My Favorite Songs of All Time (As of 2017)
Andrew Edelblum
Wow, another year gone!
For those who know and those who don’t, two of my best friends and I have a tradition of ranking our 100 favorite songs of all time at the end of each year. It’s an annual project we started our sophomore year of college, and something we do consistently to this day. As it stands now, 2017 marks our fifth year ranking our favorite songs!
A common question I get about the ranking project is, “Do your favorite songs really change that much from year to year?”
The answer to that, surprisingly, is yes. Every year brings new songs to my attention – or introduces me to old classics I should’ve listened to years ago. Charting my favorite songs is an iterative process that, for whatever reason, feels new and exciting every December when I sit down to do it. It doesn’t matter how much overlap there is between this year and the last. The way I see it, I’m logging my life through music. Even the tiniest change is worth capturing forever.
What Is This Document?
What you see here is an HTML document brought to you by some coding in a program called RStudio.
“So, where did that come from? You code now, bro?”
Yes, kind of… But first, let’s back up a bit.
What started in 2013 as a basic list of my favorite songs quickly evolved over the years to become a more involved process. First, I started making PDF documents ranking my favorite tracks, complete with a favorite lyric from each pick. Then, I put Spotify playlists together. Heck, I even made YouTube videos describing the personal meaning behind why I chose each individual track to be part of my list.
But this year is different. I’m trying something totally brand-new with my top 100: I’m thinking of it as data.
Just this past September, I started my first term of grad school at the University of Oregon. A lot of what I’m learning there is based around data science, and a large part of that journey has been spent using a program called RStudio, which involves… coding. It was difficult getting started, but now I try to use RStudio every opportunity I can. Why not use it to have some fun and get analytical with my favorite songs of all time? Taking this on is the perfect way to both review and celebrate what I’ve learned so far in grad school. Let’s get started!
Oh, and sidenote: I’m really not all that great with coding just yet, but just as I look to chart changes in my music taste over time, I’m also excited to see my coding skills improve from year to year. Lord knows what I’ll be able to show you by the end of 2018, but for now, here’s what I got.
Data Import
First, I imported my data. I included the song, artist, album, and year of release right away, but I came up with a couple other ideas as I put my spreadsheet together.
Genre: It’s kind of an obvious one, but I figured it could be interesting. The only thing is, I had to be pretty non-specific when it came to assigning each track a genre. How could I make any reasonable insights from my list if I narrowed in on genre to the point of, say, “emo post-hardcore” or “punk neofolk”? Unfortunately, I had to keep things relatively basic.
Time of discovery: This is one I’m excited about. I thought about what point in my life I fell in love with each track: childhood, high school, college, or post-grad. Childhood is defined as literally everything before high school, because… well, weren’t we all children before high school?
Year of Release
The first thing I wanted to do was graph my favorite songs by the year they were released.
A few interesting observations:
My favorite songs largely come from the last couple of decades, which makes sense.
Apparently, 2016 was a crucial year for me – 11 of my favorite songs came from that year!
Related to the last point: there is an upward trend in the graph, such that, by and large, the amount of favorite songs increases as year does. I think that’s because, especially over the past few years, I’ve tried to keep up with new music releases, so I’m just listening to more current music than classic.
I almost completely skipped over the ’80s. There’s just a void for almost that entire decade, with one exception (“Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” by The Smiths). I think that’s hilarious. But also, maybe I should listen to more ’80s music.
I’m going to guess that the entire clump of songs from the ’60s and ’70s is the influence of my classic rock phase in high school.
Breaking It Down by Decade
Now that we got a macro view of the entire list by year of release, I thought it would be cool to break things down by decade. I can do that using the cut command. Since the earliest decade represented in my list is the ’60s, we’ll start there and make 10-year slices up until the present decade.
Here is what that first plot looks like when I color the columns differently for each decade represented.
Next, I grouped my list by decade in a frequency table, to see once and for all what time periods my favorite music is coming from. I already knew how to make a table in R, but I had no idea how much you could customize its aesthetics until now. I found a nifty package called kableExtra, and let me tell you… it’s pretty extra. Pay close attention to that snazzy interactivity. The rows change color when you hover your mouse over them!
| decade | count |
|---|---|
| 60s | 7 |
| 70s | 15 |
| 80s | 1 |
| 90s | 20 |
| 00s | 24 |
| 10s | 33 |
My tastes are definitely skewed to the contemporary, but the ’70s has some nice representation with 15 songs! Also, I’ve heard some people classify Nirvana as a classic rock band, so I guess even ’90s music can be considered “oldies.” ;)
Genre
Next, I wanted to see my list broken down by genre. Like I mentioned before, the genres aren’t nearly as specific as they deserve to be, so take these results with a grain of salt. A genre like “rock,” for example, can be broken up so much further. And “alternative” … that could basically be anything.
| genre | count |
|---|---|
| Rock | 37 |
| Alternative | 28 |
| Punk | 15 |
| Folk | 8 |
| Pop | 8 |
| Hip-Hop/Rap | 2 |
| R&B | 2 |
Talk about a “diverse” set of music… It looks like 80% of my list is composed of music that can be classified, at least loosely, as rock, alternative, and punk.
Period of Discovery
Finally, I wanted to look at the distribution of songs from the period of time in my life I first discovered them. I looked specifically at childhood, high school, college, and post-grad. I’m really excited to see what this one looks like!
| discovery | count |
|---|---|
| Childhood | 6 |
| High School | 28 |
| College | 43 |
| Post-Grad | 23 |
It looks like a vast majority (nearly 50%) of my favorite songs came from college. What a formative four years those were… In thinking about it more, I came to realize how obvious this is. Those two best friends I mentioned at the very beginning of this document, the ones who started this year-end list-making tradition with me… I met them my freshman year of college. They know a lot more about music than I ever will, and they introduced me to so many of the songs on this list. My taste in music – and so much more – would not be the same without them.
In sum, you’re damn right I discovered most of my picks in college – with the help of some good friends, of course.
I’ll plot this out, too.
That’s revealing enough, but let’s see what the genre breakdown looks like for each of the four life phases. Was I really as fixated on classic rock in high school as I suspect I was? Have I broadened my horizons at all since?
As this reveals, the answer to both of my hypothetical questions from above is a resounding YES. My favorite songs that I’ve carried with me from childhood and high school are almost entirely rock songs, but I have thankfully diversified my listening in the years since, albeit not by too much. I still feel that in some sense, a majority of the artists I listen to are straight white American rockstars. But that’s an issue for another day… or another dataset.
The Ranked List
OK, you’ve been very patient. After all that, I finally give to you the completed ranked list of my 100 favorite songs, as of 2017. There’s even a Spotify playlist embedded in this very document, with all the songs in their correct order for your listening pleasure!
I have a blast making these lists every year, but this may have been the best one yet. It was awesome to apply a new skill of mine to something so near and dear to my heart. It took a little while to get the bells and whistles right, but I feel pretty happy with what I came up with. I never saw myself as a coder before, but I was somehow able to muster something presentable together with only a few months of coding experience.
If grad school has taught me anything so far, it’s that anticipated difficulty is no reason to shy away from something new, especially if it’s something you care enough about. I hope that in 2018, we all find the strength to persevere and do the things that intimidated us before.
Cheeseballing aside, I’m excited for another great year ahead – to great music, better coding, and, of course, so much more to learn.
Happy holidays, and have a great New Year! :)
| rank | song | artist | album | year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Only in Dreams | Weezer | Weezer (Blue Album) | 1994 |
| 2 | In the Aeroplane Over the Sea | Neutral Milk Hotel | In the Aeroplane Over the Sea | 1998 |
| 3 | The Past Is a Grotesque Animal | of Montreal | Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? | 2007 |
| 4 | Jesus of Suburbia | Green Day | American Idiot | 2004 |
| 5 | Thunder Road | Bruce Springsteen | Born to Run | 1975 |
| 6 | Baba O’Riley | The Who | Who’s Next | 1971 |
| 7 | Limousine | Brand New | The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me | 2006 |
| 8 | Dog Problems | The Format | Dog Problems | 2006 |
| 9 | You, In Weird Cities | Jeff Rosenstock | We Cool? | 2015 |
| 10 | Across the Sea | Weezer | Pinkerton | 1996 |
| 11 | I’ve Just Seen a Face | The Beatles | Help! | 1965 |
| 12 | The Sounds of Silence | Simon & Garfunkel | Sounds of Silence | 1966 |
| 13 | Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide | David Bowie | The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars | 1972 |
| 14 | Take It Easy | The Eagles | Eagles | 1972 |
| 15 | I am trying to break your heart | Wilco | Yankee Hotel Foxtrot | 2002 |
| 16 | Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and Be Loved) | Bright Eyes | LIFTED: Or the Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground | 2002 |
| 17 | Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2 | Neutral Milk Hotel | In the Aeroplane Over the Sea | 1998 |
| 18 | Wish You Were Here | Pink Floyd | Wish You Were Here | 1975 |
| 19 | Stay Home | American Football | American Football | 1998 |
| 20 | Two Deliverances | The Hotelier | Goodness | 2016 |
| 21 | Big Bird | AJJ | Knife Man | 2011 |
| 22 | Hannah Hunt | Vampire Weekend | Modern Vampires of the City | 2013 |
| 23 | American Girl | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers | 1976 |
| 24 | All My Friends | LCD Soundsystem | Sound of Silver | 2007 |
| 25 | Desolation Row | Bob Dylan | Highway 61 Revisited | 1965 |
| 26 | While My Guitar Gently Weeps | The Beatles | The Beatles (White Album) | 1968 |
| 27 | Cornerstone | Arctic Monkeys | Humbug | 2009 |
| 28 | Helplessness Blues | Fleet Foxes | Helplessness Blues | 2011 |
| 29 | For Emma | Bon Iver | For Emma, Forever Ago | 2008 |
| 30 | Father and Son | Yusuf / Cat Stevens | Tea for the Tillerman | 1970 |
| 31 | Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) | Arcade Fire | The Suburbs | 2010 |
| 32 | Angeles | Elliott Smith | Either/Or | 1997 |
| 33 | Paradise by the Dashboard Light | Meat Loaf | Bat Out of Hell | 1977 |
| 34 | All These Things That I’ve Done | The Killers | Hot Fuss | 2004 |
| 35 | If Work Permits | The Format | Dog Problems | 2006 |
| 36 | Stairway to Heaven | Led Zeppelin | Led Zeppelin IV | 1971 |
| 37 | Colly Strings | Manchester Orchestra | I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child | 2007 |
| 38 | Self Control | Frank Ocean | Blonde | 2016 |
| 39 | Get Old Forever | Jeff Rosenstock | We Cool? | 2015 |
| 40 | Paranoid Android | Radiohead | OK Computer | 1997 |
| 41 | Home | LCD Soundsystem | This Is Happening | 2010 |
| 42 | Miss Misery | Elliott Smith | Good Will Hunting / Music from the Miramax Motion Picture | 1997 |
| 43 | Hotel California | The Eagles | Hotel California | 1976 |
| 44 | Oh! You Pretty Things | David Bowie | Hunky Dory | 1971 |
| 45 | Wouldn’t It Be Nice? | The Beach Boys | Pet Sounds | 1966 |
| 46 | Album of the Year | The Good Life | Album of the Year | 2004 |
| 47 | Chelsea Hotel #2 | Leonard Cohen | New Skin for the Old Ceremony | 1974 |
| 48 | Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want | The Smiths | Hatful of Hollow | 1984 |
| 49 | 8 (circle) | Bon Iver | 22, A Million | 2016 |
| 50 | Take Your Time (Coming Home) | fun. | Aim and Ignite | 2009 |
| 51 | Dendron | The Hotelier | Home, Like Noplace Is There | 2014 |
| 52 | Suck It and See | Arctic Monkeys | Suck It and See | 2011 |
| 53 | Ultralight Beam | Kanye West | The Life of Pablo | 2016 |
| 54 | If I Had $1,000,000 | Barenaked Ladies | Gordon | 1992 |
| 55 | Domino Effect | Ozma | Rock and Roll Part Three | 2001 |
| 56 | I Went to the Store One Day | Father John Misty | I Love You, Honeybear | 2015 |
| 57 | The National Anthem | Radiohead | Kid A | 2000 |
| 58 | Radio | Alkaline Trio | Maybe I’ll Catch Fire | 2000 |
| 59 | Pink Triangle | Weezer | Pinkerton | 1996 |
| 60 | Jamie Marie | Girls | Father, Son, Holy Ghost | 2011 |
| 61 | White Ferrari | Frank Ocean | Blonde | 2016 |
| 62 | Aphasia | Pinegrove | Cardinal | 2016 |
| 63 | Your Best American Girl | Mitski | Puberty 2 | 2016 |
| 64 | Range Life | Pavement | Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: LA’s Desert Origins | 1994 |
| 65 | Nightswimming | R.E.M. | Automatic for the People | 1992 |
| 66 | Exit Music (For a Film) | Radiohead | OK Computer | 1997 |
| 67 | i | Kendrick Lamar | To Pimp a Butterfly | 2015 |
| 68 | Soft Sounds from Another Planet | Japanese Breakfast | Soft Sounds from Another Planet | 2017 |
| 69 | Immigrant Song | Led Zeppelin | Led Zeppelin III | 1970 |
| 70 | What a Catch, Donnie | Fall Out Boy | Folie a Deux | 2008 |
| 71 | These Days | Nico | Chelsea Girl | 1967 |
| 72 | Crimson and Clover | Tommy James & The Shondells | Crimson & Clover | 1968 |
| 73 | Whistle for the Choir | The Fratellis | Costello Music | 2007 |
| 74 | I Can’t Stop Your Memory | of Montreal | Cherry Peel | 1997 |
| 75 | In Remission | The Menzingers | Rented World | 2014 |
| 76 | Basket Case | Green Day | Dookie | 1994 |
| 77 | Fare Thee Well (Dink’s Song) | Oscar Isaac, Marcus Mumford | Inside Llewyn Davis: Original Soundtrack Recording | 2014 |
| 78 | Beast of Burden | The Rolling Stones | Some Girls | 1978 |
| 79 | BTSTU (Edit) | Jai Paul | BTSTU (Single) | 2011 |
| 80 | Saturday Night | Misfits | Famous Monsters | 1999 |
| 81 | Santeria | Sublime | Sublime | 1996 |
| 82 | Welcome to the Black Parade | My Chemical Romance | The Black Parade | 2006 |
| 83 | Masterpiece | Big Thief | Masterpiece | 2016 |
| 84 | Jerusalem | Dan Bern | Dan Bern | 1997 |
| 85 | Polar Opposites | Modest Mouse | The Lonesome Crowded West | 1997 |
| 86 | Lover, Where Do You Live? | Highasakite | Silent Treatment | 2014 |
| 87 | Dream a Little Dream of Me | Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong | Ella & Friends | 1996 |
| 88 | 17 | Youth Lagoon | The Year of Hibernation | 2011 |
| 89 | American Kids | Poppy | Bubblebath | 2016 |
| 90 | The Beers | The Front Bottoms | The Front Bottoms | 2011 |
| 91 | I (Who Have Nothing) | Tom Jones | I Who Have Nothing | 1970 |
| 92 | Sleep in the Heat | PUP | The Dream Is Over | 2016 |
| 93 | Better Boy | Park Jefferson | Park Jefferson | 2013 |
| 94 | Waiting for My Real Life to Begin | Colin Hay | Going Somewhere | 2000 |
| 95 | Polly | Whitney | Light Upon the Lake | 2016 |
| 96 | That’s My Baby | Sleeper Agent | Celabrasion | 2011 |
| 97 | Tamago | Forests | Sun Eat Moon Grave Party | 2017 |
| 98 | Another Sunny Day | Belle & Sebastian | The Life Pursuit | 2006 |
| 99 | Going to Georgia | The Mountain Goats | Zopilote Machine | 2005 |
| 100 | World Spins Madly On | The Weepies | Say I Am You | 2006 |
