Back in 2006, after hearing about it on a podcast, I installed a music-tracking service known as Last.FM, using an iTunes (later MediaMonkey) plugin to “scrobble” my music into analytics that I’ve tracked over the years. In the nearly 16 years that have passed, the service never seemed to catch on, but I’ve remained a stalwart user, feeding my Spotify listening habits into the service. A few weeks ago, I finally scrobbled my 100,000th song and wanted to use that as an opportunity to reflect on my listening habits.
This is a follow up to my previous posts over the years
- Music Revisit: 60,000 Scrobbles
- 40,000 Scrobbles & Counting
- 26,000 Scrobbled and counting
- 1500 songs scrobbled and counting on Last.fm
In my previous posts, I listed out these categories and gave a summary of my listening history with each artist. Rather than do that this time, I just wanted to give a reflection on anything that surprised me.
Top Artists
Since I visited this five years ago, Ozomatli, Outkast, and John Butler Trio came off the list, replaced by Mumford and Sons, Ed Sheeran, and System of a Down. Red Hot Chili Peppers has since shot its way up to #3.
Top Albums
The album data is a little bit more messy, given that the Hamilton soundtrack is tracked multiple times, but it’s previous obvious that Hamilton is often playing in our home. The Greatest Showman is also a vastly under-rated soundtrack as well, and is also a family favorite of ours.
The Moana soundtrack being on this list took me by surprise, especially since we just listen to the same 4 songs over and over – I guess that’s what repetition does for you. Looking at the rest of the list, you can see why Dave Matthews Band and Muse top my Artists list.
Top Songs
Let me get this out of the way – “Fight Song” being in my top 10 is completely the fault of my daughters. We use my Spotify account for our smart home devices, and my girls LOVE ballet dancing to “Fight Song”. Also “When You Sleep” is the song we play when we put them to bed, it’s definitely one of the best lullabies out there and worth checking out!
I do have to admit that “Uptown Funk” is up there unironically, playing the heck out of it when it was topping the charts. “Taxi Cab” does surprise me being so high up in the charts, as it’s never a song that I seek out, but always a song that I don’t skip.
My Scrobble Trends
Over the years, you can see a correlation of when I started using Spotify (RIP Rdio), and when they only offered Scrobbling through the app. Once they were able to tie it to all your activity (especially when listening through smart devices), you can see my true listening habits. You can also see how in 2020 our family’s music consumption went up, with being home more due to the pandemic.
It does make me sad more people don’t use LastFM. I would definitely encourage people to create an account and link it up to their services. It’s free, and it’s neat to see all of the trends that build up over the years. As I’m going into my 15th year of Scrobbling, it’s been fun to watch my evolution of music taste.