Nielsen Music Canada has revealed its 2020 mid-year report showing Canadian music consumption in the first six months of the year.
According to the report, Canadian music consumption is up 5.7 percent year-over-year despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
However, most of the uptake comes from streaming. Canadians streamed 42.5 billion on-demand songs in the first six months, which is an increase of 16.7 percent from 2019.
Whereas albums sales are down 38.4 percent, digital tracks are down 26.6 percent, and vinyl is down 26 percent. According to Nielsen, only 311,000 vinyl records were sold in Canada in the first six months of the year.
Some interesting stats include that after the death of George Floyd and the subsequent rise of Black Lives Matter movement the song This is America by Childish Gambino increased by 278.6 percent compared to the previous week. Additionally, Hang on in There by John Legend & The Roots saw an increase of 13,422.7 percent and the N.W.A song F**k Tha Police saw a surge of 157.4 percent and more.
The top five Canadian artists from Jan 3rd to July 2nd are The Weeknd, Drake, Justin Bieber, Tory Lanez and The Tragically Hip.
The top 10 audio-on-demand streamed songs were:
- The Box, Roddy Rich
- Dance Monkey, Tones and I
- Blinding Lights, The Weeknd
- Roses, Saint Jhn
- Life is Good, Future featuring Drake
- Don’t Start, Dua Lipa
- Circles, Post Malone
- Intentions, Justin Bieber
- Roxanne, Arizona Zervas
- Godzilla, Eminem
The report is full of more stats, so if you’re interested in learning more about the music industry and how it pertains to Canada, check it out, here.
Source: Nielsen Music Canada
