Grammy's 2014: Daft Punk got lucky

Jake GammonHead of Omnibus, US
January 27, 2014, 2:37 PM GMT+0

The public approve of Macklemore's success at last night's Grammy's, but Americans are a lot less keen on Daft Punk than the award show judges

Having recently investigated who would have won at the Golden Globes had the people chosen; we are now turning to the Grammy’s, the 56th of its kind. Before the results were announced, a nationally representative sample of respondents were given the list of nominated records, albums and artists with an opportunity to choose someone else or to have no preference. Figures reported are rebased on those who chose a nominated winner or entered their own in the other category.

Record of the year

While the dates for nominees in categories do not fit the calendar year (the eligibility period runs from October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013), the nominees for song of the year all fall within the top 20 biggest selling records of the year according to Billboard 100.
The second and third largest selling records (Blurred Lines and Radioactive) are nominated, along with Locked out of Heaven by Bruno Mars – the 11th biggest selling single of the year. The song 'Get Lucky' by Daft Punk, which actually won Record of the Year, was the 14th best selling single of 2013.

Sales and radio play of a record are arguably different from its overall public perception, however. In this case the popular vote agrees. Blurred Lines, the second highest selling record of 2013 is also the front runner among the public, with 29% of Americans choosing this out of the nominated singles. Again, following popular sales, Radioactive by imagine Dragons is voted into second place (19%) followed by Locked out of Heaven by Bruno Mars. The actual Record of the Year, 'Get Lucky', was chosen by only 9% of the public.

One in nine (11%) submitted their own nomination for Record of the Year. Within this list nominations suggested by the public, a number mentioned 'Thrift Shop' and 'Can’t Hold Us', both records by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. Both singles were in the top five best selling singles of the year, in first and fifth place respectively.


Base: 1,096 American adults choosing a record of the year

Album of the year

While Taylor Swift’s album Red hits second place in Billboard’s top 200 albums of the year, the category as a whole falls a lot further away from the top selling albums than seen with record of the year.

The high sales of Red do indicate its popularity, however, and this is backed by it being the first choice among the public, with an overwhelmingly large 43% of the vote. This is more than double the next most popular nomination – The Heist by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (18%).
Third place among the public is awarded to Random Access Memories from Daft Punk, with Good Kid, M.A.A.D City by Kendrick Lamar hitting fourth. The Blessed Unrest by Sara Bareilles comes in final place, chosen by one in twelve (8%) of those selecting any album.

Despite coming in third place, the actual winner of album of the year was 'Random Access Memories' by Daft Punk, the same group who won Record of the Year with Get Lucky.

People of different ages have differing opinions on the albums nominated. While Red by Taylor Swift is the top album of all Americans regardless of age, it is far more popular among older Americans, with 65% of those aged 55 or over feeling this should win album of the year compared with just 31% of those aged 18 to 29.

Younger people are far more likely to have favored The Heist, however, with one in four (25%) of those aged 18 to 29 citing this as album of the year compared with just one in twelve (8%) of those aged 55 or over.


Base: 951 American adults choosing an album of the year

Best new artist

2013 was a big year for Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Not only did they hit numbers 1 and 5 in Billboard’s hot 100 songs of 2013 (for Thrift Shop and Can’t Hold Us respectively), they also achieved number 5 in their top artists chart and number 1 for top new artists. To add to these accolades, two in five (39%) of those choosing a best new artist among the Grammy nominees. This was higher among women (45% compared with 33% of men), and younger age groups (44% of 18 to 34 year olds compared with 26% of those aged 55 and above).

Despite being lower among men and older age groups, they are still the top ranking artist for both. Second place goes to Kendrick Lamar across these demographics, with one in five (21%) of people nominating him as best new artist. For once, the attitudes of the American public line up with those of the Grammy judges, with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis winning the award at this year's Grammy's for best new artist of the year.


Base: 793 American adults choosing an album of the year

Full poll results can be found here.

Image: Getty

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