2018 Top Songs

For the ninth straight year, I am chronicling the songs that I’ve played the most over the past year.  This is NOT a list of the most popular songs in the world, in America or even in my town.  These are the tracks that I played the most in 2018.

There are tracked by last.fm (a site I discovered back in 2005) that keeps track of the songs you play on iPod, computer, iPad, iTunes and streaming sites like Pandora and Spotify etc.  It is simple to connect the service to the other services and then you never have to deal with it again – other than to look at all the glorious data (yes, I’m a nerd.)

Here are Chris Doelle’s 2018 Top Songs:

  1. Andy Grammer – Give Love (35 plays)
  2. Jake Owen – Real Life (32 plays)
  3. Joe Nichols – Gimmie That Girl (28 plays)
  4. Luke Bryan – Most People Are Good (28 plays)
  5. Billy Currington – Like My Dog (26 plays)
  6. Dierks Bentley – Lot Of Leavin’ Left To Do (25 plays)
  7. Howie Day – Collide (24 plays)
  8. Imagine Dragons – Believer (24 plays)
  9. Kenny Chesney – You And Tequila (24 plays)
  10. Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk (24 plays)
  11. Andy Grammer – Keep Your Head Up (23 plays)
  12. Luke Bryan – Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day (23 plays)
  13. Rodney Atkins – Take a Back Road (22 plays)
  14. Uncle Kracker – Smile ( (22 plays)
  15. Bachman-Turner Overdrive – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet (22 plays)
  16. Chris Janson – Buy Me a Boat (21 plays)
  17. The Allman Brothers Band – Midnight Rider (21 play)
  18. Train – Bruises (21 plays)
  19. Train – Meet Virginia (21 plays)
  20. Ed Sheeran – Shape of you (20 plays)
  21. American Authors – Best Day of My Life (20 plays)
  22. Billy Currington – Good Directions (20 plays)
  23. George Strait – Ace in the Hole (20 plays)
  24. Jack Johnson – Upside Down (20 plays)
  25. Luke Bryan – Play it Again (20 plays)
  26. Steve Miller Band – The Joker (20 plays)
  27. The Allman Brothers Band – Ramblin’ Man (20 plays)
  28. Toby Keith – Should’ve Been a Cowboy (20 plays)
  29. Train – Sing Together (20 plays)
  30. Andy Grammer – Good to be Alive (19 plays)
  31. many 19 plays

Interesting facts from 2018

  • After two straight years at #1, Buy Me a Boat slipped down to 16th place.
  • Although I really do like the song Real Life by Jake Owen, it is only ranked this high (#2) because when I start my Spotify playlist in the car, it is the first track in the list and it just starts playing that one despite the fact I have it set to shuffle.  oh well.
  • Just 6 tracks were in last year’s Top 20.
  • Again, my all-time top artist (P!nk) didn’t make it into the Top 20 for the year. The last time she had a track in the top of my charts was 2015 when God is a DJ tied for 20th.
  • Just three plays separate 11th and 29th due to most of my plays being from a playlist I created on Spotify.
  • Andy Grammer not only had the top song for the year but he was the winner for Top Artist as well and landed 2 tracks in the chart.
  • Total plays increased as the #20 song on the list this year would have finished at #4 last year.
  • The country music trend continues – number of country songs in top 20: 2014 (2), 2015 (2), 2016 (9), 2017 (9), 2018 (8)
  • The total different songs played for the year was 2,943 – down from 3,833 last year. This is the second consecutive year that total plays has dropped while individual plays has risen.  That is because I have been playing a rotation of songs on a Spotify playlist. This list contains around 700 tracks and changes by only a half dozen songs every few weeks.
  • The total number of tracks played for the entire year was 11,547 which is up 25% from last year.
  • Most tracks (1,596) only received one play – 53%.
  • 2017 Top Songs
  • 2016 Top Songs
  • 2015 Top Songs
  • 2014 Top Songs
  • 2013 Top Songs
  • 2012 Top Songs
  • 2011 Top Songs
  • 2010 Top Songs

by Chris Doelle