In the early part of the summer of 2014, “Problem,” by Ariana Grande feat. Iggy Azalea sat in the #2 slot behind “Fancy” (Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX) for five weeks, and ultimately was declared the runner up Song of the Summer. When Fancy managed to hold onto the #1 slot for two additional weeks after “Problem” fell out of the top two, I was forced to concede that “Fancy” was definitively the stronger hit. But, if you look at the youtube view counts of the two music videos today, you will notice that “Problem” has recently overtaken “Fancy,” and that its lead is rapidly growing (to the tune of 300,000 views/day).
So, is “Fancy” really the bigger hit, in hindsight?
To answer this question, we are going to need to look at what has driven the view disparity. But first:
The story of the view battle.
“Fancy” was released in early March, and it steadily built radio airplay, sales, and streaming until it neared the apex of the Hot 100. Just as it was about to claim the throne on the strength of a substantial 222,000 sales, Ariana Grande released her new single, “Problem,” and garnered an astonishing 438,000 sales in the span of a single week, the most since Katy Perry’s “Roar” had debuted at #1 a year earlier. As “Fancy” narrowly fended off “Problem” for the crown of the Hot 100, “Problem” ‘s star-powered start at youtube quickly eclipsed “Fancy” ‘s budding view-count.
But all was not lost. “Fancy” had clawed its way to the apex of the Hot 100, and on the strength of established radio airplay, it clawed its way ahead of “Problem” on youtube, and slowly regained its air of superiority.
For five weeks, “Fancy” held the top spot on the Hot 100 over “Problem,” despite rapidly increasing radio airplay for the latter and continued strong sales. But then “Problem” ‘s sales finally began to falter as its airplay peaked, and it succumbed to ascendant hit “Rude” by Magic!. After holding the top slot for two more weeks, “Fancy” was able to claim the prized title of “Song of Summer 2014,” over respective runner-ups “Problem,” and “Rude.”
Iggy Azalea later released a fitting song called “Iggy SZN” (pronounced Iggy season). It really was Iggy season. She had taken her first two Hot 100 hits to #s 1 and 2 concurrently for numerous weeks. Then, she starred in a followup single, “Black Widow” feat. Rita Ora, that peaked at #3. Her “Fancy” co-collaborator, Charli XCX, meanwhile, released another top ten hit, “Boom Clap,” while Ariana Grande enjoyed the spotlight of several more hits. Iggy was hot. Until she was not.
Iggy had several singles flop. She had numerous social media beefs and flare-ups that garnered negative media attention. She was accused of being racist, or at least racially insensitive, partly due to her assimilation of a “blaccent” for her hit song “Fancy.” She canceled her tour because she “wanted it to be perfect.” But some people insinuated that it was due to low ticket sales. Then, her intended recovery hit single with Britney Spears, “Pretty Girls” flopped. To top off injury with insult, her prized single, “Fancy,” which had once accumulated about a 40 million view lead over “Problem,” was finally surpassed in views by the runner-up song of the summer of 2014.
Of course, Iggy gets the consolation prize of having been a featured artist on “Problem,” but really, it was an Ariana song. So, maybe the negativity surrounding Iggy helped depress her view count a bit, mostly, I think that is just by preventing her future singles from becoming smashes that could drive continued traffic back to “Fancy.”
“Fancy” views were boosted by “Black Widow” and maybe “Boom Clap,” but Iggy and Charli haven’t had any hits since then. Ariana has had several hits since then, the most recent peaking only a few months ago.
If you have a music video on your page that generates 1 or 2 million views/day, then it should come as no surprise that the other videos on your page might see a small boost because of it (say, 100,000/d). In a collapsing major hit like “Problem” or “Fancy,” you might not notice the bump much, as it might simply keep the song afloat at current view levels longer.
Iggy and Charli each had a second top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 last summer, with “Black Widow,” and “Boom Clap.” But, since then, they haven’t really had anything majorly successful. Iggy teamed up with Britney Spears for a “Pretty Girls” video that got strong initial views, but after the song flopped at radio (with seriously terrible audience ratings), the youtube views collapsed. Still, it was generating over 1 million views for quite a while, and it likely helped “Fancy” ‘s view-count a bit.
Ariana Grande, on the other hand, has had a steady stream of hits. “Bang Bang” and “Break Free” peaked in the top 5, “Love Me Harder” peaked at #7, and “One Last Time” peaked at #13 as recently as early May. She also released a Christmas song, “Santa Tell Me” that was getting about 1 million views/day before the season ended.
Finally, you have to keep in mind that everything Iggy Azalea has done has benefited the “Problem” music video (on which she was featured) as well as the “Fancy” video, whereas Ariana’s star power has been focused on “Problem” ‘s success.
So, the driver of “Problem” ‘s youtube view-count success is more “Ariana Grande post-hoc star power” and less “strength of ‘Problem’ as an actual hit.”
Conclusion
My verdict: “Fancy” is still the bigger hit.
“Fancy” pulled two largely unknown artists from oblivion to international stardom through its shear awesomeness. “Problem” was a huge it, and deservedly so. It capitalized on Ariana’s pre-existing popularity perfectly, and started a sequence of hit singles for her. It is easily her biggest hit to date. But, ultimately, it sat behind “Fancy” on the Hot 100 for five weeks in a row before collapsing. It has managed to pull into the lead on total youtube views, but that is due primarily to post-hoc star power, not due to the strength of the single itself. And, Iggy’s star power has been split between the two competing singles, so it was never really a fair race to begin with.
In hindsight, “Fancy,” by Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX remains the Song of Summer 2014!
Tags: 2014 song of the summer, ariana grande, bang bang, billboard chart history, break free, britney spears, charli xcx, fancy, iggy azalea, love me harder, one last time, pretty girls, problem, song of the summer, what drives youtube views, youtube view battle, youtube views
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