Overall I listened to 19178 tracks in 2007, which is back up near my 2005 number, after being down to 15988 in 2006.

Then, two lists. First, the list of 2007 releases that I listened to, cut off at 5 listens to match my arbitrary cut-off from last year. It could be used as a rough approximation of my “Best of 2007” list, but only as a last resort, since even pro-rated play-count for the year is still only one part of the “best” equation.

That gives me a list of only 17 albums, ranging from 4 to 12.5 listens. Last year, I had 31 albums, ranging from 4 to 17.7 listens. So for some reason I spent a LOT more time last year listening to current-year releases than I did this year. Especially when you factor in that I had more overall listens this year.

This point is emphasized by my second list, which is the list of non-2007 releases that I listened to. This year, the first item on List 2 would be #1 on List 1, whereas last year, my top List 2 release would have been #11 on List 1. In other words, my most-listened-to album in 2007 was a 2006 album, whereas that wasn’t even close to happening in 2006.

I guess that must be saying that 2007 was a “bad year” for me. Or, 2006 was an exceptionally good year.

On the other hand, List 2 contained 37 albums 2006, but only 21 this year. The relative shortness of both lists this year makes it seem like I just listened to less music overall, even though the total numbers contradict that. The only explanation I can come up with is that I spent a lot of time at work this year listening to music on “Shuffle By Album”. If I’m consciously picking albums, I probably tend to think of albums that I’ve listened to recently, so that means my listens get concentrated on a relatively small subset of my collection. But if I let iTunes choose from my collection randomly, that means a lot of my listening time goes to the deeper and older parts of my collection, and it ends up being spread out more. So I probably had a lot more albums this year with 1 or 2 listens than I did last year. But I should probably run a report to check that, to make sure these anomalies aren’t just an error in my scripts somewhere.

Listens to 2007 Albums
===================================================
Grinderman – Grinderman – 12.5
Agua de Annique – Air – 10.8
Rotting Christ – Theogonia – 9.4
Nightwish – Dark Passion Play – 9.2
Novembre – The Blue – 8.8
Mael Mórdha – Gealtacht Mael Mórdha – 6.3
Alcest – Souvenirs d’un autre Monde – 6.3
Baroness – Red Album – 6.1
Aesma Daeva – Dawn of the New Athens – 6.1
Yearning – Merging Into Landscapes – 6.1
Thurisaz – Circadian Rhythm – 5.9
Primordial – To The Nameless Dead – 5.4
Iced Earth – Framing Armageddon – 4.9
In Vain – The Latter Rain – 4.5
Therion – Gothic Kabbalah – 4.3
Tomahawk – Anonymous – 4.2
Helloween – Gambling With The Devil – 4

Listens to non-2007 Albums
==================================================
Disillusion – Gloria – 14.6
Rodrigo y Gabriela – Rodrigo y Gabriela – 11.9
Gotan Project – Lunático – 10.6
Aghora – Formless – 10.2
Shearwater – Palo Santo – 9.6
Estradasphere – Palace of Mirrors – 9.1
Califone – Heron King Blues – 8.9
Cursive – Happy Hollow – 8.7
Red Sparowes – Every Red Heart Shines Towards the Red Sun – 8
Tyr – Eric The Red – 7.9
Aterciopelados – Oye – 7.8
Disillusion – Back To Times Of Splendor – 7.2
Arcturus – Sideshow Symphonies – 6.7
The Gathering – Souvenirs – 6.5
Isis – Oceanic – 6.2
I – Between Two Worlds – 6.1
Chingon – Mexican Spaghetti Western – 6
Saturnus – Veronika Decides To Die – 6
Negura Bunget – OM – 6
The Dresden Dolls – Yes, Virginia – 5.9
Calexico – Feast Of Wire – 5.9
Hammers Of Misfortune – The Locust Years – 5.8
Dengue Fever – Escape From Dragon House – 5.7
Solefald – Red For Fire – An Icelandic Odyssey Part I – 5
Blind Guardian – A Twist In The Myth – 5
Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy – Relic Dances – 5
Novembre – Dreams d’Azur – 5
Kultur Shock – We Came To Take Your Jobs Away – 5
Noumena – Absence – 5
Ours – Distorted Lullabies – 5
Maudlin Of The Well – Bath – 5
In The Woods… – Omnio – 5
Dir en grey – Withering To Death. – 4.9
Tabla Beat Science – Live in San Francisco at Stern Grove – 4.9
Grey Skies Fallen – The Fate Of Angels – 4.9
Del Castillo – Brotherhood – 4.9
Compilation – Ethiopiques 4: Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale, 1969-1974 – 4.9
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus – 4.9
Peeping Tom – Peeping Tom – 4.9
Dredg – Catch Without Arms – 4.8
Orphaned Land – Mabool – 4.4
The Old Dead Tree – The Perpetual Motion – 4.4
Ambulette – The Lottery – 4.4
Helloween – Chameleon – 4.4
On Thorns I Lay – Orama – 4.3
Novembre – Materia – 4.3
Sigh – Gallows Gallery – 4.3
Enid – Seelenspiegel – 4.2
Gamma Ray – Sigh No More – 4.2
Novembre – Classica – 4.1
Oceansize – Effloresce – 4.1
Rotting Christ – Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers – 4.1
Enslaved – Blodhemn – 4
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Murder Ballads – 4
Rage – Black In Mind – 4
Dead Silent Slumber – Entombed In The Midnight Hour – 4
Demonoid – Riders of the Apocalypse – 4
Skyclad – A Semblance Of Normality – 4
Gamma Ray – Insanity And Genius – 4
Alice In Chains – MTV Unplugged – 4
Skyclad – The Answer Machine? – 4
Primordial – Storm Before Calm – 4
Helloween – Pink Bubbles Go Ape – 4
Novembre – Novembrine Waltz – 4
Intronaut – Void – 4
Rotting Christ – A Dead Poem – 4
Searing Meadow – Corroding from Inside – 4
Agalloch – Pale Folklore – 4

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 27th, 2008 at 10:53 am and is filed under music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.