Grammys 2013: Spotify Users Pick the Winners

Is Spotify about to go all Nate Silver on the Grammy Awards – by which we mean rigorously applying data to know that which would otherwise be unknowable?

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Well, the company is giving it a shot.

The following predictions are "based on song and album streams on Spotify," which made us wonder whether Spotify has some sort of algorithm that can skew the data towards the baby-boomers-and-older set who seem to pick the winners each year.

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Then we read the announcement again. Spotify was careful to say that the goal here is "to predict which nominees would walk away with the coveted gilded gramophones if it were up to Spotify users."

With that out of the way, here are Spotify's predictions for which nominees will pick up Grammy Awards on Sunday, based on song and album streams there:

Album of the Year
The Black Keys – El Camino
Fun. – Some Nights
–> Mumford & Sons – Babel
Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
Jack White – Blunderbuss

Record of the Year

The Black Keys – “Lonely Boy”
Kelly Clarkson – “Stronger”
Fun. feat. Janelle Monae – “We Are Young”
–>  Gotye feat. Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used to Know”
Frank Ocean – “Thinkin Bout You”
Taylor Swift – “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

Best New Artist

Alabama Shakes
Fun.
Hunter Hayes
–>  The Lumineers
Frank Ocean

Best Country Song
–>  Carrie Underwood – “Blown Away”
Ronnie Dunn -”Cost of Livin’ ”
Eli Young Band – “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”
Alan Jackson – “So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore”
Eric Church – “Springsteen”

Best Pop Solo Performance

Adele – “Set Fire to the Rain (Live)”
Kelly Clarkson – “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
–>  Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
Katy Perry – “Wide Awake”
Rihanna – “Where Have You Been”

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Florence and the Machine – “Shake It Out”
Fun. – “We Are Young”
–> Gotye feat. Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used to Know”
LMFAO – “Sexy and I Know It”
Maroon 5 – “Payphone”

For those who would like to make their own predictions, Spotify offers a Facebook app where you can submit entries in ten categories for a chance to attend the Grammys in 2014. Everyone who picks the winners in all ten categories will win six months of Spotify freemium, which is about a $60 value.