Did Gojira Get Robbed at the Grammys?

Urska Jaksa

Apr 5, 2022

The 2022 Grammy awards left many metalheads surprised as the award for Best Metal Performance went to Dream Theater instead of Gojira. If you were (or are) team Gojira, your expectations weren’t unfounded. The data shows that “Amazonia” was, in fact, the best-performing track among the nominees.

Gojira’s track scored the highest among all the “Best Metal Performance” nominees according to its combined streaming, social media and radio airplay numbers. It was streamed 12 million times, Shazamed 25 thousand times, got 6.9 million YouTube views with its official video, and still has the highest Spotify playlist reach (705.000).

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The verdict: “Amazonia” was the most popular metal performance of 2021

Sure, music tastes are subjective, and the nominees – Deftones, Mastodon, Rob Zombie, Dream Theater, Gojira – are all metal juggernauts with incredible track records. No matter what the jury votes decide, the popular vote can be measured. The fans who stream the tracks, watch the videos, and Shazam the tunes give us numbers that objectively determine how popular an artist or how impactful a track is.

According to the online stats, Deftones placed second with “Genesis”, which was streamed 11 million times. Rob Zombie’s “The Triumph of King Freak (A Crypt of Preservation and Superstition)”, which was actually Shazamed the most (more than 31 thousand times), came in third. Grammy winners Dream Theater were fourth, while fifth place went to Mastodon with “Pushing the Tides”.

Cover image: Gojira by Travis Shinn