Coldplay made some significant strides in the online world this week as the group's newest video for its hit song "Princess of China" (featuring Rihanna) was released on June 2. That causes the rock band to make a big jump on Billboard's Social 50 chart, rising 30-22.
The Social 50 chart ranks the most popular artists on YouTube, Vevo, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, using a formula that blends weekly additions of friends/fans/followers along with weekly artist page views and weekly song plays.
"Princess of China," the fourth single from Coldplay's album "Mylo Xyloto," has so far peaked at No. 20 on the Hot 100. The song's featured guest, Rihanna, happens to also hold the No. 1 spot on the Social 50 this week.
Channeling audiences from two massive online fan bases (over 75 million combined fans on Facebook alone) the video was able to garner 7 million views in only seven days. That helped Coldplay rack up 14,732,000 views to its VEVO channel during the charting week.
The success of the video created a positive impact on both artists' fan bases. Coldplay added just over 147,000 followers across Twitter, Facebook and Myspace to their overall fan base (a 7% increase) while Rihanna added 407,482.
Coldplay wasn't the only group to experience online gains riding the coattails of the Rihanna Navy. The greatest gains on the Social 50 this week were the five sisters that make up Cimorelli. The act returns to the top 10, jumping 16-3, reaching a new chart high. The jump comes thanks to the group's video cover of Rihanna's "Where Have You Been." So far, it has earned more than 600,000 views since its debut on June 4.
Its release has helped push Cimorelli's YouTube channel over 200 million views. It's full steam ahead for Cimorelli, who experienced nearly 20% gains across all other metrics (fans, views) during the charting week.
Miley Cyrus received some love online this week as well, as people flocked to her online properties to follow her as news broke of her recent engagement. The lucky fellow? Her boyfriend of two years, "Hunger Games" co-star Liam Hemsworth. Cyrus received a 82% boost in fan acquisition over the previous week and, according to additional data provided by Next Big Sound, her Wikipedia page received a 118% increase in weekly viewership.
Other gains on the Social 50 include Eminem, who rose 19-13 correlating with activity (news releases and videos) surrounding the Shady Records Hot 97 Summer Jam BBQ. (The same Summer Jam where Nicki Minaj, who holds at No. 7, didn't show up after DJ Peter Rosenberg dissed her onstage before her scheduled performance.)
Selena Gomez has a fragrance and Spring Break to thank for her 24-21 climb this week. The June 9 launch of her fragrance with Macy's, and press surrounding her upcoming movie "Spring Breakers," helped earn her a 20% increase in profile views.
The rest of this week's top 10: Adele holds fast at No. 2, Justin Bieber steps down (3-4), as does Katy Perry (5-6). The latter swaps spots with Skrillex who rose a position (6-5). Linkin Park continues to climb (9-8), eclipsing Lady Gaga whose decrease in activity allowed her to sink (4-9). Rounding out the top 10 is One Direction, falling two rungs to No. 10.
