Chapter 02
The Obsession Index
What sustained attention over 17 years looks like.
The Top Four
Kanye West
4,365 plays
As with many Millenials, Kanye West was a foundation part of how I learned to listen and appreciate music. His willingness to experiment with sounds and genres dovetailed with my own eclectic tastes. A well documented fall-off.
Tyler, The Creator
3,807 plays
Another creative tour de force...which I wrote more about here.
Massive Attack
3,402 plays
My absolute favourite musical artist. They're never the dominant artist in any year. Never absent in any year.
System of a Down
2,862 plays
SOAD anchored the discovery years, alongside electronic music. The sound that had once felt urgent has become period-specific.
The constants
43 artists appear in every year of the listening record, without a single gap across 17 years.
Some of them are predictable - Eminem, Jay-Z, Gorillaz, Clipse, Snoop Dogg. They all have deep catalogues, and enough material that there's always something to return to.
Some are harder to account for. Creed. Twista. Santana. Artists I don't consciously identify with, appearing in every year with one or two plays; just enough to keep the thread unbroken.
December 29, 2019
A Sunday. Japan. 595 listens.
595 listens in a single day. I think this was the first day off work that entire month (including weekends). From that data I saw that the listening was wide and unsettled: Trent Reznor, Kanye West, Daniel Caesar, Kokoroko. No common thread except time and the absence of a schedule.
Nine of the ten most musical days happened in Japan or Mozambique. Germany accounts for none. This pattern holds across every permutation of the data: intensity follows unfamiliarity. When my day had no fixed shape, the listening filled it.
Top artists that day
- Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross12
- Kanye West10
- Shafiq Husayn10
- Daniel Caesar9
- Kokoroko9
Top tracks that day
- Amanikiniki7
- Bissonnet7
- Obamacare6
- Lord Above (ft. Eminem & Mary J. Blige)5
- Time Machine4
Top 10 most musical days
| Date | Listens | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Sun, Dec 29, 2019 | 595 | Japan |
| Thu, May 13, 2021 | 523 | Japan |
| Fri, Jan 24, 2020 | 469 | Japan |
| Sat, Apr 15, 2023 | 430 | Germany |
| Wed, Jan 8, 2014 | 427 | Mozambique |
| Fri, Feb 9, 2024 | 422 | Germany |
| Fri, Apr 7, 2017 | 417 | Japan |
| Sun, Jul 7, 2019 | 416 | Mozambique |
| Sun, Jul 9, 2017 | 415 | Japan |
| Mon, Jan 4, 2021 | 415 | Japan |