Twitter India, in their year-end report titled #OnlyOnTwitter, highlighted the top entertainment tweets from January 1 to November 15, 2021. The rankings were based on the total number of likes and retweets from unique authors.
In a year once again dominated by the OTT space, which took several steps forward with newer stories, stars and digital premieres, it is crucial to see what the audience engaged with, and responded to, on social media. While these trends aren't suggestive of the success of films or actors per se, they are fairly indicative of what viewers connected with and the topics that triggered a conversation.
Here are some of the highlights from the report:
1. Vijay-starrer Master, released theatrically earlier in January, was the most tweeted about film of the year. The second spot was taken by Ajith's highly-anticipated Valimai – a film often seen trending even after the littlest update. This was followed by Vijay's 2022 release, Beast, Suriya's well-acclaimed Jai Bhim, released on Amazon Prime Video, and Pawan Kalyan-starrer Vakeel Saab, the remake of Pink that saw a theatrical release earlier this year. It's worth taking note of the fact that no Hindi film made it to the list, even as the Box Office saw a resumption with the release of Sooryavanshi.
2. Sonu Sood, who won unanimous praise for his humanitarian work during the pandemic, became the most tweeted about actor in Bollywood. He was followed by Akshay Kumar, perhaps the most active actor in the Hindi film industry with multiple digital and theatrical releases during the pandemic, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan.
3. Among actresses, it was Alia Bhatt who trended the most on the social media platform, with an impressive line-up of upcoming films – including Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Gangubai Kathiawadi and S. S. Rajamouli's RRR. Priyanka Chopra, Disha Patani, Deepika Padukone and Anushka Sharma featured next on the list.
4. While Vijay's tweet unveiling the first look of his next film Beast became the most liked and retweeted tweet [with 140.2K RTs and 343.4K likes], Mahesh Babu's tweet in July on resuming the shooting for his next Telugu film, Sarkaru Vaari Paata, became the most quoted tweet [with 7610 QTs].
5. While the report didn't specify the content from streaming platforms separately, their list of the most watched TV shows was topped by Bigg Boss for the third time in a row – with its 14th season, followed by an exclusive OTT season, adding to its popularity. The list further comprised Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin, Barrister Babu, the long-running Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Mehndi Hai Rachne Waali.