I love data like I love country music. I admit it. While country music makes you feel good, data answers so many questions. After trying for months to answer the question of why I kept seeing an abundance of country-music-related television shows, I came across a number from Nielson SoundScan that answers the question. It turns out the country genre demonstrated the greatest gains in 2012, with sales up 4.1% compared with the prior year. Not even rock, which continues to be the biggest genre, could surpass country with 1.4% gains. Country digital album sales also rose 38% in 2012 vs. 2011, the largest increase of any genre in the digital album format. Perhaps that's why Jason Aldean will perform at the People's Choice Awards Wednesday night. Consumers show intent and brands need to deliver. How does a marketer follow through without the numbers to back up the claim? comScore cofounder Gian Fulgoni's post gives us the top 10 "burning issues in digital," with big data listed as No. 1. He tells us 120 million people in the U.S. now own smartphones, up 30 million in just the past year; that for $600 you can buy a disk that can store all of the world’s music; and 92% of the world’s data was created in just the past two years. What can you do with that knowledge? Forrester Research Analyst Mike Gualtieri believes big data, modeling tools and algorithms will become key differentiators in 2013, and the market for such services will become "highly competitive," with an overabundance of new entrants during the next three years. It's pretty darn simple. Predictive analytics uses algorithms to find patterns in data that might predict similar outcomes in the future, according to Gualtieri. He explains that predictive analytics allows telecom carriers to predict the customers most likely to switch carriers based on number of calls made, minutes used, number of texts sent, average bill amount, and hundreds of other variables. The key is to continually rerun the data, because consumer intent changes will prove successful when brands set business goals, understand data from a variety of sources, create a predictive model, and more. And while the Forrester report--The Forrester Wave: Big Data Predictive Analytics Solutions, Q1 2013--details possible leaders in the space, such as SAS, IBM, and SAP and Oracle, it also provides a roadmap for companies looking to capitalize on data sources.