This summer — forever to be remembered as “Brat Summer” — a trio of female artists took the country by storm and made us all want to drink “Espresso” while dancing at the “Pink Pony Club.” Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX and Chappell Roan have become absolute sensations this year and, despite their unique sounds, all three women target very similar audiences. What we aim to understand through our data in Luminate’s Artist & Genre Tracker (collected by Luminate in August 2024) is who their music resonates with as well as how their audiences differ.
Sabrina, Chappell and Charli have successfully reached their target demographics by over-indexing with women and the LGBTQ+ communities. Additionally, the female artists’ fan groups are also significantly more likely to be single compared to the general population. However, our data shows that there are generational differences within these fan groups. While Gen Z are Chappell Roan’s largest fan group at 51%, Millennials are Charli XCX’s largest fan group at 35% and Sabrina Carpenter has a strong mix of both groups with 31% Gen Z and 34% Millennial.
Sabrina first took off as a Pop sensation touring with Taylor Swift and soon after became a radio go-to, which lifted her streaming and airplay spin numbers above those of her counterparts. Both Charli and Chappell started to take off around the same time in April of this year and their streaming numbers were neck-and-neck, but by July Chappell had pulled ahead in both metrics.
Another lens that we use to compare artists is through ways of potential engagement. All three stars have similar rates of likelihood for tune-in to a virtual performance, but each leads the rest in other distinct categories: Sabrina Carpenter fans are more likely to follow her on social media, Chappell Roan fans are more likely to purchase a ticket to her concert and Charli XCX fans are more likely to listen to a full album within the first week of its release.
Uncovering the nuances in fan groups is one of our favorite analyses. If you are looking for data to help dig into your artists’ fan behaviors or if you are looking to identify a key audience for your content, please reach out to us to learn more!
Sources: Luminate Artist & Genre Tracker Wave 13 Q3 2024, Luminate Music Connect
