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Apple Music Replay 2022

I’m slightly sceptical about the accuracy of these stats from Apple but let’s go with them anyway.

Songs

According to Apple Music, in 2022 I listened to 3,108 songs. Here’s the top 10:

Song Artist Plays
1 Palomino First Aid Kit 38
2 Karma Taylor Swift 28
3= Bittersweet Symphony The Verve 27
3= Gmf (feat. Sinéad O’Connor) John Grant 27
5 Chaise Longue Wet Leg 26
6 Envy Ash 24
7= Me & You Vs the World Space 23
7= Anti-Hero Taylor Swift 23
7= Wet Dream Wet Leg 23
10 Snow on the Beach Taylor Swift 22

Considering Palomino (the album and the song) was released on 4 November, that’s a strong showing. Same goes for the three Taylor Swift entries here, given Midnights was released just a couple of weeks before Palomino.

I actually can’t believe I only listened to Palomino 32 times in 2022 but I do believe it’s the song I listened to the most. I love the chorus (‘Where you go my love goes, darling’) and the bright major key harmonies of the outro do something to my heart every single flipping time I hear it.

Gonna let the sun shine down,
this nowhere town,
The winds carry you home.

Gonna let the sun shine down,
this nowhere town,
I’m heading out to roam.

GMF makes it to the list by being eminently singalongable as well as featuring on my Very sweary songs playlist. (That does make me question why Jarvis Cocker’s Running the World, which has both those things in common with GMF, isn’t on this list, mind you.) Two other oldies – Envy and Bittersweet Symphony – are somewhat surprising-to-me entries on the list. I love them, of course. I just didn’t realise I listened to them that much.

Artists

I listened to 915 artists, the top 10 of which (ranked by minutes played) were:

Artist Minutes played
1 Taylor Swift 1,858
2 First Aid Kit 972
3 Villagers 932
4 Elbow 893
5 Blur 772
6 Belle and Sebastian 651
7 Regina Spektor 633
8 Wet Leg 568
9 Katy J Pearson 551
10 Maya Hawke 527

Taylor Swift being at the top here isn’t a huge surprise, although, again, kudos to her given she only released Midnights on 21 October. Her appearance at the top reflects the enduring appeal of Folklore, which was released in July 2020. (See the albums chart below for evidence.) That would explain the massive gap between Taylor Swift and the rest.

Of the old favourites, I’m not surprised to see Elbow, Blur, Villagers, and Belle and Sebastian represented here. Blur will have gained minutes by dint of the announcement of their Wembley show next July.

First Aid Kit and Regina Spektor released new albums in 2022 – and I guess I must have liked them enough to get them into the top 10. Wet Leg, Katy J Pearson and Maya Hawke were new artists to me in 2022. I’m pretty sure I only got into Maya Hawke because I fell in love with her single Sweet Tooth in December.

Albums

I played 118 albums. That doesn’t sound like many, although I guess that averages out at more than 2 albums per week. I don’t think that stat is very meaningful. Anyway, here’s the top 10:

Album Artist Plays
1 Midnights (3am edition) Taylor Swift 306
2 Palomino First Aid Kit 186
3 Wet Leg Wet Leg 168
4 MOSS Maya Hawke 153
5 Sound of the Morning Katy J Pearson 135
6 Home, before and after Regina Spektor 91
7 folklore (deluxe version) Taylor Swift 70
8 Fever Dreams (deluxe edition) Villagers 66
9 Fever Dreams Villagers 58
10 Revolver (Super Deluxe) The Beatles 51

The sharp-eyed will notice Fever Dreams appearing twice, at numbers 8 and 9, with the plays split between the deluxe edition and the ‘normal’ release. Combining those plays would have given Fever Dreams 124 plays, taking it up to sixth place. Fever Dreams is an amazing album that manages to be a new musical direction yet sound completely natural and still recognisably Villagers.

Given the previous charts, Maya Hawke appearing here is a surprise. I do like the album and have listened to it several times. 140 times, though? Hmm. I’d like to know what counts as a play because the figures here feel spurious.

Playlists

I listened to 24 playlists with my favourites playlist predictably getting the most minutes played followed by the ‘Chill mix’. ‘Get up!’ and my self-made workout playlist came third and fourth – I play those when I’m Zwifting.

Stations

Not very interesting, these, since I don’t really listen to stations on Apple Music apart from when I’m in the car and can’t think want to play if it’s not my favourites mix, in which case I’ll ask Siri to ‘play a radio station just for me’. Unsurprisingly, ‘Kenneth Yau’s station’ is by far the most listened-to station for me.

Replay 2022 playlist

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