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iTunes Top 200 Artists: Wrapup

Music.  It is a powerful thing that brings people together, creates memories, and evokes emotions.  It is the universal language that speaks to the soul.  It forms the soundtrack of our lives.

It has now been five years since we last counted down the Top 200 artists in my iTunes library, featuring the songs I have listened to the most since 2007.  It is time to do so again, seeing which performers still resonate and if any newer ones have joined the fray.  So, without further ado, here are my most listened to artists, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2026.

Last week, we wrapped up our latest look at the Top 200 artists I’ve listened to, according to iTunes, since 2008. Now it’s time to take one final look at those artists and the songs that put them on the list. The average number of listens per performer was 222.4, with the median number being 113.  There were seven new artists debuting on the list, with the highest being the Blues Brothers at #106.

Largest Increase

Garbage – 576
The Beatles – 411
George Carlin – 384
Taylor Swift – 336
Garfunkel and Oates – 226

Largest Percentage Increase

Taylor Swift – 158%
Icona Pop – 93%
Florence + The Machine – 59%
Matthew Sweet – 57%
UB40 – 56%

Smallest Increase

The Dandy Warhols – 3
The Outfield – 4
Nancy Faust – 4
Chance the Rapper – 6
Klaus Badelt – 7

Smallest Percentage Increase

Klaus Badelt – 4%
The Outfield – 4%
David Cross – 5%
The Dandy Warhols – 5%
Ron Funches – 6%

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Bolstering The Rotation

After a month of July where only two White Sox starters managed to complete six full innings, Chris Getz pulled off a move that will hopefully bolster the rotation while improving the bullpen, both through less work and by subtraction.  The White Sox acquired right-handed starter Luis Castillo from the Mariners in exchange for reliever Seranthony Domínguez, catching prospect Boston Smith, and outfielder Nolan Jones.  Castillo, 33, is signed through 2027 for $22.75 million with a vesting option for $25 million in 2028.  A three-time All-Star, Castillo has struggled this year, with a career-worst 5.06 ERA.

Dominguez, signed this off-season, has struggled, but has been better as of late in low leverage situations.  Smith, 23, was acquired from the Nationals this spring and has slashed a combined .291/.448/.589 with 22 home runs across three minor league levels this season.  Jones, 28, was acquired from the Guardians in June and is basically organization filler at this point.

With the acquisition, Castillo will move into the rotation with Erick Fedde moving to the bullpen.  Hopefully the two will take pressure off of the rest of the bullpen innings-wise and Castillo’s post-season experience will benefit the entire team come October.

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Three Homers

In last night’s victory over the Rays, the White Sox offense saw home runs from Munetaka Murakami, Colson Montgomery, and Miguel Vargas for the fifth time this season, trying the major league record.  The record was first set in 1953 by the then-Brooklyn Dodgers, with contributions from Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges, and Duke Snider and has now been tied an additional nine times.  The current White Sox are the second set of South Siders to have a piece of the record, following the 2004 trio of Joe Crede, Paul Konerko, and Jose Valentin.

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Tired Discourse – Followback Culture

In January of 2025, the good folks at Defector.com published a list of 35 topics that have been discussed to within an inch of their life here on the internet.  Lucky for me, I haven’t publicly commented on most, if not all, of these topics, so I figured why not dip my toes into the fray on occasion.  We will continue today with the next question on their list:

Followback Culture

First, let’s define what this is.  Google’s AI bullshit says “Follow back culture is the social media practice of returning a follow when someone follows your account, often driven by community expectations, reciprocal growth, and perceived politeness.”  At one point in time, I think this was an appropriate expectation, back when social media was populated by actual people.  If somebody gave you a follow and there was no overt reason not to follow back, it was certainly the polite thing to do.  That said, in today’s world, where 99 out of every 100 posts you see is coming from a Russian bot designed to destabilize the foundations of America’s democracy or trying to push their AI-generated OnlyFans page, that expectation is out the window.  Follow me if you like, but I’m not following you back.

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Book 41 (of 52) – Bunny

Bunny – Mona Awad

Samantha, a lonely MFA student at an elite New England university, finds her world turned upside down when she’s invited to join the Bunnies, a bizarre, hyper‑feminine clique in her cohort called the Bunnies.  As she becomes entangled in their surreal rituals, she finds herself unsure where imagination ends and reality begins.

Mona Awad’s Bunny, a Goodreads Choice award nominee for favorite horror in 2019, found its way onto my radar recently, though I can’t exactly remember how.  This was a little bit different, and I’m not sure if I want to dig in for more or avoid her work altogether going forward.  Time will tell, I guess.

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Fitbit 12 – Week 27

Another tremendous week, again notching my highest total, and my first week hitting my goal, since going to Hawaii in 2022, and going over goal six days.  The week got off to a great start on Sunday, using a neighborhood walk to come within 17 steps of 8400.  The good times continued on Monday, hitting 7700 steps.  The low point, if you can call it that, of the week came on Tuesday as I fell down to 5800 steps.  I rebounded on Wednesday, jumping back up to 7900 steps.  A slight improvement on Thursday pushed me up to 8400 steps.  A return to Rate Field on Friday left with 7900 steps.  A longer neighborhood walk on Saturday morning helped me finish the week with 8700 steps.

Total steps: 55,018

Daily average: 7859.7

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iTunes Top 200 Artists: #1

Music.  It is a powerful thing that brings people together, creates memories, and evokes emotions.  It is the universal language that speaks to the soul.  It forms the soundtrack of our lives.

It has now been five years since we last counted down the Top 200 artists in my iTunes library, featuring the songs I have listened to the most since 2007.  It is time to do so again, seeing which performers still resonate and if any newer ones have joined the fray.  So, without further ado, here are my most listened to artists, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2026.

In 1994, producers Butch Vig and Steve Marker teamed up with Duke Erikson to form a new band, taking a “remix sensibility and somehow translate it into all of the possibilities of a band setup.”  Later that year, Marker saw a video from the band Angelfish on 120 Minutes and shared it with his new bandmates in the hopes of snaring themselves a singer.  When Angelfish performed at the Metro in Chicago during their North American tour, the group met with the band’s singer, Shirley Manson, and invited her to Madison to audition.  The rest, as they say, is history.  So, we wrap things up today with the artist I’ve listened to the most over the last 19 years: Garbage.

 

#1: Garbage
iTunes stats: 2073 plays
Previous ranking: #1

With 255 songs in collection, 152 of which have been listened to, from 29 different releases, Garbage has added 954 new plays over the past 4 years, increasing their total by 85%.  In addition to being my most listened to band, they are also the band I have seen in concert the most, with now nine shows at seven venues across two states.

My first show was in 2002, while they were touring in support of their third studio release, Beautiful Garbage.  My most recent was in last September, when they performed at the Salt Shed, the new venue created on the site of the old Morton Salt factory.  That show threatened to be their last headlining performance in the area, so who knows what the future holds.  In between, I saw them at the Metro (twice), the Vic, the Riviera (again), Ravinia, the House of Blues in Boston, and, for the first time outdoors, the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre.

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Hall Of Fame Batting Leaders



The Hall of Fame Class of 2026, featuring hitters Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones, and Jeff Kent, gets enshrined in Cooperstown today.  I’ve seen the three new Hall of Famers play live a combined 64 times, so let’s check back in with the leaders on the offensive side of the ball amongst Hall of Famers for all of the games I’ve attended between 1984 and 2025.

Home Runs

Name Total
Jim Thome 35
Frank Thomas 15
Scott Rolen 7
David Ortiz 6
Vladimir Guerrero 6
Andruw Jones 6

Hits

Name Total
Jim Thome 110
Frank Thomas 54
Joe Mauer 43
Ken Griffey Jr 32
Fred McGriff 28

Runs

Name Total
Jim Thome 82
Frank Thomas 42
Andruw Jones 20
Joe Mauer 19
David Ortiz 16

RBI

Name Total
Jim Thome 84
Frank Thomas 38
Fred McGriff 23
David Ortiz 19
Continue reading →
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Book 40 – The One Day You Were My Husband

The One Day You Were My Husband – Rosie Walsh

After a short, but intense, romance, Carrie and Johan get married on a remote beach in Thailand while on vacation.  Their joy is short lived, however, as a group of armed men swarm the beach, arresting Johan and throwing Carrie’s life into disarray.  Twelve years later, while looking for a short-term rental, Carrie, now married with two kids, finds a listing with Johan’s picture and, after some on-line stalking, she finds that Johan escaped from Thailand years ago and has been living in Stockholm ever since.  She becomes obsessed with discovering exactly what happened on their wedding day, but she can find out the truth without blowing up her family?

The One Day You Were My Husband was my first encounter with the work of Rosie Walsh.  While the premise was interesting, the execution fell a little flat, as the first two thirds of the book were very slow before things picked up a bit at the end.  The final twist, such as it were, came out of left field, with nothing really set up to give the reader any sort of a hint that it was coming.  Oh well, they can’t all be winners.

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Book 39 (of 52) – People We Meet On Vacation

People We Meet On Vacation – Emily Henry

After two years of silence, Poppy reconnects with her best friend Alex, hoping they can get past the awkwardness of their last vacation together and rekindle their relationship.  Agreeing to a trip to Palm Springs, harkening back to the low-cost trips of their youth before attending the wedding of Alex’s brother, they try to pretend that nothing has changed, but the stifling heat turns up the tension until they can’t ignore the truth any longer.

Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation, the 2021 Goodreads Choice winner for Favorite Romance, is her annual appearance on my Kindle for this year.  It is a story that hits a little close to home, with friends that have drifted apart in spite of themselves, but it was an entertaining read.  It had recently been adapted to a movie by Netflix, which I’m sure I’ll watch at some point.  Despite romance not being my genre, Henry is now four for four with me.