Looking at a performer's sales is one way to judge who's the biggest name in music. Another way is to check out who's been illegally downloaded the most. Data analysts Musicmetric have looked into the latter and concluded that Bruno Mars and Rihanna are the most torrented performers in the world. Where that places them among the most popular is up to you.
Both of the aforementioned performers managed to bring in more than 5 million illegal downloads during 2013, according to Musicmetric. Daft Punk and Justin Timberlake both saw themselves downloaded around four million times during the year, which might indicate how Mars and Rihanna's accomplishment was even more impressive: Neither of this year's leaders for illegal downloads actually released new music during the year. Whether or not guest appearances—such as Rihanna's in Eminem's hit single "The Monster"—count isn't clarified, but based on the numbers we presume it isn't.
Music Times reported over the weekend that Beyoncé's new self-titled album was among the year's most pirated—with more than 240,000 illegal downloads during its first 10 days of release—but that didn't come close to the most popular album among torrenters. Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience Pt. 1 was pirated around 336,000 times in the first ten days after release.
Musicmetric's findings are based on data from Bit Torrent, the most popular way to download music illegally on the internet. There are, of course, a multitude of sites that offer torrents far from Bit Torrent, but Musicmetric's methodology is about as clear as its going to get. Some musicians have used the agency's findings to make money back: Iron Maiden has intentionally brought its tours to nations high in illegal downloading because it indicates a heavy fan presence as well.
© 2024 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
