This week on Billboard's Social 50 chart, Nicki Minaj bounds back into the top 10, Skrillex hits a new high and One Direction continue its American takeover.
After a brief sojourn from the top 10 last week, Nicki Minaj is back in the upper tier at No. 4 (up 13 slots) following a 6.1% increase in overall followers over the previous week. The flurry of social activity comes as the diva reigns in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with two different tracks: "Starships" (up to No. 6 from No. 9) and "Turn Me On" (with David Guetta, down one slot to No. 7).
The Social 50 chart ranks the most popular artists on YouTube, Vevo, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, using a formula that blends weekly additions of friends/fans/followers along with weekly artist page views and weekly song plays.
Minaj experiences a surge of 170,000 "likes" on Facebook, a 55% increase over her fan acquisition rate from the previous week. Blogs were in a tizzy last week courtesy of pictures of the bikini-clad artist during a video shoot for "Starships."
After 36 weeks on the chart, Skrillex finally cracks the top 10, rising seven spots to No. 9. The electronic artist was one of the most buzzed about acts who played South by Southwest last week, receiving over 107,000 Facebook "likes" (up 42% compared to the week previous).
UK pop group One Direction continues their march up the Social 50, moving from No. 9 to No. 5 (a new high) after the release of their debut album "Up All Night" on March 13. The act made history on the Billboard 200 albums chart as the first UK group to bow at No. 1 with a debut album. "Up All Night" entered atop the list with 176,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The media frenzy surrounding One Direction, including a performance on NBC's "Today" show, has translated into a storm of social buzz and activity. During the charting week the group experienced a 9% increase in overall online fan acquisition from the previous week, mostly resulting from a 164,000 gain in Twitter followers (up 29%).
The group understands how to reach fans, too. One Direction's Vevo channel features behind-the-scenes and touring-related content -- in addition to traditional music video clips. A video of the act greeting fans gathered in Natick Mall in Boston has received over 150,000 views since debuting March 20, contributing to an 16% increase in video views over the previous week.
Elsewhere on the chart, Usher (moving 37-31) experiences gains as well, as this week captured the tail-end of the surge of online activity surrounding the release of the video for his new single "Climax." The video debuted on March 8 and has since received over 4 million views, contributing in part to his total of 8,485,000 video views during the week (up 18.5%).
Back in the top 10: Adele continues to watch the Social 50 throne, resting comfortably at No. 1 as Lady Gaga jumps from No. 4 to No. 2. Gaga bumps Justin Bieber down four slots to No. 6 while Rihanna remains at the No. 3 spot. Eminem falls from No. 6 to No. 7 and Chris Brown slips from No. 5 to No. 10 as online activity generated by his newest single "Turn Up The Music" begins to taper off. Finally, LMFAO re-enters the top 10 at No. 8 (up six rungs) after a busy week touring.
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