Encore Score index ranks Australia’s most loved and loathed celebrities

AN annual popularity list has ranked Australia’s favourite and not so fave celebrities. Can you guess?

Our main man: Hugh Jackman has come out as the most popular celebrity on the annual Encore Score list. Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

King ‘Kyle’ Sandilands and Shane Warne have made it, while Australian pollies have avoided being included in the bottom 10 firing line of the annual and often amusing Encore Score popularity list.

The always reliable boy from Oz, Hugh Jackman, leads the ‘top’ charge as Australia’s most popular celeb, while Pete Evans, Eddie McGuire and Lara Bingle have made the not-so-popular cut.

Like he would care: Kyle Sandilands has made the latter end of the Encore Score celebrity popularity list. Picture: Instagram

The Encore Score is touted as the go-to standard for ranking the popularity of and the public opinion of more than 400 celebrities within Australia.

With not an Instagrammer or self-anointed social media ‘influencer’ in sight, the list — which news.com.au has seen in its entirety — is made up of TV and radio hosts, celebrity chefs, sports people, actors, comedians, newsreaders and musicians.

A major change to the methodology this year is that the more than 5000 respondents were not shown pictures of the celebrities, only names. Politicians were not included this year so the list could present a truer representation of personalities available to brands.

The no-photo creed resulted in a marked difference in recognition percentages across the board.

Eddie McGuire has made the Encore Score cut: Pic: Wayne Ludbey

By seeing no pics, Encore said it resulted in a marked difference in recognition percentages across the board.

For well-known celebs, there was a dip of around 10 per cent in recognition while for lesser known personalities, this figure was closer to 30 per cent.

While 2015’s top 10 was an all-Australian affair, 2016 saw two internationals join the ranks of

our favourite celebrities with Jamie Oliver and Dawn French entering the fray.

Dawn French has made it as number four on the list . . Go Dawnie!

The Hemsworth brothers Chris and Liam also joined the top 10 for the first time, along with Russell Crowe, while comedian Anh Do, actor Simon Baker and personality Hamish Blake fell from the top 10.

At the other end of the index, Sandilands has been joined by his radio queen colleague Jackie O, Shane Warne and Matthew Newton, the son of showbiz ‘royal’ Bert Newtown.

The talented Rebecca Gibney in a scene from ‘The Killing Field’ makes it as number seven in the most popular stakes: the same spot as last year.

Powered by YouGov’s Influencer Index and commissioned by online media and marketing

news site Mumbrella, the Encore Score aims to give brands, agencies and marketers a metric by

which to gauge public opinion and perception of celebrities across demographics.

Each of the 5119 survey participant saw 60 names over April and May of this year and were nationally representative of the Australian population 18+, with an even 50/50 gender split.

Participants were asked:

● Which, if any, of the following public figures are you currently aware of?

● Generally speaking, which, if any, of the following public figures do you currently LIKE?

● Generally speaking, which, if any, of the following public figures do you currently DISLIKE?

● Which of the following public figures are currently among your FAVOURITES?

● Which of the following public figures are currently among those you most HATE?

“The Encore Score presents the definitive ranking of Australia’s favourite celebrities, and is a shining index of who’s hot and who’s not, allowing brands, marketers and agencies a popularity benchmark,” curator of the Encore Score, Brooke Hemphill, said.

Shane Warne has made it as the second least popular celebrities out of the Encore Score list of 400. Pic: Colleen Petch

“Once again, this year we’ve found the most popular celebrities are the ones that seem

approachable, genuine and who perform and create brilliantly in their chosen field.

“The data is telling us that being famous for famous’ sake isn’t enough to guarantee a positive image in the public eye: Those at the top represent genuine talent, success and style coupled with humility and accessibility.”

Other interesting points from the 2016 data include that those who work together don’t necessarily score together with comedy duo Hamish and Andy landing 117 positions away from the other at 34 and 151 respectively.

As well, being ‘local’ doesn’t always sway the supermarket war with international superchef and Woolworths’ ambassador Jamie Oliver 39 places higher than his local Coles counterpart Curtis Stone.

The only Gold Logie winner to see an increase in their Encore Score from 2015 to 2016 was 2016’s Waleed Aly.

•ENCORE TOP 10 2016

HUGH JACKMAN

JAMIE OLIVER

CHRIS HEMSWORTH

DAWN FRENCH

CATE BLANCHETT

NICOLE KIDMAN

REBECCA GIBNEY

RUSSELL CROWE

LIAM HEMSWORTH

Right up there on the most popular Encore Score list: Cate Blanchett. Picture: William Callan/Contour by Getty Images

•ENCORE BOTTOM 10 2016

KYLE SANDILANDS

SHANE WARNE

EDDIE MCGUIRE

LARA BINGLE

JACKIE 0

MATTHEW NEWTON

PETE EVANS

JASON DONOVAN

JOHNNY RUFFO

RHIANNON FISH

Lara Bingle hasn’t come out too well in the ‘popularity’ stakes. Pic: Stephen Cooper

The Encore Score was released at media and marketing industry conference Mumbrella360,

held today in Sydney.

Originally published as Encore Score index ranks Australia’s most loved and loathed celebrities