Survey Reveals the 15 Brazilian Artists Who Get More Views on YouTube Outside the Country

01/12/2018 - 11h02

At first glance, it may seem difficult to draw parallels between Sepultura, Michel Teló, Axé Bahia and João Gilberto. But there is one thing they all have in common: they are part of a select group of Brazilian artists who get more views abroad than at home.

A survey conducted by Folha, elaborated on top of public statistics available on YouTube, identified the 15 Brazilian artists and bands who tallied up more views abroad.

The survey took into account the number of views on the website between September 1st, 2014 and January 4th, 2018. YouTube is the most popular platform for listening to music both in Brazil and throughout the world.

Some cases are less surprising than others. Composer and instrumentalist Sérgio Mendes has been in the US since the 1960s and he was the first musician to get a song entirely sung in Portuguese up on the billboards with "Mas que Nada".

Of all his views, 15.77% were based in the US, while 9.22% of his views were based in Brazil.

No less surprising are cases like that of João Gilberto, who exported Bossa Nova, Sepultura, which became famous in the US, and even São Paulo-based group Cansei de Ser Sexy (also known as "CSS"), whose lyrics are bilingual.

The statistics reveal the different strategies adopted by artists for their international careers.

Therefore, it is understandable that a singer like Roberto Carlos would get more views abroad. In his case, 20% of views were based in Mexico. For decades, the singer has been concentrating on recording tunes in different languages, almost always targeting a Latin and Iberian-American audience.

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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	Ricardo Borges/Folhapress
	Brazilian singer and composer Roberto Carlos