The Voice Is Back: Which Coach Will See Gains?

Tonight T.V.'s #1 singing reality show, The Voice, returns for it's highly anticipated 6th season! Returning to the judging panel are Shakira and Usher who first debuted on the show back in the Spring of 2013 (during the show's 4th season). They replace Christina Aguilera (who will be back for season 7) and Cee Lo Green (who officially departed the series for good back in season 5).

While the whole synopsis of the elimination format competition is to find the best new artist among competitors from across the United States. While it does try and find a new face for the music industry, the show also tries to heavily promote material released by the coaches on the show. Which ones will benefit this year? Keep reading to find out.

Back in season 1, Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera debuted a new single on the show alongside Maroon 5. That single (if you couldn't already guess) was "Moves Like Jagger". Fueled by the performance of the song on the show, the single went on to become one of the biggest selling singles of all time and hit #1 in numerous countries.

Season 2 saw more single releases for Adam Levine's band, Maroon 5. The most popular was "Payphone (feat. Wiz Khalifa)". That single matched the success of "Moves Like Jagger" and became my first ever #1. 

For the 3rd season both Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera needed the power of the show to promote their upcoming albums. Cee Lo's Christmas album failed to do much business, selling less than 200,000 through the end of 2012 while Christina's album, Lotus, marked another career low for the artist and sold about 250,000 copies in the United States through January 2013. Through the same period of time (October-December versus November-January) Christina had higher sales than Cee Lo but her album was still considered an underwhelming attempt. In comparison, Maroon 5's Overexposed sold between those two numbers (~225k) in opening week in June 2012.

Season 4 saw the promotion of Blake Shelton's 8th album, Based On A True Story, which was released on March 26th, 2013. The album proved to be a critical and commercial success and has since sold over 1.1 million in the United States alone. 

While season 5 didn't feature any new music from any of the coaches, it was used as a transitional period to end Cee Lo Green's run as a judge on the show.

Now in season 6, Shakira is likely to steal the show. Her 10th studio release, Shakira, will drop at the beginning of season 6 (March 25th).

The album has been preceded by lead single "Can't Remember to Forget You (feat. Rihanna)" and recently released single "Empire". 

The earlier mentioned track with Rihanna proved to be a worldwide hit and was praised for delivering an unexpected sound (and video if you know what I mean). To date the single has peaked at #1 in a handful of countries, #15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the CDS Music Chart Hot 50.

Meanwhile, "Empire", is just starting to warm up. While it is lyrically different than its predecessor, the song could be just what Shakira needs to hit #1 on the CDS Music Chart Hot 50. Currently, based on 1 full day of spins, the song is headed for a sharper start than "Can't Remember to Forget You (feat. Rihanna)". The song will easily reach the top 15, while I fully expect a top 10 start.

Watch The Voice season 6 two part premiere tonight starting at 8/7c and tomorrow at 8/7c!