We’re heading into yet another blizzard up in here. Because Minnesota.
Time to see how much I listened to the same music on repeat for another year…
For the first time in a few years, the total play count dropped compared to last year. November and December saw a severe drop off in listening, which impacted things quite a bit. Based on the monthly numbers for the rest of the year, I think the total still would have been lower even if things had been “normal” the last two months, but it still made a dent in the grand total.
In November I pretty much stopped listening to music (other than in the car and the occasional Youtube video) after Joe died. I spent most of the time I would have been playing music watching Scooby Doo and other Hanna Barbera cartoons on Boomerang. I did not have much of any desire to listen to music in the aftermath of losing my brother. Which is kind of weird to me. Music has been my touchstone through so many hard times, but it did not have a place in those first weeks of grief.
December brought back some music, but it was almost entirely Christmas music. In my younger years I used to go heavy into Christmas music come December, but I moved away from it at some point. Probably when the Christmas season stopped feeling Christmas-y. But while I still wasn’t in much of a music listening mood in general most of the time, I felt compelled to dig out the Christmas tunes. And that was mostly in the late hours when I couldn’t sleep.
As for the rest of the year, I don’t think there were any surprises in the way the numbers fell. I listened to a lot of LP playlists this year. Meaning, piling entire album collections for a given artist into one playlist and letting it go. That really impacts the top ten of everything so I have to dig deep into the history to get a list of honorable mentions, but I don’t think that’s really anything new either.
Playing the same albums on repeat for days/weeks/months on end is kind of my personal brand.
We all know how I feel about dead horses.
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In 2022 I listened to a grand total of …
… 21,508 plays of
… 1,710 tracks from
… 240 albums by
… 73 artists.
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The first song of the year played was … No Big Deal by Splender.
The last song of the year played was … Farewell December by Matt Nathanson.
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Top 10 Most Played Artists…
1.) The Killers … 2,742 plays
2.) The Monkees … 2,735 plays
3.) Panic! At the Disco … 2,503 plays
4.) O.A.R. … 2,203 plays
5.) Brandon Flowers … 1,892 plays
6.) Splender … 1,357 plays
7.) Matt Nathanson … 1,317 plays
8.) Nine Days … 703 plays
9.) The Young Veins … 688 plays
10.) Ingram Hill … 594 plays
Honorable mention: Gavin DeGraw, Sara Bareilles, I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME, Darren Criss, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Fall Out Boy, Stage, Tonic, Billy Joel, Matchbox Twenty, Jake Wesley Rogers, The Fray, Carbon Leaf, Steve Burns, Train
I kind of expected Panic! to be on the top of the list, considering how much the new album consumed my brain, but I’m not too surprised that The Killers dominated again. And I did lean pretty hard into The Monkees this year, especially when writing was going well because they have a prominent presence in one story in particular. Otherwise the names on the list do not surprise me at all.
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Top 10 Most Played Albums…
1.) Viva Las Vengeance – Panic! At the Disco … 1,491 plays
2.) The Arcade – O.A.R. … 1,272 plays
3.) Flamingo – Brandon Flowers … 1,049 plays
4.) The Desired Effect – Brandon Flowers … 843 plays
5.) Boston Accent – Matt Nathanson … 697 plays
6.) Take a Vacation! – The Young Veins … 688 plays
7.) Halfway Down the Sky – Splender … 676 plays
8.) Headquarters – The Monkees … 671 plays
9.) More of The Monkees – The Monkees … 528 plays
10.) To Whom it May Concern – Splender … 523 plays
Honorable mention: more from The Monkees, Panic! At The Disco, O.A.R., and Matt Nathanson, The Killers, Nine Days, I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME, Stage, Ingram Hill, Sara Bareilles, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Bill Joel, Gavin DeGraw, Darren Criss, Jake Wesley Rogers, Tonic, Fall Out Boy, The Fray, Matchbox Twenty
The top two are definitely no surprise. I did expect the new Matt Nathanson to be a higher number, but apparently I was too busy leaning into Brandon Flowers. Gavin DeGraw and Train both put out new albums this year, too. GDG made the honorable mention threshold, but Train fell short. Once upon a time those would have been top five.
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Top 10 Most Played Songs…
1.) Viva Las Vengeance – Panic! At the Disco … 163 plays
2.) In the Clouds – O.A.R. … 153 plays
3.) Middle of a Breakup – Panic! At the Disco … 152 plays
4.) Alive – O.A.R. … 148 plays
5.) Local God – Panic! At the Disco … 142 plays
6.) Don’t Let the Light Go Out – Panic! At the Disco … 138 plays
7.) Life in the Big City – O.A.R. … 128 plays
8.) The Arcade (the album) – O.A.R. … 127 plays
(The entire album was played in full 127 times.)
9.) Can’t Deny My Love – Brandon Flowers … 115 plays
10.) Crossfire – Brandon Flowers … 115 plays
Honorable mention: more from Panic! At the Disco, O.A.R., and Brandon Flowers, Splender, The Killers, Matt Nathanson, Stage, The Monkees, The Young Veins, Ingram Hill, I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME, Nine Days, Sara Bareilles, Jake Wesley Rogers, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Train, Gavin DeGraw
This is where Panic! and O.A.R. really showed up. I had to go several hundred deep to get the honorable mentions on this list. None of it is really surprising, but scrolling through so many tracks by the same artists trying to find variety really shines a blinding spotlight on my obsessive tendencies. But that will never change.
What will the next year bring? Hopefully something resembling normal [for me] listening habits.
But we’ll see.
Tiny Ornery Octopus is the latest critter to try to stake his claim on my headphones. He has opinions about the next playlist.
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Can’t Fight Against the Youth Panic! At the Disco |