The success of a band can be measured in many ways – album sales, concert tickets sold, size of venues to name a few. In the internet age another important indicator of success is people publicly talking about you or seeking more information about you. By this measure, The Black Keys have never been more popular.
Mentions on blogs and twitter, songs on popular soundtracks, music used in video games, articles in influential magazines has created a momenturm of chatter about The Black Keys. The general zeitgeist focussing on the band is probably leading to more music fans searching for information on The Black Keys.
This popular popular conversation amongst new fans and old in turn increases album sales and concert tickets sold. It also increases the intensity of the interest, not just the volume.
These graphs reflect the increase in public interest in The Black Keys by looking at some specific measures. These insights below support the contention that The Black Keys are now a mainstream band.
Google is the world’s most popular search engine. Since 2004 those interested can track the relative number of searches for a particular search term. It’s also possible to track the related terms to the topic you are interested in.
Trendrr allows a deeper dive into the actual number of search results at specific times in 2010.
Web Search Interest Over Time – 2004 to present
According to Google, “the numbers on the graph reflect how many searches have been done for a particular term, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. They don’t represent absolute search volume numbers, because the data is normalized and presented on a scale from 0-100. Each point on the graph is divided by the highest point, or 100. When we don’t have enough data, 0 is shown. The numbers next to the search terms above the graph are summaries, or totals.”
The spikes on the graph in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010 reflect when earlier albums by The Black Keys were released.
Trendrr – 1 January to 27 August 2010
A closer look at search activity in 2010. What’s perhaps most interesting is not only has the trend spiked around release time of the Brothers album but general search activity has settled nearly 300% up on the start of the year.
Top Searches – last 90 days
Top searches refers to search terms with the most significant level of interest based on the search “the black keys”.
Some possible reasons for these top searches:
- Mainstream radio is playing the band’s music for the first time in The Black Keys’ career (Tighten Up)
- A popular music video for the single Tighten Up and the growth in user generated fan videos from live concerts posted to video sharing websites like YouTube
- Chop and Change released exclusively on the popular Twilight soundtrack
- Mediafire and Torrent searches reflect the attitude of the modern fan(?) and the fact that the Brothers album leaked online weeks before its release
- Tour Dates searches reflect fans are hungry to see the band in person/live
- Lyrics searches can be written off as data from fans of The Jonas Brothers looking up the lyrics to their song “The Black Keys”
Related posts:
- The Black Keys: Trend Tracking 2011
- Blakroc: Trend Tracking
- How To Be A Modern Fan Of The Black Keys
- The Black Keys’ Nashville, Tennessee, Google Map
- The Black Keys and The Black Keys Fan Lounge on Google Plus
Want to discuss The Black Keys with other fans? Check out The Black Keys Fan Lounge Forum here
i noticed in your last graphic that no one is interested in looking up their older stuff, only their newest album.
@joe: yeah, it’s sad really.
[...] other projects including Blakroc. Those trends afterall are driven by fans of the band. Previously insights from 2004 to present have been [...]