Cody Simpson ’makes most shared on Twitter’ list during SXSW

Courtney Barnett might have been one of the darlings of SXSW with everyone from Billboard to Esquire hailing her album as a stand-out of the year. Among those also causing interest were Angus & Julia Stone, Remi, Tkay Maidza, Meg Mac, Hiatus Kaiyote, Twerps and Gooch Palms.

But in Twitterland, the Australian act that ruled, was Cody Simpson.

According to Twitter, one million SXSW-themed tweets were posted between March 17 to 23. The most mentioned act was Halsey, the 19-year-old from New Jersey who was offered five label deals overnight after her song Ghost was posted online. It has since been streamed 420,000 times on Soundcloud.

Simpson was the second most mentioned act. The 18-year-old from the Gold Coast who has 7.3 million Twitter followers, had aroused media attention when he arrived in Austin with his high profile girlfriend Gigi Hadid and posted an Instagram shot of the themselves wearing just a towel as part of Fashion Photographer's Towel Series.

But he created interest for his music at his show at Stubbs Bar-B-Que where he previewed tracks off his Free album. After his split from Atlantic Records, Simpson’s team-up with producer Cisco Adler and writing with G. Love and Donavon Frankenreiter led to a more folk-pop-reggae sound. John Mayer, whose songs Simpson covered in his early days, served as an unofficial advisor. Simpson is this week back in his Los Angeles base continuing to record. Free is released later this year through his own Coast House Records.

The other three most mentioned artists were Japanese pop group Perfume, Miley Cyrus and Korean rapper and producer Tablo.

Twitter’s list of most high profile SXSW moments included Earl Sweatshirt's performance at Pandora's Discovery Den, Raekwon's cameo at Ghostface Killah's set at the Fader Fort, and the Run The Jewels show where a man ran onto the stage, was thrown off and punched when he tried to get on stage again.

The five most tweeted of emerging artists were Halsey, Run The Jewels, English singer songwriter James Bay whose Hold Back The River single has had 13 million views, 19-year-old Los Angeles singer songwriter Kehlani and rap brother duo Rae Srummurd (their name is their record label Ear Drummers backwards) of Tupelo, Mississippi,who’ve had two Platinum singles in America.