My 2013 Music Charts: Manslaughterer who?

[anarchangel23]

When I started doing this annual post in 2010, I posted it on Jan 1st. Finally, it makes its triumphant return to the first day of the year!

My top 10 listened artists with (2013 playcount) and [overall ranking since 2005]

1. Shihad (384) [1]
   
2. Frightened Rabbit (287) [8]
   
3. VNV Nation (201) [6]
   
4. (4=) deadmau5 (188) [73]
   
5. (4=) The Killers (188) [3]
   
6. The Prodigy (184) [7]
   
7. Bloc Party (181) [23]
   
8. CHVRCHES (175) [81]
   
9. The Cars (163) [25]
   
10. Pendulum (146) [54]

KMFDM (134) [40], Opiuo (127) [107], Genesis (124) [21], and Joy Division (117) [5] all had over 100 plays, and another 15 artists had between 99 and 50. As always, Shihad is in the top 3, but for the first time the Sisters aren't (they came in at 17= with 77 plays). I think I was constructing playlists more this year than in previous years, so those hundreds of random Sisters bootlegs weren't coming up randomly and boosting their numbers.

This is also indicative of the other notable change in the charts this year: Shihad as now my most played band (1,852 scrobbles since 2005) unseating The Sisters of Mercy (1,630) who are still 500 scrobbles over The Killers (1,110) then back to Rammstein (881 and also not otherwise appearing here this year) and Joy Division (841) rounds out the top 5.

1. CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe (175) [28]
   
2. Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse (145) [55]
   
3. Pendulum - Immersion (108) [43]
   
4. Shihad - Ignite (105) [5=]
   
5. Bloc Party - Four (85) [162]
   
6. The Cars - Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology (1 of 2) (83) [15]
   
7. The Cars - Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology (2 of 2) (79) [13]
   
8. Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles (74) [4]
   
9. Shihad - Beautiful Machine (67) [14]
   
10. The Killers - Sawdust (66) [8]

I'm surprised that Immersion is so high, but most of my favourite Pendulum songs are from that album so I shouldn't be. Also it was number 3 last year, so I clearly have a bad memory! Pendulum is one of my go-to bands for writing. I'm also surprised that Four is so high as it's my least favourite Bloc Party album, but I probably listened to it a few times to come to that conclusion. Opiuo - Singles (72) [25] would have been number 9, but it's not a real album so I purged it. The Bones of What You Believe was my album of the year this year for sure but I've realised recently how much I love Pedestrian Verse and Ignite may now be my favourite Shihad album.

The end of this year has had a fair amount of lyricless rhythm much as 2012, which is reflected in the high rankings of deadmau5, Pendulum, Opuio and The Prodigy and VNV Nation to an extent.

Nova Echo didn't appear on these charts this year, but they still make up four of my top 21 tracks, as do The Killers and Frightened Rabbit. Two are by Shihad, then single tracks by Alison Weiss, Sisters (Alice), MC Chris, Coldplay (!), Bloc Party, Joy Division and The Dresden Dolls.

All in all, it seems like a pretty fair summation of what I was listening to in 2013.