Methodology

For each musician, I calculated the raw and percentage increase in Wikipedia page views (two-day average), Spotify streams (weekly average), Google searches (monthly average) and social mentions (Brandwatch limited sampling for weekly average) following their death compared with their typical level earlier in the same year.

Each percentage increase was log-transformed and then rescaled to a 0–100 range based on the highest observed value within that metric.

The four rescaled metrics were given equal weight and averaged to create a composite index capturing overall online reaction.

View the data here

By linkedin.com/in/seanfitzsimons1/
Measuring the scale of online reactions to musicians passing away
Artist's Wikipedia page views (2-day average) before → after passing away
Scroll down
Explore classic tracks from
music artists we lost
Index
Metric
Index metrics, broken down:
Social mentions
Wiki page views
Search volume
Spotify streams
Artist
Overall reaction indexed (out of 100)

Based on the rise (relative reaction (%) and overall reaction (raw number)) in Wikipedia page views, Spotify streams, Google searches and social mentions after a musician's death vs their typical level that year, combined into a log-scaled index. By linkedin.com/in/seanfitzsimons1/