Justin Bieber blocks One Direction from making a return trip to No. 1 on Billboard’s Social 50 chart, as he keeps the British/Irish group at bay at No. 2 for a third straight week.
The Social 50 chart ranks the most popular artists on YouTube, Vevo, Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, Wikipedia, Myspace and Instagram. The chart’s methodology blends weekly additions of friends/fans/followers along with artist pageviews, song plays and reactions.
The Social 50′s No. 1 slot isn’t the only title Bieber denied One Direction from earning in the past seven days. During the chart week, One Direction — in a widely-socialized stunt — encouraged fans to watch their new music video for “Kiss You” in the hopes of breaking VEVO’s one-day view count record. However, the group fell just short of the record, held by — you guessed it — Justin Bieber.
According to VEVO, with 10.4 million views in 24 hours ending on Jan. 8, “Kiss You” just missed breaking the record held by Bieber’s “Beauty and a Beat” (10.6 million views on Oct. 13, 2012).
Fueling the record attempt was One Direction’s Niall Horan, who Tweeted on Jan. 8, “#kissyouonvevo #letsbreak11million!,” hours before the 24-hour mark ended, rallying fans to watch (and rewatch) “Kiss You.” The track, though not yet officially promoted to U.S. radio stations, has re-entered at No. 65 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week.
It has sold 207,000 digital downloads to date in the U.S., according to Nielsen Soundscan.
The Justin Bieber vs. One Direction VEVO rivalry began back in May of 2012, when Bieber’s “Boyfriend” took the VEVO 24-hour record from Rihanna’s “Where Have You Been.” Then on Sept. 27, One Direction’s “Live While We’re Young” squeaked past Bieber’s record with 8.34 million in a day, only to be passed by Bieber’s “Beauty and a Beat” (featuring Nicki Minaj) once again a month later.
