Year on Twitter: Entertainment in Canada 2017

Twitter was once again home, in 2017, to a wide range of conversations about the biggest names in Canadian entertainment.

From Justin Bieber (@JustinBieber) and Shawn Mendes (@ShawnMendes) through Ryan Reynolds (@VanCityReynolds) and Lilly Singh (@IIsuperwomanII), many top Twitter accounts have Canadian roots and fans from across the globe took to Twitter in 2017 to talk about their favourite personalities from the worlds of film, television, music and online entertainment.

Here is a snapshot of the most-mentioned Canadian actors, musicians and television programs on Twitter in 2017.

Top 10 most-mentioned Canadian actors accounts on Twitter in 2017

1. Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen)
2. Ryan Reynolds (@VanCityReynolds)
3. Shay Mitchell (@shaymitch)
4. Stephen Amell (@StephenAmell)
5. Nina Dobrev (@ninadobrev)
6. Tara Strong (@TaraStrong)
7. Grant Gustin (@GrantGust)
8. Stana Katic (@Stana_Katic)
9. Tatianna Maslany (@tatianamaslany)
10. Nathan Fillion (@nathanfillion)

Top 10 most-mentioned Canadian musician accounts (solo artists) on Twitter in 2017

1. Justin Bieber (@JustinBieber)
2. Shawn Mendes (@ShawnMendes)
3. Sebastian Olzanski (@sebtsb)
4. The Weeknd (@TheWeeknd)
5. Drake (@drake)
6. Alessia Cara (@alessiacara)
7. PartyNextDoor (@partynextdoor)
8. Celine Dion (@celinedion)
9. Daniel Caesar (@DanielCaesar)
10. Shania Twain (@shaniatwain)

Top 10 most-mentioned Canadian musician accounts (duos or groups) on Twitter in 2017

1. Tegan and Sara (@teganandsara)
2. Nickelback (@nickelback)
3. The Arcade Fire (@arcadefire)
4. The Tragically Hip (@thehipdotcom)
5. Simple Plan (@simpleplan)
6. Majid Jordan (@majidjordan)
7. Zeds Dead (@zedsdead)
8. Arkells (@arkellsmusic)
9. Marianas Trench (@mtrench)
10. Hedley (@hedleyonline)

Top 5 most-mentioned Canadian television hashtags (scripted programs) on Twitter in 2017

1. #OrphanBlack - Orphan Black
2. #SchittsCreek - Schitt’s Creek
3. #Letterkenny - Letterkenny
4. #AliasGrace - Alias Grace
5. #KimsConvenience - Kim’s Convenience

Top 5 most-mentioned Canadian television hashtags (reality programs) on Twitter in 2017

1. #bbcan - Big Brother Canada
2. #RHOT - The Real Housewives of Toronto
3. #AmazingRaceCanada - The Amazing Race Canada
4. #MasterChefCanada - Master Chef Canada
5. #BachelorCA - The Bachelor Canada

In August 2017, Justin Bieber (@JustinBieber) became the first Canadian account to reach 100,000,000 Twitter followers. Katy Perry (@KatyPerry) has been the only other account to reach the 100,000,000 milestone so far.

Here are some others Canadian entertainment personalities whose Twitter accounts hit major follower milestones in 2017:

• Shawn Mendes, musician (@ShawnMendes) - 10,000,000 (May 2017)
• Seth Rogen, actor (@Sethrogen) - 5,000,000 (February 2017)
• The Weeknd, musician (@TheWeeknd) - 5,000,000 (May 2017)
• The Arcade Fire, music (@arcadefire) - 1,000,000 (June 2017)
• Eric Alper, music journalist (@thatEricAlper) - 1,000,000 (August 2017)
• PartyNextDoor, musician (@partynextdoor) - 1,000,000 (August 2017)

The passing of Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie (@GordDownie) was one of Canada’s top trending story of 2017. More than 300,000 Tweets about Downie were sent within 48 hours of his death in mid October 2017.

Hashtags such as #RIPGord trended across Canada and Twitter tributes to Downie were sent from a wide range of Canadian notables including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau).  

In subsequent weeks, teachers and educators launched the #TeachLikeGord hashtag to encourage Canadians to learn more about our native history and topics such as Indigenous reconciliation. Twitter was also home to the debut airing of a trailer for the Tragically Hip documentary Long Time Running, a film that later premiered as part of the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival (@TIFF_Net).

NOTE: All data insights contained in this blog are based on Twitter data collected between January 1, 2017 and November 30, 2017.