Oh, interesting. Somehow I thought "Alone" was Diane Warren.
― Spiritual Hat Minimalism (Sund4r), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 15:06 (seven years ago) link
Aphex Twin and "Avril 14th".
― MarkoP, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 18:18 (seven years ago) link
recently billy steinberg also wrote excellent teenpop jams "too little too late" (jojo) and "give your heart a break" (demi lovato)
― dyl, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 18:34 (seven years ago) link
i have to say i really like "i'll stand by you". obv not for the reasons i like other pretenders songs, but just for what it is. i know for some people all one has to hear to decide one hates something is to know that it gets play on ac radio stations, but fuck that, really. (fun fact: "i'll stand by you" didn't reach the top 10 at ac radio during the time of its release, or even the top 20. same story for hot ac.)
― dyl, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 18:45 (seven years ago) link
this site linked earlier in the threadhttp://poly-graph.co/timeless/
wow the 90s look completely dire when under the lens of what people listen to from them
― dr. mercurio arboria (mh đ), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 18:46 (seven years ago) link
I mean, to an extent the songs with the most plays are going to be the ones that aren't exemplary but have broadest appeal. Not too many people are going to point to any of these as a favorite song, they're just the ones that are going to get cycled through regardless of taste, right?
― dr. mercurio arboria (mh đ), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 18:48 (seven years ago) link
For example, in 1961, Bobby Lewisâs Tossinâ and Turninâ spent 7 weeks at #1. For all intents and purposes, Bobby Lewis was the Beyonce of 1961. Yet, have you heard of it? Do you know who Bobby Lewis is?Meanwhile, Etta Jamesâ debut album dropped the same year, with At Last peaking on Billboard at #68.Music historians will regard Bobby Lewis as a pioneer in rock and roll and R&B, yet whatever led to Tossinâ and Turninâs popularity in 1961 has faded over time. His music, for countless reasons, didnât persevere in the same way as Etta Jamesâ.One hypothesis: Tossinâ and Turninâs success had more to do than just the song...perhaps Bobby Lewis was a huge personality. Great looks. Amazing dancer. When we examine pop hits, popularity is so much more than song quality.But future generations donât remember Bobby Lewisâs dancing and good looks. Spotify only catalogues his music. And unfortunately, that quality didnât endure in the same way as At Last. (And of course, we have not even considered the role of covers, samples, and movie soundtracks, etc. â a future project to undertake).And for this reason, it will be weird to hear future generations reverently listen to groups such as Nickelback â the kids only know their music, not what they culturally stood for in 2015.
Meanwhile, Etta Jamesâ debut album dropped the same year, with At Last peaking on Billboard at #68.
Music historians will regard Bobby Lewis as a pioneer in rock and roll and R&B, yet whatever led to Tossinâ and Turninâs popularity in 1961 has faded over time. His music, for countless reasons, didnât persevere in the same way as Etta Jamesâ.
One hypothesis: Tossinâ and Turninâs success had more to do than just the song...perhaps Bobby Lewis was a huge personality. Great looks. Amazing dancer. When we examine pop hits, popularity is so much more than song quality.
But future generations donât remember Bobby Lewisâs dancing and good looks. Spotify only catalogues his music. And unfortunately, that quality didnât endure in the same way as At Last. (And of course, we have not even considered the role of covers, samples, and movie soundtracks, etc. â a future project to undertake).
And for this reason, it will be weird to hear future generations reverently listen to groups such as Nickelback â the kids only know their music, not what they culturally stood for in 2015.
god this writing is just TERRIBLE, i wish this person would just stick to making cute data graphics and leave out the poor, circular attempts at analysis
― dyl, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 21:21 (seven years ago) link
omg later in the article he surmises that the longevity of onerepublic's "counting stars" on streaming services might be because it spread thru 'word of mouth' from 'indie music circles' to the general public lol
ppl who don't know the basics of how radio crossover works, esp on the adult-contemporary side of things (where as a general rule it's VERY slow and steady) should just... not bother with the hand-wavy explanations
― dyl, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 21:28 (seven years ago) link
wow that discussion of bobby lewis is reeeeeeally cringe-inducing. feel like basically any ilm poster chosen at random and asked "why is bobby lewis less well-known than etta james in 2016" could come up with something more educational and insightful with at most five to eight seconds to think about it.
― DOCTOR CAISNO, BYCREATIVELABBUS (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 21:30 (seven years ago) link
anyway i'm getting off topic.
"still d.r.e."! that's an interesting revelation from the data-not-writing presented in that feature
tbh even at the time it felt much bigger than its pitiful hot 100 peak (#93) shows. the billboard chart from the time shows it was vinyl-only at the time it was charting, so i guess that partly explains why it peaked so low, but then again 1999 was kinda the start of the era when songs could chart (sometimes v highly) without even being physically released at all.
― dyl, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 21:36 (seven years ago) link
omg i keep going back to that article. the idea that the culture associations and baggage are shed from songs as time passes is so RONG and stupid lol. and it shows up in a paragraph talking about "at last"!!
ok really i'm done now
― dyl, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 21:40 (seven years ago) link
I'm surprised to learn that Island in the Sun is Weezer's highest ranked song on Spotify.
― MarkoP, Friday, 28 October 2016 02:12 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, that is pretty weird. per wikipedia it's also Weezer's most licensed song.
― skip, Friday, 28 October 2016 05:01 (seven years ago) link
Came across a potential candidate for this thread today: Weezer's most popular song on Spotify by a wide margin is "Island in the Sun," the 9th highest charting single of their career.
It's almost twice as popular as "Say It Ain't So," their second most popular track ("Buddy Holly," which I would have pegged for #1, is third). It's their #1 iTunes song as well.
Not sure if it's their "legacy" song, but I was legitimately surprised that a song I pegged as "moderately well-liked" evidently towers over the rest of their catalogue in popularity.
â intheblanks, 12. toukokuuta 2015 3:51
― Tuomas, Friday, 28 October 2016 06:31 (seven years ago) link
Ctrl+f is your friend.
not sure if there's a separate thread for most played on Spotify, but a song I don't even remember from Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill has 1.4 million plays compared to just over 1 million for "Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping" (expected pick).
― flappy bird, Monday, 7 November 2016 21:43 (seven years ago) link
Despite not being as commercially successful as its predecessor singles, "The Kids Aren't Alright" remains the most-listened to Offspring song amongst Last.FM[5] and Spotify (where it also is the most popular song of the 90s)[citation needed] users, and still receives some radio play.
― dustalo springsteen (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 17 November 2016 05:29 (seven years ago) link
I've never heard of this song... Are they really claiming that it's the most popular song of the 90s in Spotify? Not just the most popular among the songs Offpsring released in the 90s?
― Tuomas, Thursday, 17 November 2016 08:18 (seven years ago) link
In 2014 at least, their most popular 90s song was "Pretty Fly", as you'd expect.
― Tuomas, Thursday, 17 November 2016 08:21 (seven years ago) link
I remember that song, it's a lot better than "Pretty Fly" but I'm still surprised it has 105,138,511 views on Youtube
― niels, Thursday, 17 November 2016 09:56 (seven years ago) link
never heard of it either
― duped and used by my worst Miss U (President Keyes), Thursday, 17 November 2016 13:55 (seven years ago) link
it's a bit the opposite to this thread, sorry, but I just noticed that "crazy in love" is far from being Beyonce's song with the most plays on spotify (far behind "7/11", "Drunk in Love", "Halo", all above 220M while "Crazy in Love" is only at 144M).surprising.
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 17 November 2016 13:59 (seven years ago) link
Songs that were released and become hits in the Spotify era probably have a leg up on catalog songs
― duped and used by my worst Miss U (President Keyes), Thursday, 17 November 2016 14:25 (seven years ago) link
yeah, that's what I thought too but still surprised it's so far behind since it's (arguably) her legacy song.
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 17 November 2016 14:48 (seven years ago) link
I'd put her a lot closer to the Madonna category where one single legacy song just doesn't apply. So Crazy In Love would be her Material Girl or Like a Virgin - early-to-mid-career, huge hit, strongly associated with her, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Like A Prayer or Papa Don't Preach or Vogue or even Ray of Light were more popular on Spotify.
― dustalo springsteen (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 17 November 2016 15:11 (seven years ago) link
"like a prayer" far ahead (36M) with "material girl" 2nd (21M) ("like a virgin" very far behind with 16M).Nah, like President Keyes said, it's clearly the difference between hits since spotify started/earlier hits.
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 17 November 2016 15:16 (seven years ago) link
Still D.R.E. has 300 million views on youtube
it is a perfect song, but surely G Thang was the bigger hit?
― niels, Monday, 21 November 2016 21:04 (seven years ago) link
it came out at the exact time the first millennials were finishing high school and entering college
― mh đ, Monday, 21 November 2016 21:08 (seven years ago) link
oh, I don't know if it's been said already but the Smiths have a good one : "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"by far their most popular on Spotify (60 millions with "This Charming Man" second with 47 millions)... and it was not their biggest hit since it wasn't even a single (while the band was in activity) !
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 1 December 2016 17:20 (seven years ago) link
wtf when and how did this happen
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, 1 December 2016 18:02 (seven years ago) link
It always seemed like There is a Light was THE the Smiths song, even if How Soon is Now got played on 120 Minutes a lot.
― duped and used by my worst Miss U (President Keyes), Thursday, 1 December 2016 18:05 (seven years ago) link
For me it's "Ask," it always was "Ask," it always will be "Ask"
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 1 December 2016 18:14 (seven years ago) link
Honestly, of the ones in the top 5 on Spotify, "Bigmouth" at #5 is the only one I truly think of as in the conversation for legacy song
Ooh La La
http://i.imgur.com/UjC1ssa.png
― niels, Friday, 5 May 2017 09:56 (seven years ago) link
"The Weight"? Peaked at 63 vs. 25 for "Up on Cripple Creek," but five times the Spotify plays.
― ď´żâ âş (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 27 June 2017 01:36 (six years ago) link
Aretha Franklin's 1969 soul music arrangement peaked in the U.S. at #19
― new noise, Tuesday, 27 June 2017 02:03 (six years ago) link
but yeah that's a good example
― new noise, Tuesday, 27 June 2017 02:04 (six years ago) link
oh and
Jackie DeShannon's 1968 pop music arrangement, debuting on the Hot 100 one week before The Band's, peaked at #55 in the U.S
― new noise, Tuesday, 27 June 2017 02:06 (six years ago) link
"The Weight" is one of those songs that was an instant standard. Practically every interpretive singer who wasn't in the Sinatra school took a crack at it between '68 & '73-ish.
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 27 June 2017 02:21 (six years ago) link
see also: covers that folk/rock/soul song-interpreters of the '60s and '70s would have on their records
― ď´żâ âş (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 27 June 2017 03:17 (six years ago) link
Seeing that Faces 'Ooh La La' up above - surely there must be many Faces 'Stay With Me's attributed to Rod splitting the vote?
― PaulTMA, Tuesday, 27 June 2017 12:25 (six years ago) link
Seems preposterous to suggest Big Yellow Taxi is Joni Mitchell's legacy song, nonetheless it's her top streamer
― niels, Sunday, 12 November 2017 10:16 (six years ago) link
Why preposterous? That song is much more likely to be known by the average person than any of her others.
― Kim Kimberly, Sunday, 12 November 2017 16:18 (six years ago) link
"Help Me" was a bigger hit at the time, but agreed that at the least the "choooo bop bop" was probably what the average radio listener would conjure up if asked to do a Joni Mitchell impression.
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 12 November 2017 16:30 (six years ago) link
Yeah help me has the chart placing but I'm guessing taxi has had more sales (it was rereleased) and certainly had far more radio play.
― Kim Kimberly, Sunday, 12 November 2017 16:34 (six years ago) link
"Big Yellow Taxi" was in my Grade 7 English textbook!
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Sunday, 12 November 2017 16:35 (six years ago) link
I'd have guessed Both Sides Now would be her legacy song.
― kornrulez6969, Sunday, 12 November 2017 16:50 (six years ago) link
Big Yellow Taxi was the first song of hers i remember from my youth, so dang catchy. there have been a number of crappy modern covers so makes sense that would be her big song rn.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 12 November 2017 17:20 (six years ago) link
I've never heard of "Help Me" tbh.
― Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Sunday, 12 November 2017 19:00 (six years ago) link
I would say "Both Sides Now".