In early December, Spotify users received a list, known as Spotify Wrapped, of the tracks they listened to most in 2021. As a committed non-streamer, I was a bit envious of these lists; so I decided to assemble my own list using my Music database.
This was possible by comparing two snapshots of my Music database in xml format* that were taken in 2020 and yesterday. I don’t think anyone is interested in the technical details but I used this project as the basis.
The results are a fun reminder of what was on heavy rotation in my household – and the reasons why.
| Rank | Plays | Song | Artist | Album | Year |
| 1 | 26 | Links Rechts | Snollebollekes | Links Rechts [Single] | 2015 |
| 2 | 25 | Break My Heart | Dua Lipa | Future Nostalgia | 2020 |
| 3 | 23 | Jump Rope Gazers | The Beths | Jump Rope Gazers | 2020 |
| 4 | 20 | Hog | The Lemon Twigs | Songs For The General Public | 2020 |
| 5 | 19 | Stay Hated | BENCHPRESS | Stay Hated | 2012 |
| 6 | 18 | Julia | Silver Sun | Silver Sun | 1996 |
| 7 | 17 | I’m Gonna Knock On Your Door | Cloud Eleven | Pandora’s Box | 2021 |
| 8 | 17 | Always; Your Way | My Vitriol | Finelines | 2001 |
| 9 | 13 | Ride | Cathedral | The Ethereal Mirror | 1993 |
| 10 | 11 | Why | Cydonia | In Fear Of A Red Planet | 1999 |
| 11 | 11 | In The Meantime | Helmet | Meantime | 1992 |
| 12 | 10 | He’d Be a Diamond | Bevis Frond | New River Head | 1990 |
| 13 | 9 | So What the Fuss | Stevie Wonder | A Time To Love | 2005 |
| 14 | 9 | She Plays Bass | Beabadoobee | Space Cadet EP | 2018 |
| 15 | 8 | Rosie in the Rain | Electric Looking Glass | Somewhere Flowers Grow | 2021 |
| 16 | 8 | Oh, Saki | The Magic Gang | The Magic Gang (Deluxe) | 2018 |
| 17 | 8 | Foot on Necks | Sault | 5 | 2019 |
| 18 | 8 | Playing My Piano | Weezer | OK Human | 2021 |
| 19 | 8 | In a Daze One Sunday Morning | El Goodo | Zombie | 2020 |
| 20 | 8 | Shit For Brains | Fudge Tunnel | Teeth EP | 1992 |
I admit that the top two tracks are guilty pleasures who owe their places at the top due to lockdown-induced dancing in our kitchen. I wouldn’t know about “Links Rechts” or indeed the genre of carnavalskraker if it weren’t for this viral video showing some Beefeaters and a T. Rex dancing to it on the slopes of the Col de Galibier during the 2019 Tour de France. A hearty mea culpa to listening to Dua Lipa though. Future Nostalgia is, on paper, the type of record I have spent my life trying to avoid. However, the production is undeniably awesome and the tunes seriously catchy.
Three tracks on here feature on my list of favourite albums of 2021.
* after iTunes became Music, this task became more complicated. In iTunes, an xml-formatted copy of the database could be “shared with other applications” and snapped in an automated way. In Music, the database needs to be exported manually.
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The post title comes from “What’s In The Box (See Whatcha Got)” by The Boo Radleys from their “C’mon Kids” album. I seem to remember that this song is about what’s in your record box, although I couldn’t find any confirmation on the web.