Coachella Effect: Can a festival drive streaming stats? [Chartmetric]
The Chartmetric data team takes a look at the streaming growth driven by some of Coachella 2023’s most iconic performances.
by Sarah Kloboves of Chartmetric Blog
From the whimsical art installations to the trendsetting fashion choices, Coachella is a feast for the senses. It’s a place where music lovers and art enthusiasts can come together to celebrate the vibrant culture of Southern California. And while each passing year continues to push the boundaries of what a music festival can be, it never comes without a few mishaps and flip-flops.
Coachella 2023 was certainly one for the books. Between Frank Ocean’s controversial performance and Bad Bunny’s “accidental” diss to Harry Styles, this year’s festival had fans sitting back with popcorn in hand. But how much did these iconic moments affect the social and streaming stats of your favorite artists? Follow along to see what the data tells us about some of Coachella’s most significant performances.
Listening Growth
Year after year, Coachella performers continue to experience significant boosts in streaming following a scheduled performance slot. For example, some of last year’s most significant acts saw an average Spotify listening growth of 14%.
This year, our most significant increase in raw Spotify monthly listeners belonged to British singer, rapper, and producer Labrinth. He was joined on stage by Billie Eilish during week one of the festival, generating a buzz and garnering 6K Wikipedia views in the last day of the festival’s first weekend. As week two rolled around, Labrinth raised the bar even higher and brought out Euphoria star Zendaya for a duet of the show’s “All Of Us.” This drove over 12K users to visit Labrinth’s Wikipedia page in just one day, demonstrating the singer’s overall ability to tap into different fandoms and artist fanbases.
It’s also worth noting that Labrinth released the single, “Never Felt So Alone,” on April 7th, acting as an initial push to generate listening engagement. Since the single’s release, Labrinth has gained over 8 million Spotify monthly listeners.
Another stand-out from this year’s lineup was KAYTRANADA, whose performance was a celebration of his unique blend of electronic and hip-hop music. The Canadian DJ and producer brought a high-energy set to the stage, showcasing his exceptional mixing skills and infectious beats. As the crowd danced along to hits like “Glowed Up” and “Lite Spots,” KAYTRANADA also used his slot to debut “KAYTRAMINÉ”, a musical project with rapper Aminé that rolled out at the beginning of April. With both the collaboration and a stellar Coachella performance, KAYTRANADA was able to boost his Spotify listening by nearly 50% (+2.4M), his TikTok following by 12% (+16.4K), as well as garner over 23K Wikipedia page views.
While dozens of performers on 2023’s Coachella roster saw significant boosts in Spotify listeners, such as Afrobeats star Burna Boy (+1.8M) or Latin Pop’s Rosalia (+4.1M), one of the most interesting stories in listening growth occurred months before when the lineup was released.
English Electronic artist Jai Paul first entered the scene in 2007 when he began cultivating fans with his unique demos and unparalleled production style. Shortly after releasing his wildly acclaimed track “Jasmine (Demo)” in 2012, an unknown user uploaded a number of Wolf’s tracks to Bandcamp and drove him into a six-year hiatus. Since then, the return of Jai has been universally unknown, that is, until Coachella released their lineup in January.
News of Paul’s return exploded on TikTok as both new and old fans learned about the star’s upcoming debut. A month after the lineup drop, his Spotify following saw a tick of +12.6K Spotify followers, along with over 10K Wikipedia page views in one day. In the past six months, Jai’s Spotify listening has maintained a growth rate of over 80%.
Social Growth
For a festival that is highly immersed in influencer culture, significant growth on social platforms is definitely an added perk of landing a Coachella slot. With that being said, it’s no surprise that some of our highest social growers were at the right at the center of Coachella’s online buzz.
Our highest-growing artist by Instagram following, BLACKPINK, created a historic moment for K-pop, marking the first time a Korean girl group had headlined the renowned festival. The quartet delivered an electrifying set, showcasing their powerful vocals and impressive choreography, earning them critical acclaim and boosting their social following by 700K+ Instagram followers.
Bad Bunny’s 2023 Coachella performance also made its way to the center of Coachella-tok after allegedly throwing shade at Harry Styles. “goodnight benito could do as it was but harry could never do el apagaon,” a tweet displayed in Bunny’s visuals read, seemingly dissing the British star. An apology was later released during week two of the festival, but the online gossip was enough to grant Bunny an added +200K Instagram followers.
Chartmetric Score Growth
When it comes to overall growth as an artist, both social and streaming growth play an equal part in determining industry success. With that being said, we’ve utilized Chartmetric’s Artist score to see which performer saw the most significant gains across all platforms.
Chartmetric Artist Rank is our proprietary global digital artist ranking system that lets you measure artist performance across 16 streaming and social media platforms and metrics.
Among our biggest growers, we see Dominic Fike, Labrinth, and Romy in the top three spots. Fike, in particular, had significant growth of over +42K, likely due to his transcending performance and a recent single release, “Dancing In The Courthouse.” In the case of Fike, Labrinth, and several other Coachella performers, it’s clear that timing releases around a Coachella slot can be an extremely effective way to double up on generated traction.
Saving the best Coachella 2023 mishap for last, we have Frank Ocean as the 14th largest growing artist by Chartmetric score. In 2020, Frank’s long-awaited return to the stage became one of the most anticipated events of the year, that is, until COVID-19 postponed the festival for another two years. This postponement, along with a three-year hiatus from any kind of music release, had Frank fans more eager than ever to catch his close-out performance. Even the lineup announcement alone grew his Chartmetric score by over +20K.
But just as the stars were aligning for Frank’s grand return, Coachella went and pulled a “Coachella.” When the gates opened on Sunday morning, dozens of fans ran to the barricade, where they would wait over 12 hours in the blistering desert sun. After coming out an hour late, scrapping a majority of his performance plans, and not even singing a majority of his songs, Frank ended his set early and canceled the following performance for weekend two.
Amongst all the turmoil, the buzz around Frank’s lackadaisical performance still drew fans to listen to his music. In the month of April, Ocean grew his Spotify monthly listeners by +2.4M, his YouTube channel views by +19.5M, and his Wikipedia page views by over 100K.
At the end of the day, Coachella is simply whatever you make of it. Whether you’re a fan of the music or an absolute hater of the culture, there’s no denying the festival’s power to break artists and create lasting iconic moments. And while this year’s Coachella was nothing short of legendary, we can be sure that it will continue to deliver for years to come.
