Yea, Lady Gaga three in a row :) ...

Yea, Lady Gaga three in a row :)

whatevs:

So, what are you doing with YOUR summer? Me? I’m turning into a stats nerd.

Introducing the 2011 VH1 Song of the Summer Countdown! Quick explanation.

I wanted to create an ongoing feature that would be the most democratic look at the race for this year’s Song of the Summer. Since people experience music in so many different ways these days, my aim was to compile publicly available data into a weekly chart that would reflect these different manners of consumption. So I used the following sources:

*VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown (the videos that we’re showing a lot)
*Weekly YouTube streams (what people are watching online)
*Weekly Last.fm scrobbles (what people are actually listening to on their computers and mobile devices)
*Billboard Hot 100 (reflects airplay and sales)
*iTunes Top 100 Songs (reflects purchases)

I then compared the data in each of these categories, sorted and ranked accordingly, and assigned a number of points (max: 20 per category) for how each song fared in each individual category, with a max possible score of 100 (if a song topped all of the respective categories).

Right now, I’m tracking 41 songs, but that list will clearly grow as more songs get released/gain some traction.

So, you may ask, how come old ass songs like “E.T.” (which came out in April) and “Rolling In The Deep” (released in December!!!) are at or near the top of the Song of the Summer countdown? To which I reply: I’m just measuring YOUR behavior, America! If you want new(er) songs in there, start buying/listening/streaming them and this list will reflect it.

(Look for slightly improved graphics to follow, but I’m keeping this low-tech somewhat on purpose. Plus, who doesn’t love Microsoft Excel?)

VH1: Where math and popular culture collide.

Yea, Lady Gaga three in a row :)

popculturebrain:

whatevs:

So, what are you doing with YOUR summer? Me? I’m turning into a stats nerd.

Introducing the 2011 VH1 Song of the Summer Countdown! Quick explanation.

I wanted to create an ongoing feature that would be the most democratic look at the race for this year’s Song of the Summer. Since people experience music in so many different ways these days, my aim was to compile publicly available data into a weekly chart that would reflect these different manners of consumption. So I used the following sources:

*VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown (the videos that we’re showing a lot)
*Weekly YouTube streams (what people are watching online)
*Weekly Last.fm scrobbles (what people are actually listening to on their computers and mobile devices)
*Billboard Hot 100 (reflects airplay and sales)
*iTunes Top 100 Songs (reflects purchases)

I then compared the data in each of these categories, sorted and ranked accordingly, and assigned a number of points (max: 20 per category) for how each song fared in each individual category, with a max possible score of 100 (if a song topped all of the respective categories).

Right now, I’m tracking 41 songs, but that list will clearly grow as more songs get released/gain some traction.

So, you may ask, how come old ass songs like “E.T.” (which came out in April) and “Rolling In The Deep” (released in December!!!) are at or near the top of the Song of the Summer countdown? To which I reply: I’m just measuring YOUR behavior, America! If you want new(er) songs in there, start buying/listening/streaming them and this list will reflect it.

(Look for slightly improved graphics to follow, but I’m keeping this low-tech somewhat on purpose. Plus, who doesn’t love Microsoft Excel?)

VH1: Where math and popular culture collide.