New year, new music numbers! I switched jobs in the 3rd quarter of 2022 and so my numbers are kind of a split bag for this year. I was actually on pace to essentially catch and equal my 2021 scrobble numbers through August, but things tapered down a little at the end. Just the same, let's see what we have!
In 2022, I had 31,974 scrobbles, which is just 778 less than last year. That averages out to 88 per day, and laid end to end is 86 days and 17 hours. Interestingly, that equals 11 days worth, which means I must've listened to shorter songs in 2023...?
I have no real way of measuring that, but I did listen to a total of 13,191 songs for those 31,974 streams, which equals 2.422 listens per song, slightly up from last year (2.377). There were 5152 individual songs that got at least 2 plays, meaning that there were 8039 songs that were played exactly once and never looked at again. Sometimes I'll spend a minute or two sifting through those songs and just laughing because some I won't even remember, and some I'll be shocked to have only played once (by comparison to other years).
Well, let's jump right into the top 30, shall we?
Key: #TY. Artist - Song (Last year's ranking)
30. Plushgun - Sarah's Locker (NR)
"Sarah's Locker" was a song that actually landed at #25 back in 2018, and it usually swings around in times of great depression and mental duress. It's essentially my go-to "give up" song, and I had plenty of those moments in 2022. Interestingly it had the same amount of plays as it did in 2018, too.
29. Mesh - The Last One Standing (NR)
This song usually charts at the end of the year, but it fell to T72 last year. In the three years previous it slotted in at 8, 6 and 6 respectively, making it one of the most played songs since I started charting with Last.FM back in 2017. Mesh still hasn't released a new album since 2016, but they're still in pretty heavy rotation for me.
28. The Benjamin Gate - How Long (NR)
This song last charted at #7 back in 2019. It's commonly associated with the passing of Pastor Simon, as it was one of the major songs I used to cope with him being gone. I'm not sure what slid it back up in plays this year, but here we are.
27. Matchbox Twenty - The Burn (NR)
26. Matchbox Twenty - Last Beautiful Girl (NR)
12 months ago, I was thinking about my all-time favorite albums and I played this one on a whim. The entirety of 2022 felt like a Mad Season, so I just kept falling back onto it. The album ended up as the 2nd most played of the year for me, while these two songs were separated by 1 play. I have a good feeling that Matchbox will be on the most played artist list as well.
25. Fleetwood Mac - Say You Love Me (11)
We find our first repeat from last year from Fleetwood Mac, propelled by the passing of Christine McVie. I'm not the biggest Fleetwood fan - moreover I love Christine but can't stand Stevie, but this song always gets a good amount of buzz.
24. Assemblage 23 - Disappoint (NR)
I was surprised to see that "Disappoint" hadn't actually popped into the most played songs, as it routinely gets 20+ plays per year. A23 is always a top 5 played band so I'm sure we'll see more from them on this list.
23. VNV Nation - Radio (NR)
Naturally, where there is Assemblage 23, there is VNV Nation. "Radio" caught steam at the end of 2021 and blasted through '22. It goes without saying that there will be more of their songs coming up, but at 7:52 I feel safe in saying that this is probably the longest song on this year's list.
22. Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes (21)
At 21 last year and 5 the year previous, this song continues to be the queen of the one hit wonders. This is a song I hear in my dreams - the perfect synth line, I swear.
21. Best Foot Back - Give It A Go (new)
Our first new song of the year, and #7 on the Top 20 Countdown for the year. It was a fortuitous meeting with Best Foot Back's frontman that led to this song skyrocketing up all of the lists in the last year. It seems the more I discover in our scene, the more I find to love.
20. Assemblage 23 - Dissonance (NR)
Last year it was "Factory" that landed at #20, coincidentally off of the same record. This was one of those moments where a song hit me at the right time, like an arrow straight to the heart. Most of the plays for "Dissonance" came from September onward.
19. Further Seems Forever - The Sound (NR)
Every year, I find a song or two from my teenage years that just NAILS me. "The Sound" usually averages 8-10 plays a year because it's a genuine bop, but in 2022 it was one that I just kept screaming along to as the year progressed. It's a funny one for me because it's absolutely my favorite FSF song on an album that is my least favorite from them (by a long shot). That's irony, Alanis.
18. Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is a Place on Earth (NR)
This song has been in the top 100 most streamed for the last 4 years, including being T47 last year. Nobody has a voice like Belinda Carlisle, the percussion on this song is unbelievable, and these days it makes me think of my favorite Black Mirror episode, "San Junipero".
17. Colony 5 - Synchronized Hearts (NR)
Colony 5 is definitely one of my favorite EBM/Synth/Futurepop bands, right up there with the A23s and VNVs of the world. The line "I embrace your intrusion, we disappear in seclusion" became one of the biggest to hit me over the year, and it carried this song up the chart.
16. Dexter Freebish - Leaving Town (NR)
I love this song. It's been over 20 years since I first heard it and it never wavers in my mind. Simply put, it is my all-time favorite song and nothing will ever weather that. To see it on any "most played" list is simply sprinkles on the cupcake.
15. AFI - Begging for Trouble (NR)
Everyone once in a while, a song from the previous year's Top 20 Countdown actually makes a bigger splash a year later, and in this case we have "Begging for Trouble", which was #15 (another coincidence...!) on the Countdown last year and ended up with 14 more streams this year. Listening habits vary from year to year, and it's always a point of intrigue to see a song continue chugging after making the Countdown list.
Also of note, we've only had 2 songs in the first half of song that are repeats from 2021. It will be interesting to see where the rest fall. I checked on the previous years and there were 8 in '21, 7 in '20 and 8 in 2019.
14. Matchbox Twenty - Unwell (NR)
I guess 2022 was a year for playing all-time favorites. "Unwell" definitely ranks among any list of my 5 favorite songs and it's come close to cracking the most played list before (40th in 2020), but this marks the third M20 song on our list so far.
13. VNV Nation - Arena (NR)
In 2019, Arena was the 20th most played song and has hung around the top 100 every year since, re-entering at 13 this time around. It is another quintessential sad song that works to carry me through my weakest moments - a VNV staple to my life. Also this marks the first "jump" in plays, as "Arena" has 4 more streams than "Unwell". Everything before this had no more than 1.
12. Necessary Response - Forever (NR)
Another song that swings in and out, "Forever" was #5 in 2018 and #19 in '19 before falling out for a spell. I appreciate Aesthetic Perfection but the Necessary Response album is the one I consider to be Daniel Graves' best work. It feels kind of like Icon of Coil vs. Combichrist with Andy LaPlegua: I like the former better but the latter was infinitely more successful and popular.
11. Brave the Sea - The Devil Brought Tequila (NR)
This is probably the biggest surprise addition to the 2022 most played list. Local celtic-pirate-punks Brave the Sea have never sniffed any list of most played, probably because my focus on them usually circles around St. Patrick's Day. That's not to say that I don't love them, but the band usually averages about 50 streams per year for me, whereas this year one track alone had more than 40. I'm not sure what it was that hit me when I listened to this driving to their annual St. Patrick's show, but it definitely stuck with me.
10. Ronnie Martin - From the Womb of the Morning, The Dew of Your Youth Will Be Yours (new)
This is the longest song title that I can imagine enjoying - having to type it out multiple times this year has been a real hand-cramp lol. I suppose it's equally surprising that a Ronnie Martin solo song would make the list, since he hadn't made any solo music before last year. Take 'em as they come, right? This song was #3 on my Top 20 Countdown, and I can't decide what its specific mood is. It makes me happy, it makes me sad, it hits me in so many different ways. Welcome to the weird world, Ronnie.
9. Purity Ring - heartsigh (NR)
Another blast from the past - "heartsigh" was the #1 song on my Top 20 Countdown way back in 2015 and experienced a massive resurgence with 40 plays more this year compared to 2021. Most #1s eventually burn out but this one came back in a huge way this time around, in spite of Purity Ring's new EP not making any waves in my musical landscape.
8. VNV Nation - Only Satellites (24)
I keep saying "okay, eventually there's going to be a repeat song, right?". "Only Satellites" is another former #1 and former most played song (2019) that has continued to achieve massive numbers. It was #9 in 2020, fell back to #24 last year, and has once again regained a foothold in the top 10. It is the 4th most streamed song since I started using Last.FM in 2017 and because it was released in 2019 it has the highest per-year stream average (54) of any song. As a matter of fact, it's the only song with more than 50 per year and once of only 5 with at least 40. A true masterpiece.
7. Teenage Wrist - Taste of Gasoline (1)
Teenage Wrist took the top spot on both the Top 20 and most played lists last year and didn't let up leading into 2022, only ending with 16 plays less than the year before. I had the chance to see TW live last year and they were just as good as on recording, in spite of only being a 2 piece. This is one band where I am supremely excited for their future.
6. Truslow - Abbey Dear (new)
"Abbey Dear" was 4th on the Top 20 this year, while the new Truslow album Natural Killer notched the 3rd most plays of any record despite only having 7 songs, an interlude and a easily-skipped intro. Not bad at all. "Hurricane" by Truslow was also #8 on the 2019 most played list, just missing at #31 this year.
5. Silversun Pickups - Alone on a Hill (new)
This was also #5 on the Top 20 Countdown this year - mercy this is a year full of coincidences, isn't it? There wouldn't be another song on this record with more than 2 or 3 plays, but this song rocketed into my life on its release day and never relented.
4. Rammstein - Lügen (new)
3 in a row from this year's Top 20, "Lügen" was the runner up in 2022. Rammstein also had a charting song, "Radio" in 2019 (#25) and had a titanic year as a whole. I got to see them live over the summer and it was arguably the greatest concert I have ever attended. "Lügen" is an interesting one because it is not a single and finished the year with the least amount of streams from their newest album. Zeit got plenty of play for me (8th most streamed record) but this was the only true impact maker.
3. VNV Nation - The Farthest Star (7)
Here's a song that is no stranger to being among the most played every year - #7 last year, 17 the year before, 9 and 7 the two prior. I'd put it right up there with "Unwell" and "Leaving Town" on the all-time list, and it's the most streamed song since I started using Last.FM as well. It was also a 9 stream jump from #4 to #3 here.
2. Tom Petty - I Won't Back Down (2)
Two consecutive years at #2 for Tom Petty after taking the crown back in 2020. It actually had 1 more play than last year and still fell a titanic 33 plays short of #1. That almost feels impossible, but in the past year this song has averaged a beefy 67 streams per year.
1. Forever Unknown - sad people, blue eyes (new)
Despite only being released in March, this song was a true unstoppable force in 2022. How many numerical accolades can I throw in one direction? Since I started tracking scrobbles in 2017, this song had...
*The most plays by any 1 song in a single year since I started (by 2, Only Satellites in '19)
*The biggest difference between 1 and 2 (Only Satellites had 25 in '19 and I Won't Back Down had 26 in '20)
*This was also the most streamed album by 30 streams (over Mad Season) DESPITE only having 6 songs and only being released in March.
Those are TITANIC numbers for any song, and it doesn't even count the amount of times I rewound the song to listen to specific parts (especially the guitar solo) over and over again. I don't even know what else can be said about this one.
Let's look at the songs that fell out... well, only 6 songs returned from the last year, so this is going to be quite a list.
Key: LY. Artist - Title (TY)
30. '68 - Bad Bite - T692
29. Romy - Lifetime - T3168
28. Five for Fighting - Superman - 46
27. Gerry & the Pacemakers - Ferry Cross the Mersey - T3168
26. Echo Image - Walk My Mind - T92
25. Alvvays - In Undertow - T79
23. OOMPH! - Tausend neue Lügen - T104
22. Meryl Creep - Spiraling - T140
20. Assemblage 23 - Factory - T889
19. Apoptygma Berzerk - Kathy's Song (Victoria Mix by VNV Nation) - 35
18. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles - The Tracks of My Tears - T92
17. Gang of Youths - The Angel of 8th Ave. - T65
16. Assemblage 23 - Endure - 38
15. Wings - Band on the Run - T325
14. Sam Cook - (What A) Wonderful World - T51
13. Nightbirde - It's OK - T58
12. Manchester Orchestra - Bed Head - 33
10. Acceptance - At The Edge of The Earth - T206
9. A Tiger Made of Lightning - Little Birds - T692
8. The Birthday Massacre - The Neverending Story - T79
6. Eagles - Take It Easy - 32
5. Teenage Wrist - The Earth is a Black Hole - T272
4. Cold - Cure My Tragedy - 44
3. The Struts - Another Hit of Showmanship (ft Albert Hammond Jr) - T206
There's a few there (Eagles, Manchester Orchestera, Assemblage 23, Apoptygma Berzerk) that were just a few plays away from making it, and then you've got Romy and Gerry & The Pacemakers getting 2 whole streams last year. 9 songs got the Top 20 hangover curse, which obviously won't be an issue next year with only 6 of the top played songs being from the Countdown. It's always interesting to see who does and doesn't, because on a whole I felt like this was a better year for new songs, they didn't just have the full stream-power behind them.
Thanks again to the good folks at Last.FM for helping put all of this together. This is quite an intensive process - I've been tapping away at the keys for over 4 hours at the moment. Also a shoutout to Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn, and of course The Universal Scrobbler.
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