Understand Your Metrics

The complete guide to Stats metrics

Career Stage

The Career Stage is a long-term outlook on an artist's career that is calculated based on the median of their Artist Score* over the past 360 days. This view is updated twice a week and takes into consideration the median performance, ignoring extreme highs and lows, to provide a true reflection of an artist's most frequent level of performance throughout the year.

From an analysis of millions of artists, Career Stage is arranged under the following five categories, inspired by Terry R. Tompkins's model, to be the most meaningful:

  • Legendary: Top 1.2K artists having releases > 30 years ago.
  • Superstar: Top 1.2K artists having releases < 30 years ago.
  • Mainstream: Top 2K-8K artists.
  • Mid-Level: Top 8K-30K artists.
  • Developing: All other artists.

Career Growth

The Artist Growth metric is calculated over a short-term period based on the difference between the average Artist Score* from the past 30 days and the average from the past 60 days. This metric is updated twice a week and is relative, meaning that artists are compared only to those in the same stage of their careers. For example, Developing artists are not compared to Superstar artists such as Beyoncé or Bruno Mars.

Each artist's Career Stage is categorized into five levels of Career Growth as follows:

  • Explosive growth: Significantly above the average, with a deviation of 8 or more standard deviations from the mean.
  • High growth: Above the average, with a deviation between 3 and 8 standard deviations from the mean.
  • Growth: Above the average, with a deviation of approximately 3 standard deviations from the mean.
  • Even: At the average, with a deviation of approximately 0 standard deviations from the mean.
  • Decline: Below the average or mean.

I.e.:CareerGrowth_Analytics (1) Although an artist may have experienced a slight decrease in recent days, we still consider this a growth pattern because we are evaluating the average value over two distinct time frames.

Please note that the Career Growth definition may not accurately reflect the rapid success of a new release that has only been available for a short period, such as a few days or even a few weeks. Similarly, it may not take into account a recent decline following a period of viral success two months prior. The Career Growth metric is not intended to measure real-time career momentum. However, it should still be more sensitive than the Career Stage metric and provide an indication of how the cumulative impact of your efforts has developed over the past two months.

The Artist Score is a daily updated global popularity index that aims to track the fluctuations in an artist's career. It takes into account various factors such as the impact of promotional campaigns, new releases, and social media trends to give an accurate reflection of an artist's popularity. The score is compiled from over 50 metrics sourced from 16 social media and streaming platforms and provides a single comprehensive number, making it an ideal tool for monitoring an artist's progression and growth.


Total fanbase

The Total Fanbase score reflects an artist's overall and long-term accumulated fanbase. This score is calculated based on a combination of cumulative metrics collected throughout an artist's career, such as the number of followers on platforms like Spotify and Instagram. In other words, it represents the artist's built-up and sustained fanbase over a period of time.


Spotify popularity

The Spotify Popularity Index is a score ranging from 0 to 100 that determines an artist's relative popularity compared to other artists on Spotify. As an artist's numbers increase, their presence in editorial playlists and reach on algorithmic playlists and recommendations will also grow.

The Popularity score is determined through an algorithm that primarily takes into account the total number of plays a song has received and the recentness of those plays. Typically, tracks that are being played frequently in the present will have a higher Popularity score than tracks that were popular in the past.


Spotify monthly listeners

This metric reflects the total number of Spotify listeners who have listened to an artist's music in a given month. This measurement is expressed as a count and provides a snapshot of an artist's monthly audience size on the popular streaming platform. You can also see how your audience has grown in comparison to the previous month, giving you a better understanding of your overall listener growth and engagement on Spotify.

Spotify followers

The Spotify followers metric is a measure of the total number of individuals following an artist on Spotify. It provides a snapshot of an artist's audience size on Spotify and represents the number of individuals who have shown interest in an artist's music and chosen to receive updates and notifications about their content. By monitoring this metric, artists can gauge their growth and engagement on the platform and track how they are attracting and retaining followers over time.


Apple Music total playlists

The Apple Music total playlists metric reflects the number of playlists on the Apple Music platform that include tracks from a specific artist. This measurement provides an indication of the popularity of an artist's music on the platform and the extent to which their tracks are being included in curated playlists by users and editorial teams. By monitoring this metric, artists can gauge the impact their music is having on the platform and see how it is being received by listeners. This information can help them to make data-driven decisions about their future musical output and promotional strategies.


Deezer fans

The Deezer fans metric is a measure of the number of individuals who have chosen to follow an artist on the Deezer music streaming platform. This measurement provides a snapshot of an artist's audience size on Deezer and represents the number of individuals who have shown interest in an artist's music and chosen to receive updates and notifications about their content. By monitoring this metric, artists can gauge their growth and engagement on the platform and track how they are attracting and retaining fans over time. This information can be valuable in helping them to make informed decisions about their future musical output and promotional strategies on Deezer.


Shazam total

The Shazam total metric reflects the number of times an artist's songs have been identified and tagged using the Shazam music discovery app. This measurement provides insight into the popularity and reach of an artist's music, as well as the extent to which it is being discovered and shared by listeners. By tracking the Shazam total metric, artists can see how their music is performing in real-time and understand the impact it is having on the platform. This information can help them to make data-driven decisions about their future musical output and promotional strategies, as well as to identify trends and opportunities for growth.


TikTok, Instagram and Twitter followers

These metrics represent the total number of followers an artist has on each of the respective social media platforms - TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. These metrics provide valuable insights into the reach and engagement of an artist's online presence and help them to understand the impact of their content and promotional activities on their social media followers. By tracking these metrics, artists can measure the growth of their online communities and assess the effectiveness of their social media strategies. Additionally, having a strong social media presence can help artists to connect with their fans, build brand awareness, and share their creative work with a wider audience.