April 4, 2019

Contemporary Music SuperStudy 1

Contemporary Music SuperStudy

What is the current state of contemporary music?

We took a list of the most consumed songs from the past year by streaming, sales and radio airplay as measured by Nielsen – BDSradio. We tested those songs with 1,000 people ages 12-54 across the United States and Canada.

WORLDWIDE RADIO SUMMIT AND WEBINAR PRESENTATION

Watch the video of our initial presentation of the findings from the Worldwide Radio Summit, March 29, 2019 in Burbank, CA and our Deep Dive webinar, in which we present additional findings and take questions: Click Here

FINDINGS

The Current State of Contemporary Music

There’s a Reason They Call it Pop Music

What Shapes Our Music Tastes

Bruno Mars is the Great Unifier

SONG DATA

Coleman Insights is now offering free access to a sortable spreadsheet containing song-by-song data from the Contemporary Music SuperStudy it released in March, 2019. All visitors can now view how each song was evaluated by listeners, with breakdowns by age, gender, ethnicity and more.

The study’s major findings, which Coleman Insights previously shared at the Worldwide Radio Summit, via webinar and through its Tuesdays With Coleman blog series included:

  • Hip Hop/R&B was the most consumed genre of 2018, but is also the most polarizing;
  • Pop is the one genre that fans of all other genres can agree on;
  • The appeal of Hip Hop/R&B titles is concentrated among younger, male listeners, while Country titles perform best among older, female listeners;
  • While the music tastes of supporters and detractors of President Trump vary significantly, “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars is the top song with both groups

It was based on a test of 2018’s most consumed songs with 1,000 12 to- 54-year-olds across the United States and Canada utilizing Coleman Insights’ FACT360SM Strategic Music Test platform and was released after receiving many requests from clients. While programmers should not make any music decisions based on this data, they can use it to ensure that many of the stronger-testing songs in their stations’ formats are included in any customized music research they do.

Click here to register to access the Contemporary Music SuperStudy song data.