Chartmetric Originals: Chartmetric Artist Ranks and Scores

A detailed breakdown of how to instantly compare artists’ general performance by utilizing Chartmetric’s data warehouse

Chartmetric Originals: Chartmetric Artist Ranks and Scores
Josh Hayes
Josh Hayes
June 3, 201915 min read
Permalink Copied

Title Photo by Lindsay Henwood on Unsplash

Update as of 2022/02/22: "Chartmetric Artist Rank" is the new name of what was known as "Cross-Platform Performance (CPP)". This ranking is based off of the Chartmetric Artist Score.

Update as of 2021/05/14: Cross-Platform Performance has been updated, please read Remi Choi's update here.

Update as of 2019/06/22: Cross-Platform Performance now also includes Apple Music as a data source. As a result, all weights and calculations have been tweaked for better balance.

The biggest challenge to understanding artist performance is contextualizing different metrics from an incredible number of potential data sources. Many people start their quest to analyze artist performance by gathering as much data as they can. However, they soon find themselves surrounded and overwhelmed by all the data available to them.

Our goal at Chartmetric is to push boundaries by strategically utilizing data to empower the music industry, so we set out to find a solution to this problem.

The biggest challenge to understanding artist performance is contextualizing different metrics from an incredible number of potential data sources.
“Of course I know the way. It’s clear as day… right here… in all these maps…” (Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash)

Let’s say we want to assess just one artist’s performance. Consider the dizzying number of data sources:

  • Music Platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, Deezer, iTunes, Soundcloud, Songkick, etc.
  • Social Media Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Wikipedia, and more.
  • Success Measures: Streaming activity, Shazam searches, chart position, active monthly listeners, followers, subscribers, likes, retweets, Wikipedia searches, and fans to name a few.
  • Secondary Measures: Growth rates, averages, aggregate statistics, Listener-to-Follower Ratios, weighted Chart summaries — the sky is the limit.

All of these metrics are important, and savvy individuals will look at each measure directly when the situation calls for it. For example, did that banner ad for your YouTube channel actually increase traffic? But very often, people just want a general assessment of how artists are doing–and they need it quickly. Unfortunately, quick assessments are often vulnerable to relying on, or being easily swayed by, personal biases.

Contextualizing all the potential data-driven insights consistently, systematically, quickly, and without personal bias is very difficult.

To meet this challenge, our team has been consulting with users from all over the music industry and working diligently to create a quantifiable, logic-driven, and objective measure for cross-platform performance.