Peter Ruppert's Blog

This Christmas

So which artists are the big winners this Christmas? We use PopScores to identify which artists are commanding the highest purchase intention. We start by looking at the female segments in the December report.

13-19 females: Rihanna

Teenage segments are always more difficult to sell albums to but around Christmas it is the gifting market that really matters. The most wanted CD under the tree for teenage girls this year is Rihanna’s new album which tops the table with a 28% purchase intention. Pink’s new album is also in demand. Even Christian Aguilera’s Greatest Hits may make some in-roads along with Leona Lewis, The Killers and even Coldplay. From outside the Top 10, Britney Spears also looks to make a strong impression over the next few months, continuing to recover her consumer connection.

20-29 year old females: Pink

This is a very important album buying segment and it’s also the most influential group in driving CHR radio playlisting. Pink is the artist most in demand with this segment with a purchase intention of 29%, followed by Take That with a 23% score. Rihanna, The Killers, Kings Of Leon and Coldplay are also competing for share of purse.

30-39 year old females: Take That

Take That aren’t in the PopScores Top 20. In fact they are ranked 37th. The reason is Take That are one of the most polarising acts, dividing males from females. When we rank PopScores by purchase intention, (which is what really matters at this time a year) Take That rank 8th. The heat on Take That is not unifying. The heat comes from a few segments and these segments are strong enough to overcome the polarisation.

Take That score a 46 PopScore with females 30-39 and a 45 with both 40-49 and 50-59 year olds. Even in the 20-29 female group Take That show a significant connection, scoring 37. These high scores are driven by the love score which we know correlates almost perfectly with purchase intention. The strongest group are females 30-39, scoring 30% love which is more than 4 times the average (7%). In this segment, Take That rank 2nd, just behind Pink, but in terms of Love and Purchase Intention, Take That rank 1st. Take That’s purchase intention is 2 points higher than Pink’s and more than 4 times the average. If this segment buys one album this Christmas it will be Take That; if it buys two it will be Take That and Pink. Others seriously competing for attention in this segment are Coldplay and Snow Patrol.

40-49 year old females: Coldplay

The level of purchase intention amongst this market is significantly lower than amongst younger segments. Robbie doesn’t have a new album out this Christmas so it’s Coldplay and Take That competing for purchase attention.

50-59 year old females: Take That

There is little in this year’s final quarter to move this segment to spend money on music. None of this segment’s top five artists have new music on offer so those who want some new music this Christmas will opt for Take That and Coldplay.

And so, looking at what is available this year with artists like Pink, Leona Lewis, The Killers, Rihanna, Coldplay and Christina Aquilera all in the purchase intention Top 10 for Teenage females it looks to us very much like a teenage Christmas this year.

Wishing you very Merry Christmas from the PopScores team at Entertainment Media Research