The Be Good TanyasAs I have said before, one thing I love about Last.fm are the tools for statistical analysis. Since last year, I have used last.fm to create pop charts for our school newspaper. Last January, I pulled together all sorts of data from my last.fm charts and reflected on it. Lets do that again, shall we?
Regarding artists, I made the following prediction: “More of the same, but possibly with more blues. Muddy Waters especially.” Here are my official top five, by absolute number of songs played.
1. Gloria Deluxe 7,112
2. The Be Good Tanyas 4,085
3. The Beatles 3,301
4. The Kinks 3,198
5. The Rolling Stones 3,169
Muddy Waters ranked 32nd with 715 plays. Last year that would have nearly put him on the chart, but this year it doesn’t add up to much. Last year I also speculated that , shuffle being what it is, that artists with over 1000 tracks in my iTunes library were not exactly on a level playing field with artists whose entire oeuvre consists of less than fifty tracks. So, by dividing the number of plays of a given artist recorded by last.fm by the number of tracks by that same artist in my library, here are some handicapped rankings:
[Average listens per song per artist]
1. Be Good Tanyas 76
2. Gloria Deluxe 59
3. M Shanghai String Band 55
4. Paul Butterfield 42
5. God Help The Girl 41
6. Jolie Holland 26
7. Gillian Welch 18
8. Muddy Waters 12
9. The Kinks 11
10. Elvis Presley 10
There are a few things to notice here. The first is that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, each of whom has an enormous catalog which is well represented in my library, do not even make the top ten once the sheer number of songs is taken into play. Instead what shows up are the artists that I went out of my way to hear, and played repeatedly in the last twelve months.
Albums
1.Blue Horse (BGT)
2.Chinatown (BGT)
3.From The Air (M Shanghai String Band)
4.Hello Love (BGT)
5.Up From The Ground Below (M Shanghai String Band)
6.God Help The Girl
The answer to the Be Good Tanyas overwhelming success is now plain. They only have three albums, and they are all in top five. Likewise, the two albums of the M Shanghai string band are well represented. I did predict it, although a parallel success for Gloria Deluxe did not materialize. A couple caveats here: if you listen to an entire 12 track album straight through, it counts that not as 1 play, but as 12. So if, as is the case with M.S. String Band, you hit three songs hard, the albums will rank high, even if you ignore the rest. God Help the Girl, at number six, deserves an honorable mention; not only does it hold up wonderfully as an album, but I only purchased it at the end of June, whereas the other albums had been in my library all year.
Tracks
1.
No Dead End Street
2.Scattered Leaves
3.Folsom Prison Blues
4.Money Up
5.Song for R
6.East-West
7.Funny Little Frog
8.Refrain's The Same
9.When Doves Cry
10.I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water
This seems accurate enough I hit these songs hard, and on purpose, even in the case of “Refrain’s the Same” which I have three versions of. “Folsom Prison Blues” owes its presence here to its use as a lullaby. Again, special credit should go “Funny Little Frog” which is the only song in the top ten that was not in my library all year long.
Last year I tried to make predictions. This year I feel disinclined to do so. Instead I will just look forward to seeing what the New Year brings. Cheers!
Regarding artists, I made the following prediction: “More of the same, but possibly with more blues. Muddy Waters especially.” Here are my official top five, by absolute number of songs played.
1. Gloria Deluxe 7,112
2. The Be Good Tanyas 4,085
3. The Beatles 3,301
4. The Kinks 3,198
5. The Rolling Stones 3,169
Muddy Waters ranked 32nd with 715 plays. Last year that would have nearly put him on the chart, but this year it doesn’t add up to much. Last year I also speculated that , shuffle being what it is, that artists with over 1000 tracks in my iTunes library were not exactly on a level playing field with artists whose entire oeuvre consists of less than fifty tracks. So, by dividing the number of plays of a given artist recorded by last.fm by the number of tracks by that same artist in my library, here are some handicapped rankings:
[Average listens per song per artist]
1. Be Good Tanyas 76
2. Gloria Deluxe 59
3. M Shanghai String Band 55
4. Paul Butterfield 42
5. God Help The Girl 41
6. Jolie Holland 26
7. Gillian Welch 18
8. Muddy Waters 12
9. The Kinks 11
10. Elvis Presley 10
There are a few things to notice here. The first is that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, each of whom has an enormous catalog which is well represented in my library, do not even make the top ten once the sheer number of songs is taken into play. Instead what shows up are the artists that I went out of my way to hear, and played repeatedly in the last twelve months.
Albums
1.Blue Horse (BGT)
2.Chinatown (BGT)
3.From The Air (M Shanghai String Band)
4.Hello Love (BGT)
5.Up From The Ground Below (M Shanghai String Band)
6.God Help The Girl
The answer to the Be Good Tanyas overwhelming success is now plain. They only have three albums, and they are all in top five. Likewise, the two albums of the M Shanghai string band are well represented. I did predict it, although a parallel success for Gloria Deluxe did not materialize. A couple caveats here: if you listen to an entire 12 track album straight through, it counts that not as 1 play, but as 12. So if, as is the case with M.S. String Band, you hit three songs hard, the albums will rank high, even if you ignore the rest. God Help the Girl, at number six, deserves an honorable mention; not only does it hold up wonderfully as an album, but I only purchased it at the end of June, whereas the other albums had been in my library all year.
Tracks
1.
No Dead End Street2.
Scattered Leaves3.
Folsom Prison Blues4.
Money Up5.Song for R
6.
East-West7.Funny Little Frog
8.Refrain's The Same
9.
When Doves Cry10.
I Washed My Hands in Muddy WaterThis seems accurate enough I hit these songs hard, and on purpose, even in the case of “Refrain’s the Same” which I have three versions of. “Folsom Prison Blues” owes its presence here to its use as a lullaby. Again, special credit should go “Funny Little Frog” which is the only song in the top ten that was not in my library all year long.
Last year I tried to make predictions. This year I feel disinclined to do so. Instead I will just look forward to seeing what the New Year brings. Cheers!
