Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Yahoo Ranks Country's BUZZ

Marty Thompson, PD at B-105.1, Cincinnati sent this: "Don't know if you saw this--- Yahoo ranks searches and comes up with a "Buzz Factor". Yesterday it was Country's turn here's the link and what it says..."

http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz_log/?fr=fp-buzz-morebuzz

Gone Country Tuesday March 15, 2005 6:00PM PT
Tim McGraw If you're hearing a certain twang in the buzz lately, you're not alone. Searches on country music have taken off over the last couple of weeks and we're here to sort through those Nashville nuggets.

Country stalwart Tim McGraw is up 258% in search over the last week as he rides high on the success of "Live Like You Were Dying." The behatted one ranks in our top 400 queries, and barely aces out rising star Kenny Chesney (+86%) as the top country performer in searches. On the female side, searches on pop-country sensation Shania Twain have waned a bit over the past year, but she's bouncing back this week, up 173%. McGraw's wife, country chanteuse Faith Hill (+206%), is still a strong search performer as well -- but Shania nabs about twice the searches.

The past week also saw a surge in queries on country and rodeo legend Chris LeDoux. LeDoux's death at 56 spurred searches on the rough and tumble cowboy singer from nothing into the quadruple digits. Related searches on "Chris LeDoux Lyrics" and "Chris LeDoux News" also spiked as fans sought out information on the authentic Western songsmith.

We've also noticed a bump in searches on the TV show Nashville Star. The Idol-like show for the country set is up 8% this week, and firmly in our top 20 TV searches. Demographic data on the talent show tells us two-thirds of searches come from women, and that its audience skews a little older, with a quarter of searches coming from the 35-44 age bracket. This third edition of the countrified competition is also spurring spikes on judge Bret Michaels (+156%) of Poison fame (!) and adorable hostess -- country star LeAnn Rimes (+101%). As for the aspiring country stars featured on the show, we took a look at searches on the remaining nine competitors and here's how they stack up...

Christy McDonald
Jenny Farrell
Casey Simpson
Erika Jo Heriges
Jody Evans
Jason Meadows
Jayron Weaver
Tamika Tyler
Justin David

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