{"id":23743,"date":"2026-02-23T06:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T12:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/?p=23743"},"modified":"2026-02-16T10:27:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:27:50","slug":"itunes-top-200-artists-129-138","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/itunes-top-200-artists-129-138\/","title":{"rendered":"iTunes Top 200 Artists: #129-138"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Music.\u00a0 It is a powerful thing that brings people together, creates memories, and evokes emotions.\u00a0 It is the universal language that speaks to the soul.\u00a0 It forms the soundtrack of our lives.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 It is time to do so again, seeing which performers still resonate and if any newer ones have joined the fray.\u00a0 So, without further ado, here are my most listened to artists, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

We continue today with our next batch of ten artists, covering a large mix of genres and decades, from pop to punk, hip hop to new jack swing, and everything in between.<\/p>\n

#138: Hootie & the Blowfish
\niTunes stats: 80 plays
\nPrevious ranking:\u00a0#154<\/a><\/p>\n

The group, formed in Columbia, South Carolina in 1986, saw a 25-play increase spread across the five songs in my collection.<\/p>\n

#138: Katy Perry
\niTunes stats: 80 plays
\nPrevious ranking:\u00a0#143<\/a><\/p>\n

Five tracks from the pop singer, who embarrassed herself last year following a Blue Origin flight into “space,” accounted for 21 new listens.<\/p>\n

#138: Ramones
\niTunes stats: 80 plays
\nPrevious ranking:\u00a0#131<\/a><\/p>\n

The New York-based punk rock pioneers increased their total by 27% thanks to 17 new plays over the past five years.<\/p>\n

#134: The Police
\niTunes stats: 81 plays
\nPrevious ranking:\u00a0#133<\/a><\/p>\n

The English band, led by Sting until their 1984 breakup, added 19 new plays.<\/p>\n

#134: Color Me Badd
\niTunes stats: 81 plays
\nPrevious ranking:\u00a0#117<\/a><\/p>\n

The boy band, first formed in 1985 in Oklahoma and popular in the New Jack Swing sub-genre, saw a slight 17% increase over the past five years.<\/p>\n

#134: The Mamas & The Papas
\niTunes stats: 81 plays
\nPrevious ranking:\u00a0#154<\/a><\/p>\n

Together for only four years in the mid-to-late 60s, the influential vocal group, inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, added 26 new plays for across the three songs in my collection.<\/p>\n

#134: Warren G
\niTunes stats: 81 plays
\nPrevious ranking:\u00a0#154<\/a><\/p>\n

The stepbrother of Dr. Dre combines the total from three tracks off his debut album to add 26 additional plays over these past five years.<\/p>\n

#133: John Travolta
\niTunes stats: 82 plays
\nPrevious ranking: #117<\/a><\/p>\n

The 71-year-old actor combines his contributions to two movie soundtracks, Grease<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Pulp Fiction<\/em>, to add thirteen additional listens.<\/p>\n

#129: Matthew Sweet
\niTunes stats: 83 plays
\nPrevious ranking:\u00a0#164<\/a><\/p>\n

After seeing him in concert back in\u00a02017<\/a>, I added two new tracks to the three already in my collection, which combined for 30 new plays over these past five years.<\/p>\n

#129: Bruce Springsteen
\niTunes stats: 83 plays
\nPrevious ranking: #120<\/a><\/p>\n

The Boss adds fifteen new listens while dropping nine spots on the list thanks to the four tunes in my collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Music.\u00a0 It is a powerful thing that brings people together, creates memories, and evokes emotions.\u00a0 It is the universal language that speaks to the soul.\u00a0 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[12356,959,981,93,4884,1060,328,528,1105,539,1790,516,3432,3999,303,4015,477],"class_list":["post-23743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","tag-blue-origin","tag-bruce-springsteen","tag-color-me-badd","tag-dr-dre","tag-grease","tag-hootie-the-blowfish","tag-itunes","tag-john-travolta","tag-katy-perry","tag-matthew-sweet","tag-pulp-fiction","tag-ramones","tag-rock-roll-hall-of-fame","tag-sting","tag-the-mamas-the-papas","tag-the-police","tag-warren-g"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23743"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23838,"href":"https:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23743\/revisions\/23838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}