Based on their UK search results, google has named their biggest artists for 2020. The US rapper Kayne West has been in the news frequently this year, not just for his music releases, but for rants on titter about his UMG recording contract and his unsuccessful bid for US Presidency. Along with the coronavirus and the US election being top queries in the UK searches, he was in fact the only music artist to have presence in the top google searches for news and celebrities.
Kayne withdrew his run for presidency on 4th November by taking to twitter to make his announcement as NME recorded, “by posting an image of a map of the United States with its states shaded in according to those that have thus far been won by fellow candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The caption accompanying the image simply said “WELP”.” Although admitting defeat, it seems Kayne is open to the idea for running for presidency again in 2024.
KANYE 2024 pic.twitter.com/Zm2pKcn12t
— ye (@kanyewest) November 4, 2020
Earlier this year, Kayne stated that he wanted to buy Universal Music Group for £25 billion. This news came after open discussions on twitter about artists and their rights to music and it’s ownership. NME noted, “West recently suggested new guidelines for recording and publishing deals in the future of the music industry, discussing contracts, masters and rights issues in the music industry on Twitter and advocating for fairer treatment for all artists.” He then revealed he is given all his artists signed to his G.O.O.D label a 50% share in profits and their master copies returned to them.
Placed at number 2 in the UK google search for artists was Sarah Harding who shared that she was diagnosed with breast cancer over the Summer. Last week in an update to NME she said she was “fighting as hard as I possibly can”. In 3rd place was Russel Watson after his ‘I’m a Celebrity’ appearance and Bugzy Malone (real name Aron Davis) snapped up 4th Place after his role in Guy Richie’s film ‘The Gentlemen,’ and his injury in a quad bike accident earlier this year. Grimes was 5th in the UK search list after giving birth with her first child with Elton Musk this year.
A google trends expert, Kirstin Wright said to Music Week, “The 2020 Year in Search lists not only reveal the most popular trends from the past 12 months, but also give insight into the biggest events in the news, politics, sports, entertainment and popular lockdown trends. As people continue to look for information in new and different ways, Google Search keeps evolving to make the world’s information accessible and useful to all.”
ICYMI: @kanyewest, Sarah Harding, @russellthevoice and @TheBugzyMalone top @Google Search results for artists in 2020 https://t.co/EqX34eL89d #Google pic.twitter.com/1fv8LYUIr3
— Music Week (@MusicWeek) December 9, 2020
Google’s Top 10 Music Artist Search
1 Kanye West
2 Sarah Harding
3 Russell Watson
4 Bugzy Malone
5 Grimes
6 Duffy
7 Meghan Trainor
8 Wiley
9 Nicola Roberts
10 Hrvy
