"American Idol" 2019 gets down to the wire this weekend again, and competition for the top is getting tighter. Gold Derby polls mid-week showed that Alejandro and Madison are more popular than Laine Hardy for this weekend's show. However, the mid-week polls are small and historically change on the day of the competition. Crunching some popularity numbers on social media actually reveals Laine Hardy holds the top spot in popularity.
Spotify and Soundcloud left out of the 'American Idol' crunching numbers stats
Looking at Spotify and SoundCloud, numbers were too erratic.
On Spotify, in Laci Booth's case, it seems very spotty and streaming listeners came only on individual songs. Most SoundCloud figures were not worth even noting. On Spotify Wade Cota comes up with zero monthly listeners, Laine with 65,774 monthly listeners, Alejandro with 382, and Madison with 2,066. However, on Soundcloud, Laci did best with 10,504. Again, all these figures got ditched here as returns are not worth influencing overall popularity.
For that reason, I looked at followers and likes on Facebook, across fan groups for each individual, and their own pages. Then on Twitter, I looked at the followers in their accounts. Over on Instagram, the same figures came from verified artists accounts, and on YouTube, from the main music channels of the individual artists on "American Idol." As the Top 5 compete this weekend, May 12, only those still in the competition were considered.
Wade Cota's still in, so where did his popularity come from? Katy Perry was thrown he's still in 'American Idol'
After the "American Idol" fans erupted with rage on Twitter following Laci Kaye Booth's judges' save vote, I noted that Jeremiah was out because Wade's still in. Following that article, Katy Perry was reported by People.com as saying they used the save vote for Laci, but it was a "curveball" as she seemed surprised Wade Cota got through on the nationwide vote.
In fact, Katy said, "I didn’t necessarily know if Wade [Cota] was going to get in. But he did such great performances this evening that it obviously persuaded the people and threw us through a loop."
Wondering about that popularity, the only way to figure that out is by checking on social media to see where his voters come from.
That yielded figures, that are not cast in stone, but nevertheless, gave some really good insights into the popularity of these "American Idol" artists. At this stage, at least we know the judges won't use a save vote and cause a wildcard situation. That is unless Laci Boothe does something outstanding this weekend and upsets the apple cart.
Popularity figures after crunching numbers show Laine Hardy is the most popular 'American Idol'
Number crunching is quite boring, so if you don't want to read these lists, then you can skip to the bottom and see the overall results from number one to number five on social media.
Twitter followers
- Wade Cota – 15.1k
- Laine Hardy - 45.4k
- Alejandro Arana - 39.7k
- Madison VanDenburg - 17.5k
- Laci Booth - 13.8k.
Facebook artist Pages and fan group followers/ Likes: (not including general American Idol groups)
- Wade Cota - 31K
- Laine Hardy - 343k
- Alejandro Aranda - 55k
- Madison Vandenburg FB – 36k
- Laci Booth - 43k
Instagram verified artist accounts
- Wade Cota - 143k
- Laine Hardy - 416k
- Alejandro Aranda - 590k
- Madison Vandenburg - 154k
- Laci Booth - 214k
YouTube followers on artists channels
- Wade Cota - 5,575
- Laine Hardy - 43,264
- Alejandro Aranda - 39k
- Madison Vandenburg - 7.6k
- Laci Booth - 1,1k
Overall positions in social media popularity for Top 5 'American Idol' contestants 2019
Adding up all the figures from the lists above, we a get a picture of the overall popularity of the performers in the Top 5.
In order of top to bottom these are:
- Number 1 - Laine Hardy with 802, 204 followers/likes
- Number 2 - Alejandro Aranda with 724,400 followers/likes
- Number 3 - Madison Vandenberg with 215,100 followers/likes
- Number 4 - Laci Booth with 271,900 followers/likes, and,
- Number 5 - Wade Cota with 184,675 followers/likes.
Looking at these numbers, Laine, Alejandro, and Madison should end up in the Top 3. They still don't explain Wade Cota staying in on the nationwide vote week after week, though. Nevertheless, it was an interesting exercise. What do you think about Laine Hardy looking like the top artist in popularity on social media?
Remember to follow the Reality TV Channel on Blasting Pop for more information about "American Idol."
