Radio service SiriusXM has launched a new music chart show that leverages listener data from sister platform Pandora.
The “Top Thumb Hundred” aggregates the 100 most-listened to songs in an on-demand playlist accessible through Pandora’s streaming service. The chart is based on the most-liked songs across Pandora’s various curated and user-generated channels, with new charts formulated on fresh data every Monday.
That data will also be used for a new recap show on SiriusXM’s Pandora Now (SiriusXM Channel 3), a linear channel that aggregates listener interactions from across SiriusXM and Pandora. The new show will be called “Thumb 20” and will feature songs from a variety of genres, including pop, rock, hip-hop and R&B.
“We’re excited to provide this early indicator of song performance, capturing and ranking the newest music every week,” SiriusXM executive Alex Luke said in a statement. “Thumbing activity on Pandora has proven to be a great early indicator of listener affinity and now we can provide a glimpse into that, every Monday.”
Last week, SiriusXM said it had around 34 million subscribers on its legacy satellite and streaming radio service. Of those, around 8 million subscribers are receiving SiriusXM’s radio content as part of a reduced-price or free trial service. Those trial subscriptions are often associated with the purchase of a new vehicle that includes SiriusXM hardware.
Though SiriusXM said it added 264,000 subscribers over the last three months, it shed around 500,000 subscribers in the same time period. The company said a decline in new car sales was partially to blame for the dip in subscriber count.
Over the last few years, SiriusXM has aggressively sought to diversify its media business by venturing into other streaming audio offerings. In 2018, SiriusXM said it was buying Pandora for $3.5 billion. Between last year and this year, the company acquired several podcast producers and distributors; recently, SiriusXM agreed to buy podcast juggernaut Stitcher for $325 million.
