Ryan Gosling's stellar 'I'm Just Ken' performance inspires 422% increase in streams post-Oscars
Can you feel the Kenergy
Ryan Gosling's stellar 'I'm Just Ken' performance inspires 422% increase in streams post-Oscars
Show all 2Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Can you feel the Kenergy?
Ryan Gosling's Oscars performance of the “Barbie” power ballad “I'm Just Ken” stole the show earlier this month. The popularity of his star-studded, Slash-soloing, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”-channeling set is still being felt.
Luminate, the industry data and analytics company, found that on-demand U.S. audio and video streams for “I'm Just Ken” topped three million streams in the week after the Academy Awards. That's a 422% increase from the prior week, when it had 600,000 streams.
Video made up a large portion of that jump: moving from 70,000 streams the week prior to 1.8 million.
That increase was felt across the music of “Barbie,” but in smaller amounts: the full-film's soundtrack, “Barbie The Album,” saw a jump of 23%, from 19 million to 23 million, and the Oscar-winning song, Billie Eilish and Finneas' “What Was I Made For?” saw an increase of 19% across U.S. audio and video streams, from 6.7 million to eight million.
With their win, Eilish, 22, became the youngest person to win two Oscars. The second youngest? Her brother Finneas, at age 26.
The Oscars' “I'm Just Ken” performance — which featured a stage full of “Kens” and Gosling serenading “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig and others — also saw big numbers on YouTube: two million views on the Oscars' official channel and 8.6 million on Atlantic Records' page — the major label that released “Barbie The Album.”
The Oscars themselves saw a bump in ratings, also due to the popularity of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” An estimated 19.5 million people watched the 96th Academy Awards ceremony on ABC, up 4% from last year — and the biggest number drawn by the telecast in four years.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.