Toronto rapper Drake has more than 30 million followers on Twitter, and Justin Bieber is among the platform’s most discussed users – Canadian or otherwise – so it comes as little surprise that the pair dominate Canada’s top retweets of 2016.
In fact, Twitter Canada’s head of communications, Cam Gordon, noted in a Dec. 6 blog post discussing Canada’s year on Twitter that Bieber became only the second user in the site’s history to surpass 90 million followers in 2016 (“California Gurls” songbird Katy Perry was the first).
We’re guessing that’s why Bieber was the source of two of the country’s top five retweets simply by wishing his followers happy new year and thanking fans on his birthday.
In any case, it would appear that if marketers are looking for influencers to discuss their products on social media, Bieber and the erstwhile Aubrey Graham would be good places to start.
Onto the list:
Coming in at number five was Drake’s preview video for his 2016 album, Views (originally titled Views From the 6, a reference to one of Toronto’s area codes).
4/29/16 #VIEWS pic.twitter.com/kHa2rerRyV
— Drizzy (@Drake) April 10, 2016
Number Four, as mentioned, is more or less Bieber simply welcoming the new year. (Little did he know…)
Feels good to just be happy 🙂
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) January 4, 2016
While number three was Bieber thanking his fans as he turned 22.
Thank you. #22
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) March 1, 2016
Number two was simply the Views tracklist – though it’s amusing to note that what turned out to be the album’s most iconic track was originally included as a “bonus.”
#VIEWS Tracklist pic.twitter.com/6KLbbgzFSm
— Drizzy (@Drake) April 27, 2016
Most poignant of all, however, might be Canada’s number one retweet of 2016, sent one night before the bitterly divisive U.S. election ended – and an arguably more divisive four years began.
Rt while you still can pic.twitter.com/KPyY8e48lF
— Em// 71 (@lovelyytylerr) November 7, 2016