I’m obsessed with music. Moment of silence for my lack of musical ability…
I love the end of the year when all of these round-ups come out on YouTube and on music charts to see what songs were the most popular throughout the year, but my favorite is to see what my own musical tastes looked like throughout the year. I spent most of this year working on a cruise ship, the music I had at my fingertips were the playlists downloaded to my phone. I didn’t hear new music until way later than it was released. For most my day, I was listening to a lot of Kidz Bop and Disney movie soundtracks. Not complaining because the High School Musical 3 and Cheetah Girls 2 soundtracks were my is.
I also enjoying looking at how my musical preferences change from year to year. I go through stages of listening to different artists and different genres of music, and that’s directly affected by how my day, week, month, year, etc. are going. In 2015, there were a lot of depressing songs because what a not so great year that was. My results in 2016 were a little all over the place because I was letting someone use my account to listen to music (round of applause for Spotify’s family feature. Changin’ the game, y’all), but 2016 was a transitional year, and if you look at the different from 2015 to 2016, you can still see a lot of songs about heartbreak, but thrown in there are some happiness tracks because I’m pretty sure my most listened to playlist last year was my “happy” playlist.
2017 was full of so much joy, and that is 100% reflected in my musical choices. If you want to see your own year in music, check out Spotify Wrapped.
In 2017 I listened to…
23,257 minutes of music
1,862 different songs
1,011 different artists
27 different genres of music
My top 5 artists were all women, which I love. I really enjoy listening to songs by empowering women. I also feel like a lot of the music I listen to applies directly to my life or a part of my life in some way, shape or form, and for the most part, women sing about things that I can relate to.
My top 5 artists of 2017 are…
1. Taylor Swift
2. Kelsea Ballerini
3. Kesha
4. Marian Hill
5. Lorde
I knew that Taylor Swift was going to be my top artist even though she spent most of the year not streaming on Spotify. As soon as her entire collection hit Spotify, I didn’t listen to anything or anyone else in my car for a long, long time. I also love Kelsea Ballerini so much. Her new album came out the week before Taylor’s new album, and I was listening to that non-stop until reputation hit the shelves. I also want to take into account that I didn’t listen to anything but reputation for an entire month in my car, so I can only imagine how different my stats would be had that album been available to stream on Spotify.
My top 5 genres of 2017 are…
1. Pop
2. Post-teen Pop
3. Dance Pop
4. Neo Mellow
5. Contemporary Country
Basically a lot of pop. I don’t know the differences between all of the pops and how they make that determination. I also have no idea what neo mellow is. I didn’t really pay attention to this section because I don’t know which artists belong in which categories.
I’m kind of surprised by some of the songs in my top 100, even a few in my top 10. I feel like I listened to other songs more than a few that made the cut, but who knows? Sometimes I get caught up driving and don’t realize what’s playing in the background.
My top 10 songs of 2017 are…
1. “…Ready For It?” by Taylor Swift
2. “Legends” by Kelsea Ballerini
3. “Gorgeous” by Taylor Swift
4. “Symphony” by Clean Bandit feat. Zara Larsson
5. “Unapologetically” by Kelsea Ballerini
6. “Plot Twist” by Marc E. Bassy
7. “I Just Want You” by Gardiner Sisters
8. “Bonfire” by Childish Gambino
9. “Yeah Boy” by Kelsea Ballerini
10. “No Promises/Attention” by Gardiner Sisters
If you want to listen to the rest of my top songs of 2017, check out the playlist below:
What were your favorite songs of 2017?