‘The Voice’ Top 10: Contestant Going Home According To iTunes — And Twitter


After checking The Voice rankings via iTunes, I’m just stunned at how things turned out. It’s a situation where you feel as if you inadvertently jinxed someone. Last night, I wrote that after a decent pop performance, Korin Bukowski deserved to make the Semifinals. And what happens? Well, all signs point to her being in the Bottom 2.

Yikes!

So, who else is in danger of elimination this week? Before we get to that, let’s take a minute to look at those Voice singers that PopVortex thinks are absolutely safe.

In a turn of events that should be of little surprise to anyone at this point, Jordan Smith’s “Hallelujah” was enough to guarantee he moves on to next week. It also re-established him as the primary front-runner for The Voice. As of now, Smith is only being held out of the top spot on iTunes by Adele.

Because the country audience is a vocal and determined voting bloc, it’s also easy to deduce that all country artists are safe from elimination. That means you should expect to see all of Team Blake and Shelby Brown of Team Adam in the Semifinals.

So, that’s a little more than half than the advancing artists right there. When it comes to determining the four other Voice contestants moving on, things get a little murky.

I am somewhat confident that Madi Davis will be around next week. Her cover of “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” was full of life, and she emoted well. It was a unique interpretation that didn’t offend. The Davis version also hit No. 5 on iTunes. There should be no reason this Voice artist is in danger. Of course, the same could have been said of Evan McKeel, her former Team Pharrell teammate. Look how that went.

Then there’s the curious case of Amy Vachal. Although her life performance of “Bye Bye Bye” landed her in the Top 10, she doesn’t have the substantial voting blocs her teammates Shelby Brown and Jordan Smith have. This leaves her in a precarious position.

Even with my doubts, I think there’s a good chance both these women are safe. I can’t be sure, however, and it’s thanks in large part to Team Gwen.

Jeffrey Austin is the only person on Gwen Stefani’s team that, objectively speaking, unquestionably deserves a spot in the Top 9. He has been consistently good each week. He is probably the strongest singer after Jordan Smith. In a season where Jordan didn’t audition, I’d say Austin had the strongest chance of winning.

Unfortunately, he chose a coach who makes terrible song choices and doesn’t seem capable of getting the best out of the artists relying on her for guidance. It is a testament to his incredible talent that no matter what obscure or inappropriate song he’s given to sing, he makes it work. He too ranked in the Top 10 on iTunes. Of all his teammates, he’s the most likely to be safe.

And that means, according to iTunes, the Bottom 2 will be made up of Korin Bukowski and Braiden Sunshine. That should be the prediction, right? Well, maybe. Thanks to the nature of the current iTunes Top 10 rankings, iTunes is virtually worthless this week.

Here’s why.

Have you ever heard the saying, “If everyone wins, no one wins?” As of my writing this, seven out of 10 Voice contestants are sitting in the Top 10 on iTunes. Seven. Nine out of ten cracked the iTunes Top 30. Only one contestant failed to make the Top 100, and that was Braiden Sunshine.

Almost everyone clusters together on the iTunes chart in a way that it makes the iTunes ranking a useless tool for predicting who’s in the Bottom 2. While it’s great that virtually all the Voice competitors did well on iTunes when other votes are factored in, it becomes a “too close to call” situation.

I want to say that Braiden and Korin are the safest guesses as to a Bottom 2, but Sunshine has the “fangirl bloc” behind him. Zach Seabaugh has fangirls and country Voice fans voting for him. Above him is Shelby Brown, who may be saved by the country votes she can steal away from Team Blake.

Who’s directly above her? Amy Vachal. I predicted last week that a person seemingly made safe by iTunes could fall into the Bottom 2 simply because other contestants below them who are country artists or fangirl favorites had dedicated voting blocs. That would drop these persons into the Bottom 2.

You see why I wasn’t 100 percent sure about Amy or Madi? Clearly, iTunes alone isn’t enough to determine who is at the bottom — or which persons in the Bottom 2 will remain. That’s when you also have to consider Twitter followers.

A Voice singer’s popularity on Twitter is of huge importance, as the voice instant save relies on Twitter hashtags to determine who’s more popular of the Bottom 2. No, not who sang the best, but who is the most popular. If a singer did poorly but has a few thousand more followers on Twitter than their competitor, it would be the number of followers that keeps them around.

That’s likely how Evan — who had thousands fewer followers than Korin — met his fate. This week, if Bukowski and Sunshine are indeed the Bottom 2, it will be her 20.9K followers versus his 17.5K followers that could be the tipping point.

With all of the above in mind, here’s my prediction for tonight: Jordan Smith and Barrett Baber are the most likely to move on. All country artists will probably move on. Amy Vachal could fall into the Bottom 2 in a scenario where Braiden Sunshine is voted safe. However, I think it will be Korin Bukowski and Braiden Sunshine in the bottom.

If that happens, I think Korin will go home — even though this week she doesn’t deserve it — because there’s no way Braiden’s fangirls won’t save him.

Who do you think will leave The Voice this week? Do you think everyone being in the Top 10 makes iTunes inaccurate? Share your thoughts below!

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