Twitter Canada previews the 2017 JUNO Awards

The 2017 JUNO Awards (@TheJUNOAwards) will takes over Ottawa this Sunday, April 2 and Canadian music fans will be following the action and reactions from their fave nominees and performers on Twitter.

Presented annually by The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the JUNO Awards (#JUNOs) is Canada’s premier awards show and the Canadian music industry’s most prestigious recognition for excellence in recorded music. Multi-time JUNO winner Bryan Adams (@bryanadams) and Canadian funnyman Russell Peters (@therealrussellp) will co-host and the program will feature performances by many of the biggest names in the Canadian music industry.

A number of Canadian artists will perform at the #JUNOs including Shawn Mendes (@ShawnMendes), one of the planet’s most followed musicians on Twitter. Mendes has more than nine million Twitter followers, which is more than 4x as many Twitter followers at the other nine #JUNOs performers combined.

Here are the artists performing at the 2017 #JUNOs, ranked by the number of Twitter followers:

1. Shawn Mendes (@ShawnMendes)
2. Ruth B. (@itsruthb)
3. Alessia Cara (@alessiacara)
4. Billy Talent (@billytalentband)
5. Sarah McLachlan (@SarahMcLachlan)
6. Feist (@FeistMusic)
7. Dallas Smith (@dallassmith)
8. Arkells (@arkellsmusic)
9. A Tribe Called Red (@atribecalledred)
10. July Talk (@julytalk)
11. The Strumbellas (@thestrumbellas)

Mendes is the 5th most followed Canadian on Twitter overall, behind fellow musicians Justin Bieber (@justinbieber), Drake (@drake), Avril Lavigne (@AvrilLavigne) and Carly Rae Jepsen (@carlyraejepsen).

We also took a look at key #JUNOs category to see what the Twitter conversation is telling us about each nominees. Here is a snapshot of which nominees have received the most mentions in Twitter conversations about the #JUNOs thus far.

Artist of the Year

1. Shawn Mendes (@ShawnMendes)
2. Alessia Cara (@alessiacara)
3. The Weeknd (@theweeknd)
4. Drake (@Drake)
5. Leonard Cohen

Group of the Year

1. The Strumbellas (@thestrumbellas)
2. Arkells (@arkellsmusic)
3. Billy Talent (@billytalentband)
4. Tegan and Sara (@teganandsara)
5. The Tragically Hip (@thehipdotcom)

Album of the Year

1. Shawn Mendes (@ShawnMendes) - Illuminate
2. The Weeknd (@theweeknd) - Starboy
3. Drake (@Drake) - Views
4. Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker
5. Céline Dion (@celinedion) - Encore un Soir

For the second time in 2017, fans will be able to vote for the #JUNOFanChoice award through Twitter. Justin Bieber won the inaugural award in 2016 and he’s nominated again in 2017, alongside nine other talents from across the Canadian music industry.

Voting takes place on social media with each nominee gaining votes via individual hashtags. Here’s a sneak peek at who’s leading in the #JUNOFanChoice voting as of March 28, 2017.

1. Shawn Mendes - #JFCShawnMendes
2. Justin Bieber - #JFCJustinBieber
3. Hedley - #JFCHedley
4. Alessia Cara - #JFCAlessiaCara
5. The Strumbellas - #JFCTheStrumbellas
6. The Weeknd - #JFCTheWeeknd
7. Drake - #JFCDrake
8. Tory Lanez - #JFCToryLanez
9. Belly - #JFCBelly
10. Ruth B. - #JFCRuthB

Keep close to Twitter in the coming days and through #JUNOs weekend for the latest action and reactions from all your favourite Canadian music talents.