Taylor Swift flies up the Social 50, rising 21-14 following buzz generated by the news of her latest single, "Sparks Fly." Swift took to Facebook on July 5 to make the announcement. Currently, the song has 19,000 Facebook plays and 12,300 MySpace plays.
One day later, news came that Swift would be postponing several tour dates, having come down with bronchitis. In turn, fans showed their support, leaving her 9,200 comments and 22,400 status Likes.
Her fanbase also grew across Facebook (a growth of 269,000 fans) and Twitter (73,000 new followers) -- up 20% week-to-week. Elsewhere, Swift closed the tracking week with 6 million VEVO video plays.
Another big announcement came from Demi Lovato (who rises 44-32), who after being released from treatment for emotional and physical issues earlier this year, took to YouTube on July 8 to reveal her musical comeback with the single "Skyscraper." The video teaser has since pulled in over 474,000 YouTube views. Shortly thereafter, the audio for the much anticipated song debuted on July 11, garnering upwards of 121,000 views.
Lovato's comeback noticeably catalyzed fan activity across Facebook and Twitter too, with impressive gains in fans (145,000) and followers (53,000).
The Social 50 ranks the most active artists on the world's leading social networking sites -- YouTube, Vevo, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and iLike -- using a formula blending weekly additions of friends/fans/followers along with weekly artist page views and weekly song plays.
Buzzing Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller (No. 43) took to Ustream on July 5 to announce the title of his debut studio album, "Blue Slide Park," due out this fall. Since posting the video to YouTube, it has gained nearly 400,000 views. He also gained 45,000 Facebook fans and 26,500 Twitter followers.
During a live remote on the Miami hit music station Y100, Cody Simpson (47-36) announced that he's "95% done" with his latest album, which is set to be released in September.
Its first single, "On My Mind," has racked up 1.9 million views on YouTube since its debut (June 17). On Facebook, the song has performed equally well; it also rests at 1.9 million plays. There, Simpson also adds 31,500 fans to his total of 1.3 million Facebook Likes.
Back in the top 10, Selena Gomez tumbles 9-1, unable to maintain the momentum resulting from the release of her latest album "When The Sun Goes Down" (June 28) and premiere of her romantic comedy "Monte Carlo" (July 1). At first, this fanatic social activity catapulted her 5-1 - stealing the crown from boyfriend Justin Bieber (2-1) -- but such a surge in sometimes difficult to maintain.
As for the rest of the top 10, since Gomez shifts down, everyone moves up the list. Lady Gaga climbs 4-2, Katy Perry rises 6-3, Shakira's up 5-4, Michael Jackson moonwalks 5-3 and Rihanna, Eminem and Beyonce all climb one spot to Nos. 6, 7 and 8 respectively. Linkin Park closes out the top 10, rising 15-10.
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