--- title: Top 10 Trending Music Artists on Twitter in 2016 description: K-Pop stars Exo and Jimin, Prince, and Justin Bieber led the top 10 most-talked about musical artists on Twitter in 2016. canonical: https://time.com/4592174/top-music-trends-twitter-2016/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-06T19:21:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:13.805Z og:title: Prince, Justin Bieber Top Most Talked About Musicians List og:description: The list also includes David Bowie and Beyoncé og:url: https://time.com/4592174/top-music-trends-twitter-2016/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte751c8c60b1b3b67/6988b0e52dce0101869eba4e/top-twitter-music-trends-2016.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: American Idol Season 5 Finale - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Prince, Justin Bieber Top Most Talked About Musicians List twitter:description: The list also includes David Bowie and Beyoncé twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte751c8c60b1b3b67/6988b0e52dce0101869eba4e/top-twitter-music-trends-2016.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Prince and K-Pop Top the 10 Most-Talked About Musical Artists on Twitter in 2016 > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 6, 2016 7:21 PM UTC  Prince performs onstage during the American Idol Season 5 Finale on May 24, 2006 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images) Prince performs onstage during the American Idol Season 5 Finale on May 24, 2006 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images) Vince Bucci—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 6, 2016 7:21 PM UTC [K-Pop reigned supreme](http://time.com/4276205/big-bang-k-pop-time-100-poll/) on this year’s list of top trending musical artists on Twitter, with hot throb boy band Exo nabbing first place and Jimin taking second. Following the Korean music sensations was none other than [his royal Purpleness, Prince](http://time.com/4314125/prince-minneapolis-hometown/) at #3, whose [untimely death sent the world into mourning](http://time.com/4303558/prince-dead-paisley-park-57/) both on and offline. This trend was reflected with [David Bowie](http://time.com/4183603/david-bowie-1970s/), who trended at #5; the [rock legend died after a long bout with cancer](http://time.com/4174815/david-bowie-death-cancer/) just two days after dropping his [25th and final album, _Blackstar_ on his 69th birthday](http://time.com/4183835/david-bowie-blackstar-billboard/). Between Prince and Bowie in the fourth slot was the enfant terrible of the music world, [face tattoo enthusiast](http://time.com/4281839/justin-bieber-dreadlocks/) and [Instagram decrier Justin Bieber](http://time.com/4453683/justin-bieber-selena-gomez-insta/), no doubt buoyed by [his loyal Beliebers](http://time.com/4326097/justin-bieber-no-fan-photos/) and a [year filled with social media drama](http://time.com/4452301/selena-gomez-justin-bieber-instagram-sofia-richie/), while the teenage dreams of One Direction clocked in at #6, most likely due to their [decision to pursue solo careers much to the distress of Directioners everywhere](http://time.com/4417442/one-direction-liam-payne-solo/). Trailing One Direction was K-Pop star BamBam at #7, while Beyoncé took #8 thanks to a year that included [a surprise visual album drop](http://time.com/4306316/beyonce-lemonade-black-woman-magic/), [a controversial Super Bowl performance fueled by Cheetos](http://time.com/4557009/beyonce-super-bowl-cheetos/), [a world tour](http://time.com/4361423/beyonce-sneezed-concert/), [multiple awards show performances](http://time.com/4470169/vmas-2016-mtv-review/), and of course, the online [power of the notorious BeyHive](http://time.com/3912684/beyonce-vegan-fans-angry/). Closing out the top 10 was rapper Jin at #9 and K-Pop phenomenon Jungkook. See the full rundown below: Top Trending Artists 1\. #Exo 2\. #Jimin 3\. #Prince 4\. #JustinBieber 5\. #DavidBowie 6\. #OneDirection 7\. #Bambam 8\. #Beyonce 9\. #Jin 10\. #Jungkook ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4592174/top-music-trends-twitter-2016/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4592174/top-music-trends-twitter-2016/"},"headline":"Prince and K-Pop Top the 10 Most-Talked About Musical Artists on Twitter in 2016","datePublished":"2016-12-06T19:21:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:13.805Z","description":"The list also includes David Bowie, Beyoncé, and Justin Bieber","url":"https://time.com/4592174/top-music-trends-twitter-2016/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Music","twitter","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte751c8c60b1b3b67/6988b0e52dce0101869eba4e/top-twitter-music-trends-2016.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte751c8c60b1b3b67/6988b0e52dce0101869eba4e/top-twitter-music-trends-2016.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"American Idol Season 5 Finale - Show","caption":"American Idol Season 5 Finale - Show","creditText":"Vince Bucci—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4592174/top-music-trends-twitter-2016/","name":"Prince and K-Pop Top the 10 Most-Talked About Musical Artists on Twitter in 2016"}}]}] ```