It's the most wonderful time of the year! It's the time that I look forward to all year long and the time for which I unabashedly try to adjust my habits to give me the least lame results possible! It's End of the Year Blog season! First up this year is my Spotify Wrapped report, which (allegedly) gives me an accurate breakdown of how much music I consumed this year, as well as which artists I listened to the most.
Of course, my music stats for the year are just a tiny little drop in the bucket for the rest of you. I know that I only listen to a small fraction of what the rest of you guys are posting. I know it, I acknowledge it, and I am going to just keep typing this blog anyway. I've done it for like half a dozen years and I'm not going to stop now, dang it!
(Also, I have never heard of almost all of the bands you guys are getting in your Top Artists, which is very strange, but just wait until this year's PlayStation Wrap-Up, when I put you all to shame.)
Anyway, I digress.
As I'm sure I've whined about in the past, I'm not sure how accurate some of this stuff actually is, but it is always interesting to look back on how I spent my time, even if it's only, like, 85% believable. Let's go ahead and break this stuff down, as we have in the past, noting that Spotify took out a bunch of fun stats like "top genres" and a few others... but we'll do the best we can with what they gave us. Here we go!
Spotify Wrapped - Top 10 Songs
- "Werewolves of London" - Warren Zevon
- "Mr. Blue Sky" - Electric Light Orchestra
- "All the Small Things" - Blink 182
- "The Middle" - Jimmy Eat World
- "Could Have Been Me" - The Struts
- "Good Tonight" - Daniel Pemberton, Anthony Ramos
- "Brown Eyed Girl" - Van Morrison
- "Thnks fr th Mmrs" - Fall Out Boy
- "Seven Nation Army" - The White Stripes
- "Holiday" - Green Day
Analysis: Yeah, this is the year that my kids officially swayed my Spotify Wrapped.
I blame 1, 2, 6 and 7 100% on Stockton. In fact, I said several times throughout the year - out loud - that "Werewolves of London" was going to be my top song. I just knew it. My four-year-old son Stockton loves "Werewolves of London." He'd ask for it on repeat. And he'd sing along. So I love that song for me this year, too, and I'm totally ok with it.
Those other songs were also frequently requested (AKA "demanded") in the car because they come from animated movie soundtracks. Each time "Mr. Blue Sky" came on, Stockton would elatedly scream, "SUPER MARIO BRUDDAS!!" It's a good song. He's a smart kid.
"Good Tonight" is from the movie "The Bad Guys," which is a solid movie, and it's a fun dance scene, and it was probably the first song that Stockton could ever really sing along with. I, personally, would have loved to keep this one out of the Top 10, but it is what it is.
And then "Brown Eyed Girl" was always greeted with a squeal of "MINIONS!!" Again, a great song, and I'm ok with that one, too.
I have no idea where "All the Small Things" and "The Middle" came from. They're bangers and take me back to my college days, for sure, but I don't know what they're doing in my Top 10. "Seven Nation Army" is another one. I certainly listened to it a few times this year, but should it have cracked the leaderboard? I mean, like, Spotify... Dudes. I need to know: what qualifies as a "song play"? If I listen to it for three seconds and skip to something else, does that count?? I need to know!
Editor's note: This has become a running joke in my family and something to keep an eye on every year - Weezer's "Island in the Sun" came in at #16 this year (Weezer's highest song on the 2024 playlist), and there is just NO WAY that I listen to that song that much. It's practically an immediate skip if I even hear two notes of it because, for some reason, Spotify thinks it's my favorite song of all time... which IT'S NOT! Something ain't right! Stop ranking this so high every year, Spotify!
It's always nice to see The Struts in the Top 10, and "Could Have Been Me" 1) is their best song and 2) is no stranger to the top of my yearly recaps, so that wasn't a surprise to me. "Thnks fr th Mmrs" and "Holiday" are solid. No complaints there.
If I could have picked my top 10 favorite songs from 2024, this wouldn't have been it, but all in all, I'm just pretty proud not to have anything too cringe on the list this year. Woo.
Minutes Listened
My minutes listened took a nosedive last year due to my increased interest in audiobooks - and that's still the case, and I still work from home with my boys "large pets" - so I tried to make a more concerted effort this year to get in some extra Spotify time when I could. I bounced back a little in 2024, clocking in at 8,251 minutes (137 1/2 hours), which isn't too shabby. Let's review how that time has stacked up over the years:
Spotify says that my busiest listening day was October 19, when I listened to 328 minutes of music. That's more than five hours of listening, which is awesome. I have no idea what I was doing on that day, other than that it was a Saturday, so I was probably running errands and working out at the gym, which is prime earbuds time for me, so that probably accounted for a lot of it.
Apparently, I listened to 1,055 songs this year. I don't know what to make of that number, but... I think that's good?
I was in the top 0.05% of listeners for "Werewolves of London," which is quite the prestigious honor. I listened to it 15 times (ONLY?!), starting on March 17.
I like using Spotify's DJ feature (although his song choice does occasionally become a bit repetitive). I spent exactly 800 minutes with him this year.
Spotify Being Weird and Making No Sense at All
Spotify didn't give us top genres or several of the other fun statistics that they've given in the past. Nope. But new this year, Spotify categorized several months of my listening with some ridiculous, nonsensical descriptions. Here's what they said about me:
May was my "Apocalyptic Old School Metal Rock" phase, featuring artists like U2, Muse and The White Stripes.
June was a "Nerdy Fantasy Soundtrack," starring Daniel Pemberton and Borislav Slavov.
And July came up as a "Witchy Rhythm Games Classic Rock" phase, leaning heavily on Warren Zevon, Bob Seger and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
I have no idea what to make of any of that.
Top Artists
I listened to 536 artists this year, and these were my top five:
- Weezer: Weezer has been my top artist every year except once since I started keeping track of these stats, so their return to the top of the charts comes as no surprise this year. They are, after all, my favorite band. Congrats again, gentlemen. Spotify says I was in the top 2% of Weezer listeners for the year and... quite frankly... I could have done better.
- The Strokes: The Strokes are another of my favorite groups, so I'm happy to see them here. Their 2001 album "Is This It" is basically a no-skip record for me, so it makes sense that I would have spent a lot of continuous time listening to them.
- U2: At one point, back in my high school days, I would have said that U2 was my favorite band, and, although I wouldn't say I'm a consistent listener of theirs, every once in a while, I do get on a U2 kick. They've got some great stuff from the past several decades. U2 bounces up two spots from coming in at #5 last year. Nice.
- Elvis Presley: Elvis! Yes! Welcome to the top five, King! I was obsessed with Elvis as a kid and love his stuff, so I'm proud of this one!
- Billy Joel: Billy Joel was a staple of my youth. He and Elton John were my first concert, and he's one of only a few artists that I've seen live more than once. His entry into my top artists of the year is proof that a few days of binging albums goes a long way for my stats. Billy also remains in the top five from last year. Impressive.
Other Fun and Notable Songs in This Year's Top 100
There were many other songs that I enjoyed in 2024 that didn't crack the top 10, so I want to take a second to give them some love. Here were some of my other favorite tunes from the past 12 months:
- Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield (#23; featuring a guitar solo that I would absolutely slay if I could actually play the instrument)
- I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones (#26; a song that Stockton learned some of the lyrics to - much to the shock and dismay of both of his grandmothers)
- I Wanna Be Like You - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (#29; frequently requested in the car)
- Liar - Jelly Roll (#36; the first song I had ever heard by the man who confidently calls himself "Jelly Roll")
- Look At Us Now (Honeycomb) - Daisy Jones & The Six (#39; a fake song by a fake band)
- Party Hard - Andrew W.K. (#44; a certified banger)
- Bathwater - No Doubt (#64; honestly shocked that this wasn't higher on the list)
- Dancing in the Moonlight - King Harvest (#73; way better than the cover version that Spotify so often recommends to me)
- ...Baby One More Time - Tenacious D (#76; a cover by Jack Black, the national treasure)
- The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?) - Ylvis (#80; one of my boys' favorite songs to dance to)
- The Other Way - Weezer (#89; my old radio theme song)
- Heaven - Live (#96; an oldie but a goodie)
Bonus Tracks
Why not fully embrace my "Apocalyptic Old School Metal Rock" phase from this summer (when I was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons and "Baldur's Gate III" by adding two songs from the BG3 soundtrack to my list of top songs of the year? They apparently didn't get listened to enough to make the leaderboard, but I certainly spent a long time listening to this stuff while preparing my first D&D campaign. As you'll find out in an upcoming post, I spent PLENTY of time playing "Baldur's Gate" on my Playstation, so this is only fitting.
Condensed Playlist (embed)
And last (but not least), I created a condensed 52-song playlist by which to remember the year in music, 2024, including the entire top 10, whether I, personally, liked them or not. Behold and enjoy:
That brings us to the end of this year's Spotify Wrapped. From all of us here at Signs of the Times, we hope that your own Spotify statistics were to your liking and that, most importantly, your children didn't jack up your top songs too much.
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Until next time.
