Spotify Grammy Predictions: How Did They Do?

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2014 Grammy Award Winners Predicted by Spotify

2014 Grammy Winners Predicted by Spotify

So … did you watch the Grammy Awards? My family watched most, and with expectations set suitably low it was not a bad time. Spirited performances by Kendrik Lamar and Imagine Dragons easily offset the awful Katy Perry vocals, bland Taylor Swift showing, and plainly lip-syncing Pink. But the real question is … how did Spotify do predicting winners?

As a reminder, last week I had written about Spotify using their streaming data to predict the winners in top categories. Here were the main predictions:
Record of the Year: Radioactive, Imagine Dragons
Album of the Year: The Heist, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Best New Artist: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Song of the Year: Just Give Me a Reason, Pink feat. Nate Reuss
Best Pop Solo Performance: Royals, Lorde
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: Get Lucky, Daft Punk Feat. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers

Here is the list with the Spotify Grammy Predictions in italic and the winner in bold … and bold & italic when Spotify picked correctly.

• Record of the Year
1. Radioactive, Imagine Dragons
2. Blurred Lines, Robin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell
3. Locked out of Heaven, Bruno Mars
4. Royals, Lorde
5. Get Lucky, Daft Punk Feat. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers

• Song of the Year
1. Pink feat. Nate Reuss – “Just Give Me a Reason”
2. Bruno Mars – “Locked Out of Heaven”
3. Katy Perry – “Roar”
4. Lorde – “Royals”
5. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Mary Lambert – “Same Love”

• Album of the Year
1. The Heist, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
2. Random Access Memories, Daft Punk
3. Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, Kendrick Lamar
4. Red, Taylor Swift
5. The Blessed Unrest, Sara Bareilles

• Best New Artist
1. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
2. Kendrick Lamar
3. Ed Sheeran
4. James Blake
5. Kacey Musgraves

• Best Pop Solo Performance
1. Royals, Lorde
2. Mirrors, Justin Timberlake
3. Roar, Katy Perry
4. When I Was Your Man, Bruno Mars
5. Brave, Sara Bareilles

• Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
1. Get Lucky, Daft Punk Feat. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers
2. Blurred Lines, Robin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell
3. Just Give Me a Reason, Pink feat. Nate Ruess
4. Suit & Tie, Justin Timberlake & Jay-Z
5. Stay, Rihanna feat. Mikky Ekko

So you can see they got 50% right, which is better than random chance between 5 nominees and 6 categories. How did their predictions compare to what you thought?

I had mentioned that my big hope was that the “Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album” award go to “Brooklyn Babylon” from Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society. Of course, any non-pop awards are awarded in a separate show that allows the televised show to keep the focus on mainstream pop as if that is the entire breadth of music … so I had to look it up. Sadly “Brooklyn Babylon” was passed over, but I was still happy the award went to the deserving Randy Brecker.

What did you think?

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About the Author

Michael Anderson
I have loved technology for as long as I can remember - and have been a computer gamer since the PDP-10! Mobile Technology has played a major role in my life - I have used an electronic companion since the HP95LX more than 20 years ago, and have been a 'Laptop First' person since my Compaq LTE Lite 3/20 and Powerbook 170 back in 1991! As an avid gamer and gadget-junkie I was constantly asked for my opinions on new technology, which led to writing small blurbs ... and eventually becoming a reviewer many years ago. My family is my biggest priority in life, and they alternate between loving and tolerating my gaming and gadget hobbies ... but ultimately benefits from the addition of technology to our lives!