March 27th, 2023, Kineree Shah
The music industry has been singing a different tune in recent years as streaming services have struck a chord with fans and made music more valuable than ever before. With iconic artists like David Bowie selling their music catalogs for hundreds of millions of pounds, the music business has become a lucrative arena for investors and companies looking to acquire assets.
But what types of music do fans most prefer and who are their favourite artists? In this piece, we explore the favourite music genres of Britons. We also look at the data on music artists with the most positive ratings by generation, to help businesses make informed decisions about the artists they choose to invest in.
Half of Britons say they like 80s music, according to data from YouGov Profiles, an audience intelligence tool. Meanwhile, rock (44%), 70s music (43%), pop (42%), 90s music (41%), and 60s music (39%) are other popular options, with two in five Britons selecting them.
But digging deeper, what artists are popular among different generations?
Our data reveals that Adele (66%), Lady Gaga (65%), Ed Sheeran (63%), Beyonce (60%), and Bruno Mars (60%) have the most positive ratings among Gen Z and millennials. However, Adele falls to fifth position (57%) among Gen X with Gwen Stefani (63%) having the most positive ratings.
Among baby boomers, Ed Sheeran (57%) and Adele (56%) have won most hearts, but George Ezra (53%), James Blunt (52%), and Paloma Faith (51%) are not too far behind. Among the silent generation, Ronan Keating has the most positive ratings (66%). Adele makes an appearance here again but she’s seven points behind (58%). She is followed by Susan Boyle (56%), Ed Sheeran (54%) and Lily Allen (51%). Our list includes current artists and excludes any who are no longer making music.
One key takeaway is that Adele (she is also widely popular in US too reveled in the American version of the article) and Ed Sheeran have consistently positive ratings across all generations in Britain, telling of a broad appeal that transcends age groups. Lady Gaga is also popular across multiple generations, which reflects her ability to adapt her style and appeal to a wide audience.
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Methodology - YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for GB is nationally representative of the online population and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.
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