In this report we have aggregated PopScores data from 2007 to identify the biggest growers and the most successful acts of the year.

There is a range of different music buying segments in the UK and with PopScores we define these core segments using age & gender demographics segmented by 10 year intervals from 13 to 59 years of age. That’s a powerful way of understanding how well or not acts connect and possibly unify one or more demographic groups

The most popular acts in the UK over the year were The Beatles and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. The Beatles’ success should come as no surprise because although they have very little connection with teenagers they remain massively popular with British adults. In fact, the Beatles break all records in terms of emotional connection with the over 50’s with almost one in two (45%) saying that they love them. To put this into context, the highest love score in any other age group was 30%.

The Chili Peppers’ strength comes from their continuing ability to unify the market and despite having been around for some considerable time they were the most popular artist with teen males during ‘07, a list that’s entirely made up of rock acts.

The overall Top 10 is entirely made up of groups and 8 of the 10 acts are rock. The other odd one out is the Scissor Sisters in 6th position. 4 of the Top 10 acts are relatively new – Snow Patrol, Kaiser Chiefs, Scissor Sisters and Coldplay.

Female teens showed a lot of love for rock during ‘07 and also for solo female acts, the most popular of whom was Pink. Edgy pop is what best defines the twenty something female. Pink, Gwen Stefani and the Scissor Sisters lead the table. The rest of the table was dominated by rock bands with the sole exception of Nelly Furtado, who came in 10th place.

Twenty something males prefer rock bands again with not a single solo artist in this segment’s Top Ten. The “sound” of the 30+ female doesn’t appear to differ much from the twenty somethings, with the exception that this segment’s top 10 also features Kylie Minogue and Bon Jovi.

In the 40+ and 50+ segments there is little room for newer acts. The exceptions are the Kaiser Chiefs and Snow Patrol who built enough love in the 40+ segment to appear in the Top 10. The other big acts in these segments all had 10+ albums to build that strong connection.

In summary, each ten year segment has its own distinctive sound. There is some overlap between age segments but one could readily programme a radio station that reflects the preferred sound for each of the segments.

This exercise confirms again that whilst some artists like Snow Patrol and the Kaiser Chiefs manage to unify 20-50 year olds, the rule is that our music preferences stay with us for a long time while we grow our emotional connection with artists. The warning message to the music industry appears to be build acts with long term careers that can last a generation or today’s teens and twenty somethings will have a lot less passion for music when they’re older. A two album career simply isn’t enough to build a long term connection.

Top Ten Most Popular Acts in the UK

1. The Beatles 
1. Red Hot Chili Peppers 
3. Snow Patrol 
4. Kaiser Chiefs 
5. REM 
6. U2 
7. Scissor Sisters 
8. Coldplay 
9. Bon Jovi 
10. The Police
 

Top Ten Most Popular Acts by Demo

13-19 Females

Pink 
Snow Patrol 
Christina Aguilera 
Nelly Furtado 
Gwen Stefani 
Killers 
Kaiser Chiefs 
Kelly Clarkson 
The Kooks 
Maroon 5
 

13-19 Males

Red Hot Chili Peppers 
Killers 
Foo Fighters 
Muse 
Razorlight 
Snow Patrol 
Gorillaz 
Arctic Monkeys 
Kaiser Chiefs 
The Zutons
 

20-29 Females

Pink 
Gwen Stefani 
Scissor Sisters 
Red Hot Chili Peppers 
Snow Patrol 
Killers 
Kaiser Chiefs 
Bon Jovi 
Green Day 
Nelly Furtado
 

20-29 Males

Red Hot Chili Peppers 
Foo Fighters 
The Beatles 
Snow Patrol 
Oasis 
Green Day 
REM 
Killers 
Nirvana 
Razorlight
 

30-39 Females

Scissor Sisters 
Robbie Williams 
Pink 
Snow Patrol 
Red Hot Chili Peppers 
Kaiser Chiefs 
Madonna 
Kylie Minogue 
Bon Jovi 
Gwen Stefani
 

30-39 Males

Red Hot Chili Peppers 
Kaiser Chiefs 
U2 
The Police 
The Beatles 
REM 
Foo Fighters 
Snow Patrol 
Green Day 
Killers
 

40-49 Females

Scissor Sisters 
Robbie Williams 
Annie Lennox 
Take That 
Meatloaf 
Earth Wind & Fire 
Genesis 
Bon Jovi 
Snow Patrol 
Stevie Wonder
 

40-49 Males

REM 
Annie Lennox 
David Bowie 
Genesis 
Scissor Sisters 
Meatloaf 
U2 
Kaiser Chiefs 
Snow Patrol 
The Police
 

50-59 Females

The Beatles 
Simon & Garfunkel 
Eric Clapton 
Stevie Wonder 
Genesis 
Meatloaf 
Elton John 
Annie Lennox 
Robbie Williams 
Bryan Adams
 

50-59 Males

The Beatles 
Simon & Garfunkel 
Eric Clapton 
Rolling Stones 
Santana 
Bob Dylan 
Genesis 
David Bowie 
Annie Lennox 
Diana Ross
The Top 10 most popular acts in the UK are a weighted result and reflect the population of the UK, i.e. larger population segments such as 40-49 year olds weight heavier than the much smaller population segment of teenagers

The Biggest Growers in 2007

The biggest growers during 2007 were The Klaxons, Amy Winehouse and The Fratellis. The Klaxons enjoyed their largest support with teen females but also with 40-49 year old males. Amy Winehouse had the strongest growth in emotional connection with 30-39 and 40-49 year old females and The Fratellis grew the most with 50+ men.

Other big gainers were Kanye West who secured considerable support from teen males and Fergie who grew strongly with 20-29 year old females and 30-39 year old males. Snow Patrol experienced the biggest increase with 50-59 year old females.

The Top Three Growers

1. The Klaxons +12 PopScore points

2. Amy Winehouse +10 points

3. The Fratellis + 9 points

The Biggest Growers By Demographic

13-19 Females: The Klaxons + 22 PopScore points

13-19 Males: Kanye West + 18 points

20-29 Females: Fergie + 20 points

20-29 Males: Klaxons + 16-points

30-39 Females: Amy Winehouse + 19 points

30-39 Males: Fergie + 15 points

40-49 Females: Amy Winehouse + 14 points

40-49 Males: Klaxons + 17 points

50-59 Females: Snow Patrol + 15 points

50-59 Males: The Fratellis + 17 points