2021 logged in with 32,752 scrobbles from 3871 individual artists, making for an average of 8.461 per artist, slightly down from last year (8.954). The top 5 genres were Rock, Classic Rock, Oldies, 60s, and Alternative Rock. 12p-1p again took the busiest hour of the year, with 1p-2p and 9a-10a rounding out the top 3. Thursday and Friday were the two busiest days, with 5 total streams difference between the two of them.
Here's the key for the artist list:
TY. Artist (LY)
Top Track (TY)
25. Eagles (13)
Top Track: Take It Easy (6)
Eagles return at the #25 spot in 2021. I've always liked them, and last year I made sure to listen to all of their albums to capture the nostalgia. Take It Easy was certainly the bellcow, registering over 33% of their total streams on the year.
24. Creedence Clearwater Revival (NR)
Top Track: Who'll Stop The Rain (T47)
CCR finally crack the top artist list, which is surprising as a band that I usually give a good amount of time to. Who'll Stop The Rain isn't even my favorite song by them, but their portfolio was definitely diversified, with 5 songs reaching double digit streams and 26 individual songs getting at least one play.
23. The Beatles (17)
Top Track: Eleanor Rigby (T135)
The Beatles also return from last year, with a minor slide. They are always more a quantity over quality act, with Eleanor Rigby and All My Loving doing the usual heavy lifting. The amount of my residents who recognize Beatles hits is always wonderful.
22. Soundgarden (6)
Top Track: Outshined and Spoonman (T641)
I dunno, for all the Cornell I've listened to since he passed, I guess last year I didn't need it as much. Not that 22 is some sort of super slide out, but it's less than usual for the grunge legends.
21. Wolfsheim (24)
Top Track: Künstliche Welten (T90)
I started counting the Top 25 in 2018, and both Soundgarden and Wolfsheim have appeared on all four lists. Künstliche Welten again takes the top spot, edging Blind out by 1 play. None of the bands listed so far will make new music again, although in Wolfsheim's case it is due to artistic differences. Which is a shame, because Peter Heppner has one of the greatest voices ever to grace the airwaves.
20. Johnny Cash (21)
Top Track: Ring of Fire (T410)
Cash is another quantity artist with a load of good songs. All told, he had 40 different songs get at least one play. Cash is like The Beatles for me - easy listening, lots of good moods to go between.
19. Circle of Dust (NR)
Top Track: Yurasuka (T641)
Circle of Dust jumps back in after sliding back to #188 last year. For what ever reason, I really wanted to spin them in December, where just over half of their streams came from this year. It's one thing to have a big month, but I couldn't stop rocking out as the year waned.
18. Aurelio Voltaire (9)
Top Track: Oh My Goth! (T507)
Make is consecutive years for my favorite performing artist. I'm sad that I haven't seen him live in several years, but he has a new record coming next year and a potential return to touring as well. I'm certain the new record will spike the numbers... I mean, if nothing else I never have a reason not to listen to him.
17. Megaherz (NR)
Top Track: 5. Marz (T62)
5. Marz ranks among one of my all-time favorite German-language songs, and in 2021 I finally decided to get to know the band a little better. That made for 93 different songs getting 1 scrobble. What I found was that they constantly have lineup changes, making them remarkably inconsistent from album to album.
16. Teenage Wrist (new)
Top Track: Taste of Gasoline (1)
Teenage Wrist was easily the biggest revelation of the year for me. Earth is a Black Hole had the 5th most plays while Silverspoon even dialed in at T135. I'm sad that I had never heard of them before last year, but I'm not terribly behind in that regard and I am gassed up for whatever may come next from them.
15. Elvis Presley (10)
Top Track: Suspicious Minds (T117)
By the end of the year, Elvis had 7 different songs with double digit streams and, quite frankly, I was tired of hearing his voice. But man, is he ever fun to dance to at work.
14. Sevendust (18)
Top Track: Story of Your Life (T641)
The new 7D album didn't do much for me; I mean, the album was fine but there really wasn't anything that took off for me like in years prior. Still, they have a lot of hammers to work with, and they jumped slightly from last year.
13. OOMPH! (NR)
Top Track: Tausend neue Lügen (23)
I guess I spent a good amount of time with NDH music last year, finally letting others catch up to Rammstein. With that in mind, I listened to 88 different OOMPH! songs in '21, which rocketed them up the list. Unfortunately the band parted ways with their founding singer Dero Goi, but are apparently pushing forward with a new record for '22.
12. Apoptygma Berzerk (NR)
Top Track: Kathy's Song (Victoria Mix by VNV Nation) (19)
Apop made it the first two years at 14 and 7 before falling to 31 last year. While the VNV remix of Kathy's Song always carries the torch, the group had 11 different songs with at least 5 plays to carry them back near the top 10.
11. Demon Hunter (23)
Top Track: One Thousand Apologies (T72)
We're definitely into the heavy hitter zone now. Demon Hunter also had My Throat Is An Open Grave come at T90, and they also released a "new" record in '21, featuring piano/string versions of some of their softer hits. They essentially put out a new record every other year, but I figured they'd take a break from recording after releasing a double album two years ago. The Seattle metalcore outfit has also been on all 4 years of this list.
10. Neuroticfish (NR)
Top Track: Illusion of Home (40)
Neuroticfish finally got their music on streaming services in the last year and a half, and I had no idea what I had been missing. It's a shame the group only has 5 releases, but they've made the best of what they had. I would say they are now firmly minted in the lexicon of synth/future-pop that I love so much.
9. Korn (NR)
Top Track: Divine and Lets Do This Now (T985)
Korn return after taking a year off from the most played artist list (#33 in '20). The band seems to be working on new material, but of course it's their first 5 albums that do the most damage for me year in and year out. I'd say T985 is easily the least amount of single plays that any top band's song would have.
8. Slipknot (NR)
Top Track: The Nameless (T507)
Slipknot had just 1 stream more than Korn, making me feel like I was back in high school all over again. Interestingly, I spent the most time with both artists in the two months that I was sidelined from knee surgery. Both bands also are hinting at new material in the coming year, although I was rather disappointed by the last Slipknot offering. We'll see, we'll see...
7. Rammstein (NR)
Top Track: Hilf Mir and Mein Herz Brennt (T507)
R+ tumbled back to 57 last year but returned strong on the promise of playing live in the US... only to have that show postponed twice (and again for '22). I am absolutely certain that they will make it on the '22 list of most played artists if they actually do finally play that show - the anticipation is driving me crazy!
6. Sam Cooke (12)
Top Track: (What A) Wonderful World (14)
The Man Who Invented Soul jumped way up in '21 on the strength of six different songs in the top 100, plateauing with Wonderful World making the Most Played list for the third consecutive year. There's never a bad time for Sam.
5. Trans-Siberian Orchestra (25)
Top Track: Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12/24 (T135)
I told myself at the beginning of 2021 that if we were gonna keep riding with facemasks and COVID protocols, I was just gonna keep listening to TSO. And so I did. 5 songs with double digit plays and 12 with at least five streams. Something about their music, more than Christmas or anything else brings me peace.
4. Anberlin (4)
Top Track: Time and Confusion (T135)
I think if you know me at all you know who the next three bands will be as well. Anberlin has been 7, 3, 3 and now 4 since I started tracking my plays, and even without new releases they aren't showing a sign of slowing down. Also, they might have a new release next year. Watch out!
3. Assemblage 23 (4)
Top Track: Endure (16)
Here's the big jump - A23 had almost three times as many streams as Eagles, and a hearty 76 more than Anberlin. A23 rode their new record Mourn back to #3 after landing at 4 the last two years. I honestly thought they'd crack the top 2, with Endure (16) and Factory (20) breaking the Top 30 and 4 others in the top 200. Mourn is just so darn good, but some things are inevitable in life.
2. VNV Nation (1)
Top Track: The Farthest Star (7)
Despite having The Farthest Star (7), Only Satellites (24), Arena (34) and Illusion (35) in the Top 50 (and two more in the top 100) VNV moved back to the 2nd spot on the most played list. Their list was more top-heavy, although they had 20 different songs that were played at least 5 times.
1. Cold (2)
Top Track: Cure My Tragedy (4)
Cold didn't just take back the #1 spot, they ran away with it, Secretariat style. Cold had 22 different songs with at least 10 plays, hell they had 56 different songs that had 5 plays. If all 56 of those had only 5 plays, that'd be 280 streams, which would put those songs specifically at #4. Yeah, it was a helluva year for the Jacksonville boys as I had the chance to see them live once again and meet up with singer Scooter Ward for the first time in almost a decade.
For reference, Cold accounted for just barely under 2% of all songs played last year. VNV was 1.065%, which is still a respectable amount but nobody was touching Cold this year. As for artists who didn't make it...
Key: LY. Artist (TY)
22. Rush (60)
20. The Birthday Massacre (61)
19. The Four Tops (29)
16. Audioslave (32)
15. Mesh (48)
14. Rich Mullins (118)
11. Chris Cornell (37)
8. George Carlin (397)
7. Five Iron Frenzy (28)
5. Evanescence (26)
Evanescence just missed by 1 play, while FIF only had 4 less than Eagles in spite of releasing their first record in almost a decade. I didn't expect George to be back this year, and I kind of anticipated Rich Mullins to slide a little as well. The Birthday Massacre have new music coming soon, but I don't think we'll see Mesh on the list until they finally record again.
As usual, a huge shoutout to Last.FM and the good folks over at The Universal Scrobbler for making this list possible every year. The overwhelming majority of my plays come from Spotify, with a small chunk of Pandora, YouTube and of course TuneIn. Viva musica!!
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