Twitter’s hashtag with the most number of tweets, #World Cup with 35.6 million, has officially been surpassed by an unlikely contender. The new owner of the Twitter hashtag crown is #AlDubEBTamangPanahon with more than 39 million tweets. It’s unlikely because it is associated with an event that can hardly be considered as global in comparison to the World Cup.
In an interview, Rishi Jaitly, Asia Pacific and Middle East Vice President of Twitter himself confirmed that the AlDub tweets are “authentic.”
#AlDubEBTamangPanahon is the official hashtag for the “Tamang Panahon”concert of the Filipino “love team” AlDub composed of local heartthrob Alden Richards and social media star Maine Mendoza, who is more popularly known as Yaya Dub (Yaya in the Philippines means nanny). The concert was held last October 24, Saturday, at the Philippine Arena, the largest indoor arena of the world. It was a jam-packed event attended by around 55,000, the maximum capacity of the arena.
AlDub: Phenomenal Love Team
Unplanned and unexpected, the AlDub tandem started as the hosts of the noontime show Eat Bulaga teased Yaya Dub over her giddy but “interested”reaction to Alden Richards, one of the show’s mainstays. The show was then running the experimental “kalyeserye”(street series, soap opera on the streets) with Yaya Dub and her grandmother Lola Nidora (played by a male co-host, cross-dressing) as the main actors. Kalyeserye is a spontaneously unfolding series shot live, without a script, and with the actors unilaterally and whimsically deciding on what to do with the story although inputs from the show’s other hosts are also being incorporated.
At some point, Yaya Dub was introduced to Alden Richards through the TV monitor. She was on the streets while Richards was in the studio doing his usual hosting chores. Unexpectedly, the public loved their chemistry and demanded for more of their interactions. This was how the phenomenon started. The accidental formation of the couple erupted into a success that has now become unmatchable in the local entertainment industry. AlDub hashtags have since trended daily with a minimum of 1 million tweets. The couple’s first meet-up tallied more than 26 million tweets. Consequently, the show’s ratings in Mega Manila soared up to eight times higher compared to that of the closest competitor’s. The show’s national ratings also leapfrogged and finally recorded a compelling lead.
Local Going Global
AlDub is mostly a local showbiz phenomenon but it managed to attract international attention in a number of ways. For one, it had “God Gave Me You” singer Bryan White talking about AlDub. Similarly, “Dessert” singer Dawin has been talking about the tandem after learning that they played a big role in putting his song on the charts in the Philippines. International alternative band Lifehouse also caught the AlDub fever and even sent a congratulatory note for AlDub’s Twitter feat. If Twitter were to make a tagged location-based mapping of AlDub tweets, it will be unexpected to see tweets coming from all over the world. The tandem also has fans, Filipinos and some non-Filipinos, in various countries. In fact, just to attend the “Tamang Panahon”concert, a group from China flew to the Philippines.
Breaking Records
Before the historic rise of the #AlDubEBTamangPanahon hashtag, the AlDub tandem had already shown great promise in achieving phenomenal success on Twitter. Its notable Twitter achievement started when it reportedly surpassed the numbers set by Pope Francis’ visit in the Philippines, although there are claims that this wasn’t the case since several “official” hashtags were used by different TV networks during the papal visit. Naysayers, however, were silenced when the succeeding AlDub hashtags trended like it’s ordinary to log in more than a couple million tweets Mondays through Saturdays. Last month, the hashtag #AlDubMostAwaitedDate broke the record set by #LoveWins (most tweeted hashtag in 24 hours) in just 12 hours. AlDub’s “Tamang Panahon”concert, moreover, smashed the TicketWorld record for first day sales in the Philippines.
Sabotaged?
Despite all the success, some fans still have some beef to air. After the final numbers for #AlDubEBTamangPanahon were published, some fans pointed out how the hashtag could have tallied more than 40 million tweets if only the “stray”tweets counted under “fake” hashtags were included in the count.
The concert responsible for the now most tweeted hashtag on Twitter (worldwide) is already up on YouTube. The show’s owners appear to have no intentions of having it taken down in the same way they generously aired it live on TV without any commercial break.
Image credit: gmanews
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