The X Factor

The X Factor

With X Factor fever relentlessly holding the nation’s attention, Last.fm data shows who’s really winning the country’s biggest popularity contest. With the contestants’ tracks now available for download after the live shows, Last.fm can track which of the final nine are being listened to the most by its users, and of course the least….

With stories mounting about the nation’s growing dislike for Katie Waissel, Last.fm data shows people are listening to her music much more than fellow contestants Paije, Wagner or Mary. Despite comments that she has a tendency to irritate and be overly emotional, Katie currently ranks sixth out of the current nine contestants in Last.fm listener figures, so she could well live to fight another week.

Meanwhile, the most popular singer is Cher Lloyd with her music being played over twice as many times as her closest competitor, Aiden Grimshaw.  On average, Cher’s listeners play her songs around 27 times each, compared to Paije who only receives around 5 plays per listener.  Matt Cardle and Aiden are battling it out for second place; Matt has more listeners, 1,491, compared to Aiden’s 1,029, however Aiden’s songs have been played 23,127 times with Matt’s receiving 22,204.

At the other end of the spectrum, the listener data shows that Wagner has only had 7 people play his songs, but they seemed to like what they heard, with an average of 18 plays per listener.  Just one up from the bottom spot, Paije’s music has been played 954 by 178 listeners.  So will we be seeing a Wagner, Paije showdown this week.

Matt Sheret, Data Griot at Last.fm says, "The public all have a pretty strong opinion about Katie, good or bad, but the fact is that people are listening to her music more than that of Wagner, Mary or Paije. Based on Last.fm listener figures alone, Wagner could well be the next act to receive the chop this week.”

The contestant in order of play / then listeners.


Cher Lloyd - 46,518 / 1,741
Aiden Grimshaw - 23127 / 1029
Matt Cardle – 22204 / 1491
One Direction – 17538 / 514
Rebecca Ferguson – 7652 / 525
Katie Waissel – 4752 / 331
Mary Bryne – 1877 / 250
Paije Richardson – 954 /  178
Wagner Fiuza-Carrilho - 130 / 7


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