French only collects crumbs, Montreal has a weakness for urban music and Quebec is the provincial capital of rock: for the first time, the Observatoire de la Culture et des Communications du Québec (OCCQ) was able to draw a portrait of listening to music online at home, in 2022.
The exercise confirms that music in French is becoming increasingly popular on on-demand streaming platforms in Quebec. Only 8% of the 23.9 billion songs listened to in 2022 were by local artists and barely 530 of the 10,000 most listened to songs were of French-Quebec origin.
Among the 100 most listened to songs are only four works from Quebec: Copilote by FouKi and Jay Scott, America Cries by Cowboys Fringants, Lullaby by Alicia Moffet and Meaningless by Charlotte Cardin.
“The good news is that we are studying it and will have data next year. Furthermore, it will depend on how people react to this 8%,” says Lysandre Champagne, research director at OCCQ, when asked if there is a glimmer of hope from this observation. alarming.
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Why was such a Quebec analysis never carried out? “Because there was no geolocated data for Quebec,” explains Ms. Champagne.
Here are some highlights from this review of listening to music in Quebec.
Quebec, city of rock
Metallica concert in Quebec, 2015. Photo archive/Le Journal de Québec
The people of Quebec have been saying this loud and clear for years, and finally there is data to back it up. In Quebec we listen to the most rock in the province. Almost a quarter (23.4%) of all music consumed in the Quebec Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) is based on large guitars. The closest pursuers? Shawinigan, Saguenay and Trois-Rivières.
Montreal, urban
FouKi in concert during the Francos de Montréal, 2013. Photo archive Toma Iczkovits/Agence QMI
On the other hand, urban music is popular in Montreal. R&B, hip-hop and rap are very popular among young people, accounting for 24.7% of listeners, compared to 16.7% in the Quebec region. “Of course we can explain it by demographics, because there are more young people, but I also think it is cultural,” emphasizes Lysandre Champagne.
The Cowboys Fringants, again and again
Cowboy Fringants show at the Belle stage of the FEQ on the Plaines D’Abraham in Quebec, Monday, July 17, 2023. STEVENS LEBLANC/JOURNAL DE QUEBEC/AGENCE QMI) Stevens LeBlanc photo archive/Le Journal de Québec
Even though Charlotte Cardin is very present on social networks and popular on streaming platforms, the Cowboys Fringants remain the favorites of Quebecers. No local artist received more plays on on-demand listening platforms in 2022. Behind them we note the presence of Celine Dion at number 5 and the late Bob Bissonnette at number 9.
Quebec at the level of Canada
Quebecers have adopted online music listening, according to a report from the Quebec Observatory of Culture and Communication. Photo archives/AFP
Overall, Quebecers are consuming more and more music online. In 2022, listening in Quebec accounted for 21.2% of Canadian consumption, almost equal to our demographic weight. “We always wonder if Quebec is lagging behind in digital transformation. We are aware that we are quite similar to the rest of Canada,” says Lysandre Champagne.
Salebarbes: sales champions
Salebarbes performs in Quebec in 2022. Photo from the archives of Stevens LeBlanc/Le Journal de Québec
The OCCQ report also analyzes album sales in Quebec and in this regard Salebarbes is the undisputed champion of 2022. Gin à l’eau salée and Live au Pas Perdus occupied the first two places in the album charts, the best-selling “physical album “. ” and digital, all origins united. Taylot Swift, Harry Styles and Adele were no match for the Acadian group. Also note the presence of three albums by Guylaine Tanguay in the top 20.