Giovedì 31 Gen 2008, 10:40

January 30, 2008 was the first anniversary of my registration with last.fm. In honour of this major milestone, I thought that I would take a snapshot of my listening during this first year. If I am still scrobbling in one year's time, I will be able to look back on this snapshot to see how it has evolved.

The snapshot is composed of two lists: a list of my 25 top "artists" up to now, and a list of my 10 top tracks played. (Updated: This journal was originally based on the latest information that last.fm was able to provide to me, dated January 28, 2008. It has since been updated with the information dated January 31, 2008.)

The information in these lists is worth what it is worth. (And that's not much.) In my last.fm career I have learnt that one cannot put too much credence in the statistics last.fm provides. The problems that I have noted include:

- Tracks being played and but not being scrobbled. (The first case of this that I noted was early in my career. An early track I listened to was Bob Seger's Against the Wind, which was not scrobbled, much to my disappointment.) I have noticed this problem on many occasions.
- Tracks being played once but being appearing in the list more than once.
- Track A by artist B being played, but Track C by artist D appearing in the list.
- last.fm arbitrarily reducing the number of tracks in users' tracks played list.

According to last.fm, I have scrobbled slightly more than 20,000 tracks. The number I have actually listened to is no doubt higher.

That being said, here are the two lists.

Twenty-five Top "Artists"
Here are the "artists" that I apparently have listened to most often in the last year. Actually, there is nothing here that surprises me.

1) Johann Sebastian Bach, scrobbled 550 times.
2) James Taylor, scrobbled 504 times.
3) Carly Simon, scrobbled 422 times.
4) Ella Fitzgerald, scrobbled 270 times.
5) Loreena McKennitt, scrobbled 232 times.
6) The Beatles, scrobbled 189 times.
7) Academy of St Martin in the Fields, scrobbled 186 times.
8) Carole King, scrobbled 179 times.
9) Fred Astaire, scrobbled 135 times.
10) Antonio Vivaldi, scrobbled 128 times.
11) Aldo Ciccolini, scrobbled 124 times.
12) Academy of Ancient Music, scrobbled 118 times.
13) Livingston Taylor, scrobbled 116 times.
14) Michael Flanders & Donald Swann, scrobbled 114 times.
15) Spyro Gyra, scrobbled 112 times.
16) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, scrobbled 108 times.
17) Capercaillie, scrobbled 101 times.
18) Carpenters, scrobbled 99 times.
19) Michel Rivard, scrobbled 95 times.
20) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, scrobbled 93 times.
20) Blossom Dearie, scrobbled 93 times.
22) Ottorino Respighi, scrobbled 92 times.
23) Georg Friedrich Händel, scrobbled 88 times.
24) Clannad, scrobbled 86 times.
25) Arnold McCuller, scrobbled 85 times.

"Ten" Top Tracks
Here are the ten top tracks that I apparently have listened to this year. Astute readers will notice that there are more than ten tracks listed. That is because a whole horde of tracks (well, seven) are tied for the coveted number nine position.

1) Livingston Taylor: I Will Be in Love With You, scrobbled 31 times.
2) Spyro Gyra: Shaker Song, scrobbled 16 times.
2) Spyro Gyra: Morning Dance, scrobbled 16 times.
2) Spyro Gyra: Catching The Sun, scrobbled 16 times.
5) Spyro Gyra: Old San Juan, scrobbled 13 times.
6) Carpenters: They Long To Be Close To You, scrobbled 12 times.
6) Orpheus Chamber Orchestra: Jesu - Joy of Man's Desiring, scrobbled 12 times.
6) Livingston Taylor: My Perfect Christmas Day, scrobbled 12 times.
9) Carly Simon: The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of, scrobbled 11 times.
9) James Taylor: Secret O' Life, scrobbled 11 times.
9) Loreena McKennitt: Tango to Evora, scrobbled 11 times.
9) Johann Sebastian Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, scrobbled 11 times.
9) Johann Sebastian Bach: Sheep May Safely Graze, scrobbled 11 times.
9) James Taylor: Sweet Baby James, scrobbled 11 times.
9) Johann Sebastian Bach: Sarabande, scrobbled 11 times.