Music is an age-old part of society, but over the past twenty-one years technology has made it more accessible with a variety of artists and genres at our fingertips. For artists, technology has enabled easier access to new audiences that may not otherwise have ever heard their music. Management software, for example, helps up-and-coming artists manage themselves and rise to the top – you can read more here about it.

With this in mind, OnBuy.com were eager to find out the most popular music artists of the 21st century. To do so, data sourced from across the globe, via YouGov rankings, Instagram, Google search volumes, Spotify and YouTube, was normalised and weighted to establish a popularity score out of 1,000 for each of the millennial artists analysed.*

The 10 Most Popular Music Artists of the 21st Century:
OnBuy.com can reveal that Ariana Grande is the most popular music artist of the century, with a popularity score of 735 out of 1,000. The newly engaged singer boasts 214 million Instagram followers and over 81 million monthly Spotify streams, the highest across the board.

Ranking second, with a score of 467, is Ed Sheeran who rose to fame in 2011 with his debut single “The A Team”. Sheeran holds the highest number of YouTube views, with over five billion on his single “Shape of You,” and the second highest amount of monthly Spotify listeners (over 55 million).

In third place is Katy Perry, with a popularity score of 449 out of 1,000. With 110 million Instagram followers and over three billion YouTube views on her 2013 hit ‘Roar’, the new mother is a strong contender.

Beyonce stands as the fourth most popular artist of the century with a score of 418. Queen B is followed by Adele (384), Lady Gaga (376) and Shakira (348), respectively ranking fifth, sixth and seventh.