Musicians Have Most Twitter Followers

Five of the 10 most-followed Twitter users are primarily famous for being musical performers, according to a ranking by social media analysis service Twitalyzer. All of the 10 most popular users are celebrities from the world of entertainment or politics, rather than technology personalities or online celebrities such as bloggers or social networkers.

Gaga, Bieber Lead the Pack

The two most-followed Twitter users are musical performers who have gained fame within the past few years. Lady Gaga is number one with almost 9.1 million followers, with Justin Bieber coming in second with about 8.3 million followers. It is worth noting that Bieber, rather than following more traditional routes to a musical career, first got noticed by posting videos of himself performing on the social network MySpace.com.
In addition, musical performers Britney Spears (number four), Katy Perry (number eight) and Taylor Swift (number nine) made the list.

They Are Women, Hear Them Roar

Seven of the top 10 most-followed Twitter users are women. Only three are men: President Barack Obama (number three), actor Ashton Kutcher (number six), and Bieber.

Youth Will Be Served

Six of the 10 most-followed Twitter users are age 30 (like reality TV star Kim Kardashian, who some also consider a pop singer, at number five) or younger. Bieber is the youngest person on the list, having recently turned 17.
Kutcher just misses the 30-and-younger cut, having turned 33 in February. Talk show host and media magnate Oprah Winfrey is the oldest at 57, followed by 53-year-old talk show host/comedian Ellen DeGeneres and 49-year-old Obama (who by Constitutional guidelines must be at least 35 years of age).

Born in the USA

While Twitalyzer ranks Twitter users by global followers, nine of the 10 most-followed personalities are from the US. All 10 are North American, as Canadian Bieber is the only non-US-citizen on the list (MarketingCharts will ignore the “birther” claims about Obama’s supposedly nebulous country of origin).

Other Findings

Of the non-musicians on the list, all but Obama are most famous for acting in TV shows or movies. No pro athletes made the list.

Eight of the 10 most-followed Twitter users are white. Two (Obama, Winfrey) are African-American.

Lady Gaga has about 800,000 more followers than Bieber, who has about 1.1 million more followers than Obama. There is no gap of more than roughly 400,000 followers between any two adjoining members of the list.

Nielsen: Celeb SocNet Followers Valuable to Brands

Sixty-four percent of adult US internet users who follow a celebrity via a social network such as Facebook or Twitter also follow a brand, meaning the celebrity follower is four times more likely to follow a brand than the average US adult online, according to new Nielsen Company data. Fans of celebrities are also valuable consumers in other areas of online, particularly when it comes to making transactions or purchases.