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Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj made her second appearance on NBC’s Saturday Night Live on Dec. 6, performing three new songs from her upcoming album The Pink Print and starring in two sketches in the episode hosted by James Franco. The resulting online buzz catapults her 27-4 on the Social 50 chart, her highest rank since Oct. 4 (No. 4).

The Social 50 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 page views, song plays and reactions as measured by music analytics company Next Big Sound.

In addition to playing Kim Kardashian and Beyonce in two sketches, Minaj performed new tracks “Bed of Lies,” “All Things Go” and “Only,” all of which received a sizable amount of Twitter chatter as a result. “All Things Go” is the week’s top debut on the weekly Billboard + Twitter Top Tracks chart at No. 9, while “Only” experiences a (37-26) bump in the rankings.

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For her Social 50 ranking, Minaj sharing a slew of pictures from the SNL rehearsals and performances on Instagram results in more than 10 million likes for the week. That comes at the same she earns a 293 percent rise in mentions on Twitter, and the addition of 330,000 new fans to her audience across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

As for the rest of the Social 50’s top 10, Ariana Grande remains in the No. 1 spot for the third consecutive week, while Taylor Swift rises 3-2, continuing to nip at the heels of the chart’s top spot. (She’s been bouncing around the top 10 since the Sept. 27-dated chart, but hasn’t reached No. 1 since April 20, 2013.) Selena Gomez ascends 4-3 while Justin Bieber tumbles (2-5) along with Miley Cyrus (5-6) and Rihanna (6-7). Katy Perry, Wiz Khalifa and 5 Seconds of Summer all climb (12-8, 13-9 and 18-10, respectively).

Minaj isn’t the only Young Money artist to generate online buzz during the charting week. On Thursday, Dec. 4, Lil Wayne made headlines by airing grievances with Birdman and Cash Money Records on Twitter, telling his fans that the album might not see the light of day. (Young Money is an imprint of Cash Money Records.)

 

The Twitter beef caused= Lil Wayne to be retweeted more than 230,000 times for the week, a 1,475 percent increase in activity over the previous frame and a 804 percent increase in mentions. The buzz results in his re-entry at No. 29 on the Social 50 — his first chart appearance since the Oct. 18 chart.

Lastly, K. Michelle debuts on the Social 50 at No. 48 following a week of promotion supporting her new album, Anybody Wanna Buy A Heart?, which was released on Dec. 9. The online buzz leads to the addition of 75,000 new fans for the week across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

[Billboard]