My iTunes Highest Play Counts…

If you were asked to come up with your ten favourite songs, I would lay money on it not being exactly the same ten as your most played songs on your iTunes.

That’s why I do so love the Play Count function. It does not lie.

And would appear that -yes- I’ve listened to one of the cuts from Tarantino’s Death Proof soundtrack 91 times.

Now the following list does not include tracks that I’ve endlessly played in the years before 2003 when I first installed iTunes.

So say goodbye to those eternal faves that I’ve forever replayed on vinyl, audio cassette and plain old CD. Favourite artists like Bowie, Beatles, Queen, the Kinks or Roxy Music are not anywhere to be found. Neither are more recent favs like Beck, the Blues Explosion or Cornelius.

But these -indisputably- are my top ten most played songs of recent years.

And yes, I clearly love them all. Very dearly.

Endlessly in fact.

1 - Baby It’s You / Smith / 91 plays / Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof OST
2 - See You At the Lights / 1990s / 73 plays / See You At the Lights EP
3 - Solid Gold / Eagles Of Death Metal / 72 plays / Death By Sexy
4 - Eva’s Holy Dress (Deep Down 3) / Ennio Morricone / 70 plays / Danger: Diabolik OST
5 - Let’s Groove Again / Gonzales / 67 plays / Gonzales über alles
6 - The Truth (Featuring Roisin Murphy & J-Live) / Handsome Boy Modeling School / 66 plays / So How’s Your Girl…
7 - You And I / Yellowhammer / 64 plays / Yellowhammer
8 - La Rock 01 / Vitalic / 56 plays / OK Cowboy
9 - Strawberry Letter 23 (One Rascal Extended Mix) / Shuggie Otis / 54 plays /Luaka Bop Remixed
10 - Punchbag / The Bees / 52 plays / Sunshine Hit Me

Not a bad list at all.

And not surprising all of these tracks appear on several playlists that I’ve made up over the last few years. And many are quite mellow in tempo. I’m not even sure 7 was commerically released.

I feel compelled to share this with you, but right now I don’t have anything more to say about these tracks apart from…

They’re great.

And I have played them.

A lot.

Thank you iTunes Play Count for clearing this up.

  • Anonymous

    according to my play count, i have over 1700 days worth of songs played on my itunes. but i got a new ipod and new computer 2 months ago. wtf?

  • lolapplesauce

    according to my play count, i have over 1700 days worth of songs played on my itunes. but i got a new ipod and new computer 2 months ago. wtf?

  • Good reference.

  • Alanah

    Looking at my top 10 would suggest that i am either - a) A total bogan, or b) A bit of a twat. It seems to consist of Aussie 80’s Rock, embarassing showtunes (eeek!) and emo pop.

    YOU decide.

    10 - Bow River - Cold Chisel
    9 - Khe Sahn - Cold Chisel
    8 - Cry In Shame - Johnny Deisel & The Injectors
    7 - Welcome To The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
    6 - All That Jazz - Chicago OST
    5 - Gimme Gimme Gimme - ABBA
    4 - I Dont Care - Fall Out Boy
    3 - Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend
    2 - Let It Be - Beatles
    1 - Bad Things - True Blood OST (Jace Everett)

    Okay, so totally humiliated now. Im going to go eat my feelings now.

  • Alanah

    Looking at my top 10 would suggest that i am either - a) A total bogan, or b) A bit of a twat. It seems to consist of Aussie 80’s Rock, embarassing showtunes (eeek!) and emo pop.

    YOU decide.

    10 - Bow River - Cold Chisel
    9 - Khe Sahn - Cold Chisel
    8 - Cry In Shame - Johnny Deisel & The Injectors
    7 - Welcome To The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
    6 - All That Jazz - Chicago OST
    5 - Gimme Gimme Gimme - ABBA
    4 - I Dont Care - Fall Out Boy
    3 - Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend
    2 - Let It Be - Beatles
    1 - Bad Things - True Blood OST (Jace Everett)

    Okay, so totally humiliated now. Im going to go eat my feelings now.

  • Pingback: The Musical Reckoning Cometh: Your favorite tunes vs. your Most Played « The Retort()

  • Marcello

    Solid Gold! That’s in my tops too. I listen to it every Friday at work to get me pumped for the weekend! Now I’ll listen to it every friday to get pumped for SP.

  • Anonymous

    Solid Gold! That’s in my tops too. I listen to it every Friday at work to get me pumped for the weekend! Now I’ll listen to it every friday to get pumped for SP.

  • lili

    oh dear, it seems my most played is filled with CAKE…

  • lili

    oh dear, it seems my most played is filled with CAKE…

  • SarahAC

    Even on my iTunes I’m still stuck in the era of vinyl.
    Funny that you should mention Roxy Music Edgar because my I have two of their songs in my 10 highest playcounts.
    I also have Duran Duran, a couple of tracks from the Blues Brothers OST and even Goody Two Shoes (from the Hot Fuzz OST of course!)
    What can I say? I’m old school.

  • Anonymous

    Even on my iTunes I’m still stuck in the era of vinyl.
    Funny that you should mention Roxy Music Edgar because my I have two of their songs in my 10 highest playcounts.
    I also have Duran Duran, a couple of tracks from the Blues Brothers OST and even Goody Two Shoes (from the Hot Fuzz OST of course!)
    What can I say? I’m old school.

  • Julian

    I had about 4 or 5 of your top 10 on repeat a few years back. Pity I only started using the scrobbler on last.fm a year and a half ago.
    Happy to see Baby It’s You and La Rock 01 have won your heart as they have mine!

  • I had about 4 or 5 of your top 10 on repeat a few years back. Pity I only started using the scrobbler on last.fm a year and a half ago.
    Happy to see Baby It’s You and La Rock 01 have won your heart as they have mine!

  • Swoozie

    Yesss I am with you on The Truth! I saw Roisin amazingly perform it with them at the Jazz Cafe a few years ago. On the downside J-Live was not in the house, and Jamie Cullum was.

    Like Eric I have lost my play counts, but I do love my current top 10!

  • Swoozie

    Yesss I am with you on The Truth! I saw Roisin amazingly perform it with them at the Jazz Cafe a few years ago. On the downside J-Live was not in the house, and Jamie Cullum was.

    Like Eric I have lost my play counts, but I do love my current top 10!

  • Slick

    And sadly I’m not really familiar with any of them. I swear, what you know about music and films is a vast ocean that I’ll never even taste an ounce of. Feels like it would take a lifetime to do so. I don’t know how you do it considering how busy you are! Amazing.

    BTW, EMBLD are AMAZING. I checked out two of their albums you suggested. Thanks for that.

  • Amber G

    Meaning I have some of Beck, Queen,Kinks… I don’t have any of your top most played…..

  • AmberGrindstaff

    Meaning I have some of Beck, Queen,Kinks… I don’t have any of your top most played…..

  • I tried this recently with my top 40, only to discover that loads of my favouriste artists who exist in many playlists didn’t make an appearance, and couldn’t even remember hearing the number one song more than a couple of times - Human Leagues ‘Mirro Man’, so blogged my bizarre results http://slippymark.blogspot.com/2009/03/today-i-was-teaching-offsite-and-due-to.html

  • I tried this recently with my top 40, only to discover that loads of my favouriste artists who exist in many playlists didn’t make an appearance, and couldn’t even remember hearing the number one song more than a couple of times - Human Leagues ‘Mirro Man’, so blogged my bizarre results http://slippymark.blogspot.com/2009/03/today-i-was-teaching-offsite-and-due-to.html

  • Eric

    My computer crashed in June and I lost all my play counts. It was a sad day.
    The number one before that happened was The Crystal Cat by Dan Deacon, hovering somewhere around 450 plays. The nearest competitor had something like 310?

  • Eric

    My computer crashed in June and I lost all my play counts. It was a sad day.
    The number one before that happened was The Crystal Cat by Dan Deacon, hovering somewhere around 450 plays. The nearest competitor had something like 310?

  • Slick

    And sadly I’m not really familiar with any of them. I swear, what you know about music and films is a vast ocean that I’ll never even taste an ounce of. Feels like it would take a lifetime to do so. I don’t know how you do it considering how busy you are! Amazing.

    BTW, EMBLD are AMAZING. I checked out two of their albums you suggested. Thanks for that.

  • Will

    Edgar, this post makes me feel that you may be intrigued by a little website called last.fm…par example: http://www.last.fm/user/eldaanzari

    I encourage everyone to make a profile.

  • Will

    Edgar, this post makes me feel that you may be intrigued by a little website called last.fm…par example: http://www.last.fm/user/eldaanzari

    I encourage everyone to make a profile.

  • Sean

    Strawberry Letter 23, the only song Tarantino ever used twice!

    Baby It’s You is probably my favourite song of the Deathproof soundtrack, and the soundtrack was my favourite thing about the movie (though the cinematography and lighting in the first part of the film were excellent as well).

  • Sean

    Strawberry Letter 23, the only song Tarantino ever used twice!

    Baby It’s You is probably my favourite song of the Deathproof soundtrack, and the soundtrack was my favourite thing about the movie (though the cinematography and lighting in the first part of the film were excellent as well).

  • Looking at this this I realize I know nothing about music and many people consider me a musician.

  • Looking at this this I realize I know nothing about music and many people consider me a musician.

  • Sarah5636

    Cool list. Are you still listening to See You At The Lights, first time i ever heard that song was when you played it one time you were on Jonesy’s Jukebox with Nick, i’ve been in love with that song ever since 😀 Eagles Of Death Metal Wanna Be In LA is a high count on my ipod.

  • Anonymous

    Cool list. Are you still listening to See You At The Lights, first time i ever heard that song was when you played it one time you were on Jonesy’s Jukebox with Nick, i’ve been in love with that song ever since 😀 Eagles Of Death Metal Wanna Be In LA is a high count on my ipod.

  • Juliarrr

    are you aware of the band chameleon circuit? as a doctor who fan you might like them 🙂

    linkage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAi4izfvXo4

  • Juliarrr

    are you aware of the band chameleon circuit? as a doctor who fan you might like them 🙂

    linkage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAi4izfvXo4

  • Nice. That list’s not too shabby.

    A lot of my favorites I love enough to not have to hear them all the time. Like, Radiohead doesn’t break my 25 Most Played. On the other hand, The Cardigans’ “Lovefool” was my #1 for a while. I was amused/mortified to discover this.

    • Julian

      I used to have that problem as well. My #1 song for a while was the cover of “Valerie” by Ronson and Winehouse, followed by “Kick, Push” by Lupe Fiasco.
      Then I realised the last.fm scrobbler wasn’t working properly. Now my love of Radiohead, The Smiths, Manic Street Preachers, Elliott Smith and Air are properly acknowledged!

  • Nice. That list’s not too shabby.

    A lot of my favorites I love enough to not have to hear them all the time. Like, Radiohead doesn’t break my 25 Most Played. On the other hand, The Cardigans’ “Lovefool” was my #1 for a while. I was amused/mortified to discover this.

    • I used to have that problem as well. My #1 song for a while was the cover of “Valerie” by Ronson and Winehouse, followed by “Kick, Push” by Lupe Fiasco.
      Then I realised the last.fm scrobbler wasn’t working properly. Now my love of Radiohead, The Smiths, Manic Street Preachers, Elliott Smith and Air are properly acknowledged!

  • Amber G

    Such a great list…. I also have some of those aswell! I’m glad you shared! I have listened to Lonely Island 76 times (I’m on a boat)

  • AmberGrindstaff

    Such a great list…. I also have some of those aswell! I’m glad you shared! I have listened to Lonely Island 76 times (I’m on a boat)

  • You’re not lying about the Itunes playlist never lying. Hannah Montana’s “Party in the USA” keeps on climbing my chart, usurping artists like Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, Jay Z etc. I really don’t want Miley Cyrus to be my number 1. But I can’t stop listening to that song!

  • I have the ‘strawberry lettr 23’ off the pulp fiction ost. I love osts more than i should, but they’re a great way to be introduced to a variety of different artists in one easy purchase.

    but rock on! play count function is something i love, i have playlists based on it

  • You’re not lying about the Itunes playlist never lying. Hannah Montana’s “Party in the USA” keeps on climbing my chart, usurping artists like Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, Jay Z etc. I really don’t want Miley Cyrus to be my number 1. But I can’t stop listening to that song!

  • I have the ‘strawberry lettr 23’ off the pulp fiction ost. I love osts more than i should, but they’re a great way to be introduced to a variety of different artists in one easy purchase.

    but rock on! play count function is something i love, i have playlists based on it

  • I love Vitalic and OK Cowboy is a totally underated album.

  • I love Vitalic and OK Cowboy is a totally underated album.

  • RintaroWatanabe

    Wow!
    Great tunes.
    I especially love Eva’s Holy Dress & Strawberry Letter 23.

  • RintaroWatanabe

    Wow!
    Great tunes.
    I especially love Eva’s Holy Dress & Strawberry Letter 23.

  • I don’t know if I would trust the play count feature. I just looked at mine, and not only did I not believe it at first glance, but one of the songs in my top ten is “unchecked.” I unchecked it because it’s a song I don’t like. So it won’t play even when I play the album and I never play it on purpose.

    Weird.

    • It’s true in my case. When I saw the list - I did think, ‘yep, that sounds about right’.

      • Nice. I guess that’s what happens when I’m using a four and a half year old powerbook. I mean, Apple doesn’t even make powerbooks anymore!

  • I don’t know if I would trust the play count feature. I just looked at mine, and not only did I not believe it at first glance, but one of the songs in my top ten is “unchecked.” I unchecked it because it’s a song I don’t like. So it won’t play even when I play the album and I never play it on purpose.

    Weird.

    • It’s true in my case. When I saw the list - I did think, ‘yep, that sounds about right’.

      • Nice. I guess that’s what happens when I’m using a four and a half year old powerbook. I mean, Apple doesn’t even make powerbooks anymore!

  • Jon

    You can’t hide from the truth…of playcounts. Because the truth is all there is.

    • Good reference.

    • Unless you have an AppleScript to change the playcounts. Then the truth is kind of shit outta luck.

  • Jon

    You can’t hide from the truth…of playcounts. Because the truth is all there is.

    • Eryn Dearden

      Unless you have an AppleScript to change the playcounts. Then the truth is kind of shit outta luck.