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Stray Kids Fans Ranked the Joyfulest in New Reddit-Comment Study
8/5/2026, 4:43:44 PM
Study Finds Stray Kids Fans Most Joyful
A recent analysis by The Action Network examined more than 1.5 million Reddit comments from fan communities of 106 popular artists. By applying emotion-detection algorithms, the study measured how often comments expressed joy, sadness or anger. The Stray Kids fandom—known as “STAY”—registered joy in 30.5 % of its comments, the highest rate among all groups surveyed.
Methodology and Scope
The researchers scraped Reddit threads dedicated to each artist and used automated sentiment tools to classify each comment into one of three core emotions. Manual review flagged that roughly 15–20 % of the highest-confidence sadness comments were quotations of melancholic lyrics; the team retained these, reasoning that quoting sad lines reflects fandom behavior. The dataset covered a broad cross-section of genres, from K-pop to classic rock.
Rankings Across Emotions
Joy rankings showed no clear genre pattern. After Stray Kids, Florence + the Machine (27.2 %) and Hozier (23.9 %) followed, with The Cure and BTS tied at 23.4 %. The lowest joy rates clustered in hip-hop: Kodak Black (5.6 %), Future (7.2 %), Lil Wayne (7.3 %) and Drake (7.7 %).
Sadness scores placed Mitski at the top (11.4 %), ahead of My Chemical Romance and Charlie Puth (both 10.3 %). Six of the ten saddest fandoms belonged to female artists. Stray Kids ranked sixth among the least sad fandoms, tied at 5.1 % with The Beatles and Daft Punk. The least sad fandoms were led by Offset (3.1 %) and OutKast (3.6 %).
Anger was dominated by rap audiences. Future led with 11.7 % angry comments, followed by Tyler, the Creator (11.2 %) and Kodak Black (10.7 %). The calmest fandoms—those least likely to express anger—were largely pop and rock, with Ed Sheeran at 2.3 % and Offset at 2.5 %.
Gender and Genre Observations
The study highlighted a contrast between emotion distributions and musical style. While hip-hop fanbases tended toward lower joy and higher anger, genres such as folk, indie and classic rock featured prominently in the top-joy list. Conversely, the sadness rankings skewed toward female-led acts, suggesting that lyrical content and community discourse shape emotional expression more than the artists’ sonic characteristics.
Implications for Fan Community Analysis
By quantifying emotional tone in online fan discussions, the research offers a new metric for gauging fandom health beyond traditional measures like streaming counts or concert attendance. Marketers, promoters and cultural analysts may use these insights to tailor engagement strategies, recognizing that a community’s emotional climate can influence loyalty, merchandise sales and broader cultural impact.
