I don’t have much more to say about Q101 than I did in my intro. However, when I decided to write this
mini-series, I had always planned on an epilogue of sorts to wrap the
mini-series up in a nice, little bow. I
went through a couple tasks to create some material for this post. I’m not going to publicly share this post
because the content isn’t worth advertising.
If you’ve stumbled upon it for yourself, consider it an Easter egg I’ve
hidden amongst other posts.
Since I’m a nerdy numbers guy, I went back through the lists
and compiled some stats. I’ll share my
thoughts on some of the interesting things that jumped out to me.
Mandie Stats
- Total number of songs in common = 18/85
- Years with at least 1 song in common = 11/17
- Year with most songs in common = 2005 (3)
My companion on this Q101 journey was my co-worker
Mandie. I again want to thank her for
giving me a brief reprieve from the daily rigors of work. We always shared our lists with each other
after year was completed, so I knew we had some favorites in common. You can see all of her lists and her write-up
here. 15 of our shared songs were prior to 2006
(out of a possible 60 songs), which is right around the time I started to
notice a considerable drop in the music quality. The fact that we shared at least 1 song in
common 11 times is a higher number than I would have guessed considering how
many songs you can choose from each year.
Great minds think alike?
Artist Stats
- Artist with most songs in a top 5 = Foo Fighters and Breaking Benjamin (4)
- Artists with 3 songs in a top 5 = Goo Goo Dolls, Linkin Park, and Seether
- Artists with more than 1 song in a top 5 = 15
The Foo Fighters are most deserving of the honor to be the
most represented band. They aren’t my
favorite group but they’re up there, so I’m cool with it. I can’t help but feel that Breaking Benjamin
made the list as many times as they did only because of the watered-down musical
landscape of the late ‘00s. Goo Goo
Dolls and Linkin Park are 2 of my favorite bands and the stat above validates
that. Seether? Not so much.
They’re another beneficiary of the era in which they existed. Many
of the ‘90s alternative giants and my favorite groups, such as Green Day, the
Smashing Pumpkins, and Bush, made the list more than once. So did later favorites like Jimmy Eat World
and Silversun Pickups. There were some notable
absences in the list of groups included on more than 1 top 5. Pearl Jam, Oasis, and Fall Out Boy jump out
to me based on how much I enjoyed all of their music.
Now that I had ranked the top 5 within each individual year,
I wanted to answer the question of which Q101 year was the greatest. Back when they played the countdowns, the
station would always hold a vote for people to submit their favorite year. The winning year would get replayed on New
Year’s Day and 1994 won EVERY year. 1994
was a very good year so I had little complaints. I’ve always preferred 1995 myself, but I
needed to prove to myself that it was indeed my favorite.
I ranked the years in a few different ways to help gather
the data I felt I needed. First, I
pitted the top 5 of each year against each other. When you are considering the best year, you
want to compare the best of the best. These
elite songs are often what you remember most about a year in music. I, somewhat arbitrarily, decided this rank to
be worth 30% of the composite score.
The 2nd ranking I did was a sub-total of
rankings. When I listened to each year,
I not only ranked the top 5; I ranked every song I had in the list. That served me well for this purpose. I was able to compare cross-sections of each
year. For example, I could compare my 10th
favorite song of each year and my 20th favorite song each year. A year with a strong top 5 may be very
top-heavy. Going deeper into the ranks gave
me an idea of how well the year sustained its musical quality. I stopped at the top 50 for a couple
reasons. I didn’t have many songs past
50 (in my library) for some of the later years.
Plus, the ranks really start to lose their meaning the further down the
list you go. Everyone’s top 5 or top 10
is fairly set in stone I’d imagine. But
do you REALLY like the 60th best song more than the 61st? It probably depends on which day of the week
you made the ranks. Since is this more
of an overall review, I deemed it to be the most important piece of the
equation. It counts for 50% of the
score.
The final ranking I did was a completely objective one. I ranked the years in order of the number of
songs I had in my own personal music library.
Logic would suggest that a song would be in my library if I thought enough
of it to buy the album on which it was on or I chose to download the song. It also probably reflects how much I was in
tune with what was being played on the radio that year. A year with more total songs would also
simply give me more to listen to. Quality
is still greater than quantity though, so this ranking only accounts for 20% of
the total.
When you put it all together and the dust settles…2001 is
the best year!?
|
Top
5
|
Rankings
Collection
|
Songs
in Library
|
Composite
Score
|
|
|
1995
1996
2001
1999
1997
1994
1998
2004
2002
2005
2006
2009
2010
2003
2008
2000
2007
|
1995
1994
2001
2002
1996
1998
1997
2000
1999
2004
2005
2003
2006
2009
2007
2010
2008
|
1998
2002
2000
2001
1996
1997
2003
1994
2004
1999
2006
1995
2008
2005
2007
2009
2010
|
2001
1995
1996
1994
1998
1997
2002
1999
2004
2000
2005
2006
2003
2009
2010
2008
2007
|
14.9
14.7
14.5
12.8
12.5
12.2
11.9
11.2
9.2
6.9
6.9
6.5
6
4.6
3.3
2.9
2
|
I’ve always clung to the belief that 1995 was the best year
but it was narrowly beaten by 2001. I
actually felt a little bit angry when I calculated the formula and saw the
results. 1995 MUST be the best. It holds a revered place in my heart and
shouldn’t be threatened. You’ll see that
1995 contains my favorite top 5 and my favorite top 50 (essentially). Its undoing was the curiously low number of
songs it has contributed to my library.
I suppose that can be attributed to the fact that I was still an
alternative newbie at the time with limited musical access. 2001 was consistent across the board in all 3
categories. In the fateful final
category, 2001 had the advantage of being smack dab in the middle of the golden
years. 1996 also deserves a shout-out
for coming in just behind the leaders in the clubhouse.
As you can see, the yearly rankings follow an almost chronological
pattern. The ‘90s are better than the
early 2000s which are better than the later 2000s. The romanticized years of my youth have
really held up over time. Just put it on
Lithium when scrolling through Sirius XM stations and I’ll be a very happy
boy. Q101 is sort of back now but under
a different name. I’ll still get some of
my old favorites but there’s so much unfamiliar new stuff. Listening to the station now makes me feel
like that 30-year old who still shows up to high school and college
parties. Q101 – you will always be a
part of who I am and I salute what you were.
Thanks for the memories.
