Tom H. C. Anderson - Next Gen Market Research

GenX2Z College Music Awards: How Cool Are You? - Do you know what tunes are hottest among Gen-Y right now?

With just a week before Christmas some of you may be wondering about what to buy for the holidays. Therefore I thought I’d release a few of our GenX2Z College rankings over the next few days. I’ll start with the music category.

[Note: See methodology section at bottom. This list represents Gen-Y actual unaided top-of-mind current favorites. With various options for downloading music, data reported from other specific individual sources/channels is becoming suspect.]

GenX2Z College Rank & Artist
1 Taylor Swift
2 Linkin Park
3 Lady Gaga
4 Eminem
5 ColdPlay
6 Kid Cudi
6 The Beatles
8 John Mayer
8 Lil Wayne
8 Muse
11 Paramore
12 Maroon 5
13 Dave Matthews Band
13 Disturbed
13 Jason Aldean
16 Coheed & Cambria
16 Jay-Z
16 Rascal Flatts
16 Red Hot Chili Peppers
20 Deadmau5
20 Jack Johnson
20 Michael Buble
20 Miranda Lambert
24 Avenged Sevenfold
24 Daft Punk
24 Dave Matthews
24 Drake
24 Foo Fighters
24 Goo Goo Dolls
24 Jason Mraz
24 Led Zeppelin
24 Lupe Fiasco
24 Shakira
24 Shinedown
24 Slipknot
24 Switchfoot
24 The Killers
38 All American Rejects
38 Anberlin
38 Beyoncé
38 Blink-182
38 Carrie Underwood
38 Dream Theater
38 Godsmack
38 Green Day
38 Kanye West
38 Kings of Leon
38 Metallica
38 Michael Jackson
38 Owl City
38 Queen
38 Radiohead
38 Relient K
38 Rihanna
38 Rise Against
38 Tool
38 Usher
58 30 Seconds to Mars
58 Atreyu
58 Bob Marley
58 Brad Paisley
58 Breaking Benjamin
58 Bruno Mars
58 Chris Brown
58 Far East Movement
58 Incubus
58 Katy Perry
58 Keane
58 Mayday Parade
58 Nickelback
58 Nine Inch Nails
58 OneRepublic
58 Pitbull
58 Sublime
58 The Black Keys
58 The Script
58 Trey Songz

LinkinPark and ColdPlay were in first and second place, respectively, last year at this time. While dropping they’re still in the Top-5. Taylor Swift moved from third to first. Metallica which was number four last year has really dropped to 38th, while Paramore which was in fifth last year remains at a fairly respectable 11th. And yes, The Beatles are ranked in 6th place!

Whether you have a Gen-Yer in your home or not, this demographic often leads the way in what eventually becomes popular (social media, music, movies etc.).

Personally I do have rather eclectic taste in music, and so find several of the above enjoyable, from the more cutsie love ballad style of Owl City and The Killers, to contemporary lighter jazz like Jason Mraz on to Rap/Hip-hop including Drake and Lupe Fiasco as well as the little heavier like GodSmack.

I think perhaps today’s Gen-Y music is a bit easier for the outsider to listen to than the music my generation (X) group up with which tended to be more extreme IMHO.

While I don’t find myself doing it a much as I used to, for those of you who get deep into datamining, analytics or coding, and simply want a good trance like beat to chill to (or for speeding down the highway), I’d recommend Daft Punk and deadmau5.

OK, now off to buy a CD and improve the economy. Assuming you still buy CDs? If you’d like to check them out on YouTube I’ve added all the artists to a playlist here (77 in all).

Will try to share a few more of our top rankings before Christmas.

@TomHCAnderson

About the Methodology
A word about the methodology. Anderson Analytics, GenX2Z has tracked trends among US college students since 2005, and each year our clients receive a report trending some of these over time, as well as a closer look at specific new issues such as social media usage etc. The rankings above are from our most recent survey to n=1,000 students. Any comparisons to this time last year are also made to a YS representative survey of n=1,000. The specific question above is “Who is your favorite musician/band currently?”. The question is open ended, so these are actual unaided top-of mind responses.

Anderson Analytics also tracks Gen Y trends and sentiment on social networks (Facebook & Twitter) using text analytics. For more info visit Anderson Analytics.