Top Sales and Social Media Stats From The MTV Video Music Awards

From Nielsen Entertainment's The Insighter.

This past Sunday, the 29th annual MTV Video Music Awards invaded Brooklyn, NY’s spanking new Barclays Center, crowning many music megastars like Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, and Taylor Swift with Moonmen. In 2012, we saw sales lifts of up to a whopping 353% directly following the broadcast— here’s the scoop on this year:

1. 10 million people tuned in for the show between 9:00 PM and 11:23PM EST.
2. The most shared Tweet from the audience was sent by E! Online when they asked how their followers felt about Miley Cyrus’ performance. It was retweeted over 18,000 times.
3. The Weeknd saw one of the biggest lifts in digital song sales with “Wicked Games”, selling 5,318 units for a 50% increase over the previous week.
4. Drake was the runner up with “Started From The Bottom”, with 21,000 units sold for a 42% increase over the previous week.
5. Iggy Azalea’s “Work” was streamed 445,000 times — a 36% increase over the previous week, and the largest of the nominees.
6. Janelle Monáe was runner up with 105,000 streams for “Q.U.E.E.N. featuring Erykah Badu”— a 31% increase over the previous week.
7. Harry Styles from award-winning group One Direction tweeted “VMA.” which was retweeted the most, over 35 million times.

​​​Congratulations to the artists (and labels) who received an extra “unofficial award” in the way of engagement and music consumption. Kudos, we bask in your video making glory.

P.S. We were there! Check out our pictures from the show.

SOURCE: Nielsen (SocialGuide, SoundScan, BDS) Sales units compared weeks ending August 18 and August 25, and streams compared weeks ending August 19 and August 26.