strong advocates in the pop world.
• Angel Haze – perhaps the most exciting female rap star since Nicki Minaj, Angel Haze has racked up huge tags on her single, “New York.
• Rhye – this mysterious duo produce startlingly original soul-drenched pop music.
• Tito Lopez – this Mississippi-born rapper has been signed to Capitol and has been gaining notable tagging numbers stateside.
• Baauer – this American producer makes bass-heavy dance music that smashes together the worlds of dubstep and hardcore hip-hop.
• Haim – these three LA sisters sound like a cross between Stevie Nicks and En Vogue.

These acts will be releasing albums in the New Year.  Highlights from the predictions for 2012 include Lana Del Ray, A$AP Rocky and Frank Ocean, all of whom made it to the Billboard Hot 100, with Lana Del Ray’s album “Born to Die” reaching to number two and selling more than two million albums worldwide.  Additionally, another prediction by Shazam last year was newcomer Michael Kiwanuka, who was nominated for a Mercury Prize for his album “Home Again”.

Year in Review – Number of Artists with More than One Million Tags Triples

Shazam’s Top-Tagged Songs

You can’t talk about 2012 without mentioning the juggernaut that was Gotye’s song “Somebody I Used to Know”.  Tagged nearly 15 million times, it set new records at Shazam and around the world.  And that’s not the only song to receive millions of tags – in fact, this year, Shazam saw a total of 130 songs receive more than one million tags in the worldwide charts, three times the number hitting that mark in 2011. 

 The top-tagged songs are:

Shazam’s Top Tagged Artists

Rihanna takes the crown for the most-tagged artist, with “We Found Love” and “Talk That Talk” and other hits earning her 15 million tags over the last 12 months.  Other top tagged artists are:

Complete lists of top tagged tracks and artists can be found here.

Songs with Tagging Driven by Television

Alex Clare is one of this year’s stand-out artists whose popularity was driven by TV advertising.  In fact, prior to Microsoft using the song in its Internet Explorer 9 campaign, his single was not discovered by many fans.  Fast forward to March and the first IE9 commercials:  tagging activity jumps from about ten a day to tens of thousands in a single day as interest in and demand for the track grew, leading to airplay and success in the Billboard and iTunes charts, which is why he credits Shazam and Microsoft for his popularity.

Other songs with tagging driven by inclusion in television shows and advertising include:

• Gabrielle Alpin, “The Power of Love”  (for John Lewis)
• Beach House, “Take Care”  (New Girl)
• Kate Bush, “Running Up That Hill”  (2012 London Olympics Closing Ceremony)
• California Wives, “Purple”  (for Sharpie)
• Michael Grimm, “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”  (So You Think You Can Dance)
• Willy Nelson, “The Scientist”  (for Chipotle)
• Nero, “Promises”  (for HP Beats)
• Orelia Has Orchestra, “Suggestions”  (Pretty Little Liars)
• Phillip Phillips, “Home”  (2012 London Olympics on NBC)

Shazam Charts and the Music Industry

Shazam tag charts provide reliable data that gives the industry insight into which acts and tracks resonate with consumers.  The 2012 report includes annual charts for the world, Europe, UK and USA as well as sub-genre charts for independent dance music and hip-hop which bring quantifiable data to a market which is difficult to track using traditional charts due to non-traditional distribution.  For instance, mix tapes usually include songs that haven’t been formally released yet, but since artists want to gauge response, they will make sure the tracks are loaded in the Shazam database early.  Two such tracks were Rick Ross’s “Stay Schemin’” and Juicy J’s “Bandz a Make Her Dance”, both of which received 200 thousand tags on Shazam before they were listed in iTunes.  

“Information – particularly data about the music that people are tagging because they like it find it interesting – is now more important than ever before.  The tagging data that Shazam provides labels helps them to understand their target audience so that they can more effectively decide where to put their marketing efforts,” said Will Mills, Shazam’s Director of Music and Content.  “Up to 85% of the songs that get to number one Shazam’s Tag Charts go on to break nationally, making it one of the most accurate predictive measures for success and a key driver for Shazam of more than $300 million in digital music sales through our partners.”

For complete US, UK and world charts, as well as TV and Advertising charts, visit the Shazamers.com blog.  Additional information includes Shazam’s Subgenre charts for Hip Hop and Independent Dance.

[gallery]