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.
On April 10, 1994, while watching 120 Minutes in my dorm room late on a Sunday night, I saw the video for Liz Phair’s Never Said, the lead single from her debut album, for the first time. Nearly 30 years later, she came to the Chicago Theatre for the 30th anniversary of the release of Exile in Guyville.
