Sometimes I kick myself for not keeping detailed records about my Song of the Day posts. If I could go back to Song of the Day #1 and keep a spreadsheet of every artist, song, theme, and so on, I would totally do it.
That would allow me to know, for example, where Barenaked Ladies stands in terms of Random Weekend appearances. Because I have to think they are way up there, if not at the very top.
Today’s track, from the band’s 2000 album Maroon, is the 15th Barenaked Ladies song to appear on Random Weekends. That seems crazy high.
I’ve been doing Random Weekends for seven and a half years, meaning Barenaked Ladies are averaging exactly two appearances per year. Assuming I have 104 Random Weekend posts per year (which is close to true, though on rare occasions I have hand-picked a weekend song), that’s 780 potential slots. Barenaked Ladies has shown up 1.9% of the time.
I have 123 Barenaked Ladies songs among the 13,120 in my full iTunes collection, which is less than 1% (.9375%, to be exact). For the band to make up the same percentage of Random Weekends, they would have shown up 8 times over the past seven years. So the math says they are overperforming by a factor of two.
How does that stack up to other artists? I wish I knew.
You say, “Why does everything revolve around you?”
You say, “Why does everything I do confound you?”
You say that I pulled the world from under you
You can’t go through it this time
[Chorus]
I could be good, and I would
If I knew I was understood
And it’ll be great, just wait
Or is it too little too late?
(Whoo!)
[Verse 2]
One day, this embarrassment will fade behind me
And that day I could think of things that won’t remind me
But these days it’s unbearable for both of us
We can’t discuss it this way (this way)
I’m gaining strength, tying to learn to pull my own weight
But I’m gaining pounds at the precipice of too late
Just wait
[Chorus]
[Verse 3]
Record and play, after years of endless rewind
Yesterday wasn’t half as tough as this time
This time isn’t Hell
Last time, I couldn’t tell
This mind wasn’t well
Next time, hope I’m…
[Chorus]x2
Meet Me In Montauk 
Wouldn’t you have on average 104 weekend posts given two days each weekend? Not sure how that would impact BNL’s stats.
I would think that Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan should dominate Random weekends given the size of their catalogues, including bonus tracks, bootlegs, etc.
Of course you are correct! I changed the math, and they are still overrepresented, but 2X rather than 4X. I’ll have to run the numbers on Costello and Dylan for comparison.
I checked the Costello numbers. His songs make up 4.2% of my iTunes collection and 4.9% of Random Weekends, so he’s pretty much on pace.
I feel a headache coming on 😊