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Most-streamed track of the day by country

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Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#201

Post by mwcampbell »

cnnn wrote: post #96
mwcampbell wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that level of contempt for most of humanity is a bigger problem than what people are complaining about on this thread.

I feel like it takes a different kind of person to be able to go past a top chart or the FTOM artist and discover that there is more to music (or really any other thing) than whatever the rest of a globalized world finds "good".

Perhaps. But if so, I don't think the difference is in any intrinsic quality, but merely in circumstance. Having been exposed to good music or other art is a privilege. So is having the time to search for it. If the people who listen to crappy mainstream music had more spare time and less stress, they might seek out better alternatives. The fact that they don't doesn't entitle us to dehumanize them by comparing them to computer-generated non-player characters in a game. Instead, we should decry the system that feeds these people crap when they just want some kind of relief from their already crappy lives.

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#202

Post by jemorya »

btbuildem wrote: post #197
sacred_numbers wrote: post #105

Something to keep in mind: the top track in the world right now is ROCKSTAR, with about 5 million streams per day. The song lasts about 3 minutes, which means the song was streamed for 250k hours around the world. Spotify streams an average of 234 million hours per day, though, which means the number one song represents about 0.1% of the total. We have an unprecedented level of access to all sorts of different genres…

By definition, a popular thing will appeal to the lowest common denominator. I don't mean this in a derogatory way; not "to the average dumb person" but "to something we all share". I think as a consequence of that, popular music will be simple, easily consumable, have very little impact on an individual, and be easily forgotten / make room for the next one.

David Foster Wallace makes the same observation in his article "E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction," which I read in the excellent "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" collection of some of his essays.

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#203

Post by loco5niner »

apengwin wrote: post #15
holografix wrote: post #13

I think if I look at this any longer I might slip, fall down and break a hip! Embarrassing how old I am when pretty much ALL of these songs sound like absolute trash to me. Repetitive auto-tuned, formulaic, mysoginistic, materialistic, mundane, simple-minded steam pile of fermenting dog poo.

that's probably what your parents were saying about the music you listened to when you were young, too.

I hated the popular music when I was young too.

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#204

Post by derefr »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #181
satvikpendem wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, in the Western world, the most popular name seems to be some form of John.

Yes, though proportionally I think there are far more Mohammed's. Wikipedia says: > It is thought to be the most popular name in the world, being given to an estimated 150 million men and boys. One of my teammates recently gave birth to a boy, she talked a little about figuring out whether to name the kid Mohammed or not, with the major downside being that yeah, it's insanely common, especially among her nationality.

> with the major downside being that yeah, it's insanely common, especially among her nationality.

What's even the upside?

When people name their kids things like John or Mohammed, I just think of this comic: https://webcomicname.com/post/617835911135330304

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#205

Post by [deleted] »

teknopaul wrote: post #195
Non24Throw wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a theory about this. I think the song format is conforming to the needs of advertisers. That’s why every top song is just a person talking over a beat, usually with the same kind of vocal style, usually the same kind of beat. It’s really hard to sing the word “Lamborghini” and have that fit into the lyrics and be heard clearly and have the brand image positioned correctly. It’s also a waste of advertising spac…

I dont think advertising plays a role even slightly. Nor do I think that rapper's fans are an important target market for lamboughini. Run DMC never got paid for my adidas.

[deleted]

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#206

Post by [deleted] »

ahendy wrote: post #116
fortran77 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I knew the hipster-elitists on Hacker News would declare popular music as beneath them.

Many of these comments are ridiculous, it's hilarious. Feeling "depressed" that popular music doesn't fit your taste? Asserting that these artists have no talent? Let people enjoy what they enjoy, rather than criticize the subjective! I really like the website. It is interesting how popular music in the US appeared in other countries, for instance Bulgaria, and how other countries most popular song I'd never even hea…

[deleted]

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#207

Post by monkeypizza »

Regarding general change in music in the US over time, this study looked at ~50 years of US pop songs and found changes. I wonder about the rate of other countries pop song subject change is?

See link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/03057356177482...

"As in 1960, the predominant topic of pop music remains romantic and sexual relationships. However, whereas the proportion of lyrics referring to relationships in romantic terms remained stable, the proportion including reference to sex-related aspects of relationships increased sharply.

"References to lifestyle issues such as dancing, alcohol and drugs, and status/wealth increased substantially, particularly in the 2000s. Other themes were far less frequent: Social/political issues, religion/God, race/ethnicity, personal identity, family, friends showed a modest occurrence in top-40 music throughout the studied period and showed no dramatic changes.

"Violence and death occurred in a small number of songs, and both increased, particularly since the 1990s. References to hate/hostility, suicide, and occult matters were very rare. Results are examined in the context of cultural changes in the social position of adolescents, and more specifically in light of the increased popularity of rap/hip-hop music, which may explain the increases in references to sex, partying, dancing, drug use, and wealth.

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#208

Post by Non24Throw »

teknopaul wrote: post #195
Non24Throw wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a theory about this. I think the song format is conforming to the needs of advertisers. That’s why every top song is just a person talking over a beat, usually with the same kind of vocal style, usually the same kind of beat. It’s really hard to sing the word “Lamborghini” and have that fit into the lyrics and be heard clearly and have the brand image positioned correctly. It’s also a waste of advertising spac…

I dont think advertising plays a role even slightly. Nor do I think that rapper's fans are an important target market for lamboughini. Run DMC never got paid for my adidas.

Advertising isn’t just about getting the audience to purchase the product. Convincing young people that a product confers high status will increase the perceived value of that product for every potential buyer whether they listen to rap or not.

And these aren’t impulse purchases. Nobody buys a Lamborghini the same week that they’re playing with Hot Wheels, but many will a few decades later.

There’s also indirect demand through rentals. Anyone with a credit card can rent a Lamborghini for a weekend. Most of the luxury cars you see on the roads in Miami are rentals, for example.

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#209

Post by sacred_numbers »

bsuh wrote: post #177
sacred_numbers wrote: post #105

Something to keep in mind: the top track in the world right now is ROCKSTAR, with about 5 million streams per day. The song lasts about 3 minutes, which means the song was streamed for 250k hours around the world. Spotify streams an average of 234 million hours per day, though, which means the number one song represents about 0.1% of the total. We have an unprecedented level of access to all sorts of different genres…

Interesting points, but I don't think the conclusion follows. In your example, if the number one song is classical and made up 0.1% of listening time, would you conclude that classical music is not popular? It's like saying water isn't a popular drink because only 0.1% of people buy water in the form of 20 fl oz Dasani bottles.

What I'm trying to say is that the number one song doesn't convey a lot of information. The genre of the number one song may be the most popular genre or one of the least popular genres; you can't know if you only look at the number one song. With your example, it could be possible that 0.1% of the population LOVES Beethoven's 5th symphony and exclusively plays it on repeat while the other 99.9% of the population hates classical music. Just to be clear, I'm not making any claims about what's popular or not, I'm just presenting an alternate hypothesis that would also result in the number one song not being representative of the overall population's preferences.

Re: Most-streamed track of the day by country

#210

Post by noisem4ker »

tzs wrote: post #59
holografix wrote: post #13

I think if I look at this any longer I might slip, fall down and break a hip! Embarrassing how old I am when pretty much ALL of these songs sound like absolute trash to me. Repetitive auto-tuned, formulaic, mysoginistic, materialistic, mundane, simple-minded steam pile of fermenting dog poo.

Generally isn't older music more misogynistic?

You can't get any more openly offensive than the current "trap" genre. It's basically kind of its point.
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