Last.fm Best of 2009 Newspaper by Chris Govias

December 2009 | LONDON | FREE

ONLINE: www.last.fm/bestof/2009

THE HOTTEST NEW MUSIC, BASED ON YOUR SCROBBLES

SPECIAL »

Taylor Swift

Bat For Lashes Florence + The Machine

COMICS & GAMES

LAST.FM BEST OF 2009

INSIDE: TOP 40 ARTISTS OF THE YEAR »

La Roux Depeche Mode

Regina Spektor

pop

female vocalists

The Prodigy

Passion Pit

Lily Allen

Lady GaGa

Kelly Clarkson

electronic

Britney Spears

Beyoncé

Fever Ray

Röyksopp

Animal Collective

experimental Grizzly Bear

The Killers

indie

The xx

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

THE MUSIC UNIVERSE IN 2009

Franz Ferdinand

Phoenix

Kasabian

Metric

Arctic Monkeys

alternative

post hardcore

The Fray

A Day To Remember

Muse

Placebo

Green Day

alternative rock

Paramore

LEGEND

rock

Nickelback

PLANETS »Top tags of 2009 MOONS »Top artists of 2009 » Light side shows growth this year; dark side is last year’s listening » Moons clustered together denote artist similarity ORBITS » Show the correlation between the artist and tag

Fall Out Boy The All American Rejects

hip hop

Eminem

Black Eyed Peas

Kanye West

hard rock

Guns n’ Roses

2 | December 2009

LAST.FM BEST OF 2009 THE HOTTEST NEW MUSIC, BASED ON YOUR SCROBBLES

Hello, and welcome to LAST.FM’S BEST OF 2009 – newspaper edition. It’s been an exciting year, both for popular music and the

Our personalised radio service (www.last.fm/radio) got

Last.fm team. As we reached our seventh birthday we saw

a makeover as well – we added visuals for you to watch

outsider acts like Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear get

while you listen. We also made it easier to see and

mainstream exposure, listened to Kanye being berated

explore what your friends are listening to; relaunched

by President Barack Obama, and witnessed the birth of

our community hub (www.last.fm/community), giving

a new wave of female electro-pop queens. We mourned

listeners more opportunities to interact; and developed

with you when Michael Jackson passed away and turned

a Fantasy Festival game with Sony (http://bit.ly/

our stereos up together for one final moonwalk.

fantasyfest).

At Last.HQ, 2009 was the year that we expanded beyond

All of which means that only Last.fm can give you the

the desktop and made ourselves at home in your living

clearest snapshot of what people have listened to this

room. We launched our Xbox LIVE app (www.last.fm/xbox),

year. Among every scrobble of the last twelve months –

and within days over a million new listeners joined. We

all 14,358,275,870 of them (really!) – these are the

also launched our Android application (http://www.last.

most popular artists of 2009.

THE

TOP 40 OF 2009

GET MORE ON THE WEB Browse more data, tags, event photos and your personal listening history overlaid at www.last.fm/bestof/2009

HOT NEW ARTIST

KASABIAN 3,159,766

album scrobbles

LITTLE BOOTS 2,934,935

album scrobbles

fm/hardware/android), the mobile platform joining a long list of phones, mp3 players, websites, and hardware

So sit down, make yourselves comfortable, and we’ll

devices that support Last.fm’s scrobbling* or radio

count you in.

services – over five hundred to date. Now you can connect with Last.fm wherever you go.

— Team Last.fm

* scrobble: skrob·bul (ˈskrɒbəll) [verb] To automatically add the tracks you play to your Last.fm profile through a variety of supported media players and devices (scrobblers). 1. If I'm not scrobbling the music I hear, it doesn't count!

So Much Love Width indicates the number of

Produced by Anil Bawa-Cavia using 3,606,823

scrobbles; darkness indicates

plays from 1,432,458 listeners who loved MJ

the number of times loved

tracks 46,032 times on Last.fm

Since their debut album in 2004, British band Kasabian have been stomping around the UK charts. Produced by Dan The Automator (the mastermind behind Gorillaz’ first An overnight success in British Pop

album), West Ryder Pauper Lunatic

in 2009, Little Boots picked up a cult

Asylum debuted at number one in

following with her Tenori-On covers.

the UK charts shortly after its June

She soon found herself booked on UK

release. The album saw the band

tastemaker Jools Holland’s Later...

adopt a heavy sound, leaving a lot of

show and in the pages of Rolling Stone

space for trippy flourishes. The album’s

as ‘one to watch’. Recently, ‘Stuck on

popularity peaked a few weeks after

Repeat’ has shot to the top of the

release around the time of Kasabian’s

chart, after featuring in trailers for the

Glastonbury performance.

latest series of Heroes, among others.

MICHAEL JACKSON

HOT NEW ARTIST

Original Solo Recordings

1972 – 1997

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE 3,015,277

REGINA SPEKTOR 3,174,871

album scrobbles

Moscow born Regina Spektor began her career gigging in New York’s Lower East Side and landed international British singer Florence Welsh started

attention with her major label debut,

making a mark in early 2008, her

2004’s Soviet Kitsch. Tracks ‘Eet’

shows carving out a place for a

and ‘The Calculation’ – from Far,

theatrical stage set-up and glam

Spektor’s fifth album – sneaked into

outfits long before her music became

her top ten most-scrobbled chart.

Without a doubt,

a fixture on TV soundtracks and

Vocal gymnastics are an excellent

Michael Joseph Jackson

idents. Lungs was released alongside

description of her live sets, which

claimed a place in the hearts of music

a slew of live dates and festival

manage to whisper and scream within

fans around the world. When the King of Pop collapsed in his

performances, but it was a b-side that

moments.

L.A. mansion in June, the world seemed to find out at once.

started to get the most attention:

On Last.fm, we saw a spike of 50,000 scrobbles/hour the day MJ died. 3 days later, scrobbles had only dropped to 30,000 scrobbles per hour.

OCT ‘08

25 JUN, ‘09

NOV ‘09

‘Dog Days...’ featured a cover of Candi Staton’s power ballad ‘You’ve Got The

Daily scrobbles jumped from 175

Love’, and it became a favourite on

thousand to 2.8 million overnight.

Last.fm within weeks.

December 2009 | 3

LEARN MORE ABOUT THESE ARTISTS ON LAST.FM

The Top 40 Chart

HOT NEW ARTIST

We compiled the list by looking at everyone’s scrobbles for albums released between 1st October 2008 and 16th November 2009. We took out live albums, greatest hits collections, EP’s and singles before pulling them together into this lean, mean format. “Hot new artists” on this list rose most quickly in the charts.

FEVER RAY 4,007,356

GUNS N’ ROSES

album scrobbles

4,186,626

album scrobbles

U2 4,108,271

album scrobbles

Scrobbles for U2 and Depeche Mode were

HOT NEW ARTIST

34 36

THE FRAY 3,589,061

album scrobbles

incredibly close, but the

THE XX 3,748,059

Irish rockers just pipped the electropop godfathers to a place in the Top

album scrobbles

30 of 2009. This year they released No Line on the Horizon, an epic affair

THE

that saw the band enlist Brian Eno in the songwriting process. Perhaps unsurprisingly though, it’s U2’s back

Another legendary band born of the

catalogue that dominate their charts,

1980s, Guns N’ Roses has featured

and it’s a collection of tracks that bear

a little over 20 members since its

repeat listening. U2 haven’t slowed

original four-piece line-up. Just as the

down in 30 years, and continue their

polls closed on last year’s Last.fm ‘Best

360º Tour well into Summer 2010.

Of 2008’ the group released their sixth

Three-piece The xx hail from South

Better known as one half of The Knife,

studio album – Chinese Democracy –

London, graduates of the same

Karin Dreijer Andersson recorded

and at the start of the year it was all

school that brought the world Hot

Fever Ray in 2008. Laced with

anyone could talk about.

Chip, Four Tet and Burial. There must

darkness and abstract lyricism, there’s

be something in the water: dark

a dream-like element to the album

Without question one of the most

soundscapes, hollow spaces, and

which live sets and promo videos have

eagerly anticipated albums of the

Continuing in the fine tradition of

bleak whistles and beeps are common

played up. Last.fm listeners seem to

last decade Chinese Democracy had

college rock bands across North

to the four groups but, in The xx, the

be enjoying Fever Ray as an album;

attained something of a mythical

America, The Fray are the latest

music comes with whispered vocals

many tracks have scrobbled similarly,

status after languishing for more

four-piece to step into the spotlight

and dream pop flourishes. One of the

no one ‘single’ leaping away from the

than ten years in production hell. It

after becoming small-town heroes in

most hyped artists this year, listener

pack. For an artist concerned with the

was rumoured to be an experimental

Denver, Colorado. They originally came

favourites include ‘Crystalised’ and

fidelity of the listening experience

epic, a concept album, perhaps even

into prominence with ‘How To Save a

‘Infinity’.

that’s probably how Andersson would

a multi-disc release to rival the band’s

want it.

original plans for Use Your Illusion;

Life’, the title track from their debut album, which appeared in TV spots

those legends became something

and soundtracks for Ghost Whisperer,

Last.fm listeners found infectious.

Cold Case and Grey’s Anatomy. Since their second 2009 album, ‘You Found Me’ and ‘Never Say Never’ have jockeyed for position in the band’s

EMINEM 3,981,558

album scrobbles

DEPECHE MODE 4,062,690

album scrobbles

Last.fm chart.

As one of the most popular (and influential) acts of the ‘80s and with almost 60 million total scrobbles to date, Depeche Mode share at least some of the responsibility for the swathe of electro-pop artists in the last decade. Their twelfth release, Sounds of the Universe, came out in April. With more than 3/4 million scrobbles so far, singles ‘Wrong’ and ‘Peace’ have become entrenched in the band’s top tracks scrobbled this year. 26,196 people on Last.fm saw

Depeche Mode in 2009

METRIC 3,729,669

at 37 festivals 26%

album scrobbles

74%

at 207 gigs

Toronto-based Metric have been on the cusp of shattering pop

Depeche Mode’s influence: This graph depicts listenership (normalised) since 2006,

charts since the release of Live It Out

comparing a primary artist against a set of related artists (determined by overlaps

in 2005. Songwriter Emily Haines

listenership, tags, and other measures of similarity).

admitted that much of the album Dave Gahan Martin L. Gore

material for this year’s Fantasies Aires, where she tried to shrug off the

Marshall Mathers (a.k.a. Slim Shady,

pressure of the music press. It seems

a.k.a. Eminem) has been an almost

to have worked. Fantasies peaked

permanent fixture on the musical

with the release of ‘Sick Muse’ in

landscape since 1999. This year he

June. The band will reportedly appear

dropped Relapse, laced with the

on the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

trademark skits and half-stories

soundtrack in 2010.

fans have come to know Eminem for.

De/Vision Erasure

And One Pet Shop Boys

Depeche Mode

Listenership

came from an escape to Buenos

Recoil Camouflage

Relapse wasn’t the instant critical success his previous albums have been, but despite that, ‘We Made You’ is currently his most popular track of the year on Last.fm. Jan 06 Apr

Jul

Oct

Jan 07

Apr

Jul

Oct

Jan 08

Apr

Jul

Oct

Jan 09

Apr

Jul

Oct

4 | December 2009

LAST.FM BEST OF 2009 THE HOTTEST NEW MUSIC, BASED ON YOUR SCROBBLES

NickELback 4,206,021

album scrobbles

HOT NEW ARTIST

Nickelback returned at

BAT FOR LASHES 4,244,287

album scrobbles

RÖYKSOPP 4,544,025

album scrobbles

the close of 2008 with Dark Horse, an album which saw the Canadian rockers do, well, exactly what they usually do: produce a slick pop-rock record filled with the kind of anthems that slip

effortlessly into radio playlists. The record spawned no less than seven single releases, and it is a testament

A DAY TO REMEMBER 4,671,908

album scrobbles

to (songwriter and lead vocalist)

Natasha Khan’s performances as

One of the hardest touring bands in

show audiences throwing themselves

Chad Kroeger’s pop sensibility that

Bat For Lashes have captivated

the Best of 2009, A Day To Remember

around before the band, who have

so many stand-alone tracks could be

audiences since debut release Fur

are a post-hardcore five-piece

learned to play a tight and furious live

culled from one offering. Nickelback

and Gold in 2006. With a theatrical

Electronic duo Röyksopp hail from

hailing from Ocala, Florida. In 2009

set in their five years of touring. In

shot to fame in 2001 with ‘How You

live set, the British-born singer

Bergen, Norway, and are the standard

they played 276 sets, 80 of them at

2010 A Day To Remember will embark

Remind Me’. It is perhaps that song’s

has revelled in striking outfits and

bearers of Scandinavian music. The

festivals, to more than 22,500 Last.fm

on tours of Australia, Japan and the

ubiquity which continues to raise

has been welcomed into artistic

band have singles spanning a ten year

fans, in support of their latest album

UK before returning to North America.

hackles among music journalists and

hotbeds, Brooklyn and Brighton, with

career, including ‘Eple’; their signature

Homesick.

reviewers. Although many admit that

open arms. For fans she has been a

track not so much known as a chart

the band have become “bulletproof”;

consistently surprising artist, often

topper, but as a bed for radio spots,

Homesick wasn’t a great experimental

their music is so perfectly pitched at

openly revealing a blend of the playful

adverts, soundtracks and montages

leap for A Day To Remember, but

a wider audience that commercial

and spiritual. Her exclusive interview

throughout the six years since it’s

listeners lapped up tracks like ‘The

success is an inevitability.

with Last.fm at San Francisco’s

release.

Downfall of Us All’ and ‘If It Means A

at 80 festivals

Lot To You’. Videos, littering YouTube,

at 197 gigs

Outlands Festival revealed a pet obsession with Steven Spielberg, as

The juvenile, poppy nature of ‘Eple’

well as a firm belief in the healing

can be found throughout their 2009

power of music.

offering Junior, an album which saw contributions from Robyn, Lykke Li

THE ALL AMERICAN REJECTS 4,216,897

album scrobbles

Remember in 2009 69%

31%

ARCTIC MONKEYS 4,765,688

album scrobbles

and fellow Best of 2009 artist Karin

album, was released in April. In it,

Dreijer Andersson, a.k.a. Fever Ray.

Arctic Monkeys, four

Khan charts the journey of Pearl, an

Lead single and opening track ‘Happy

young men hailing

alter-ego she adopted while living

Up Here’ met with critical success and

in New York – a vapid, femme-fatale

quickly stamped its presence at the

been causing a stir in the UK since

counterpoint to her own considered,

top of Röyksopp’s most-played chart.

the release of ‘I Bet You Look Good

holistic self. Single ‘Daniel’ was a

The duo plan to follow up Junior with

On The Dancefloor’ in 2005. Initial

crossover hit, spun on daytime radio,

Senior in 2010.

comparisons to The Libertines proved

from Sheffield, have

clubnights and TV spots, particularly

both unpopular and unfair among

in her native UK.

listeners, as Alex Turner began to

GRIZZLY BEAR 4,792,656

album scrobbles

demonstrate a lyrical dexterity more befitting John Cooper Clarke than

All-American Rejects

their apparent southern equivalent.

HOT NEW ARTIST

broke into international ridiculously infectious track that has

Two Suns, Bat For Lashes’ second

Pop-rock group The

airplay lists with ‘Swing, Swing’, a

22,877 people on Last.fm saw A Day to

PASSION PIT 4,375,775

In 2009 the band released Humbug, their third full-length album, which

album scrobbles

they recorded with Josh Homme.

Just missing out on a Top Twenty

Last.fm. The single led to the band’s

With more than four and a half million

place are Grizzly Bear, a freak-folk

inclusion on soundtracks to The O.C.,

scrobbles since it came out in August,

outfit hailing from New York. Grizzly

Smallville and American Wedding, as

Last.fm listeners fell especially hard

Bear released their third album –

well as numerous sell-out headline

for lead single ‘Crying Lightning’.

Veckatimest – to widespread acclaim

been played over 800,000 times on

as well as surprising commercial

tours for the Oklahoma four-piece. Turner’s side project The Last Shadow

success; a sign that, in 2009, a huge

When The World Comes Down was

Puppets appeared in Last.fm’s Best

number of listeners were happy to

released just before Christmas 2008,

of 2008, making him the only artist

tackle apparently difficult work by

and Last.fm listeners stayed loyal to

to appear two years running. Shame

relatively unknown bands. They

the record over the year. The release

you didn’t make the Top 20 this time

recently broke into BBC Radio 1’s

though, hey Alex?

Playlist with their track ‘Two Weeks’,

scored the band a support slot on

Cambridge, Massachusetts five-piece

Blink-182’s Reunion Tour. The band

Passion Pit came hot on the tail of

resulting in daytime radio exposure for

appear on the Band Hero playlist and

last year’s most popular debut act

a band once associated with limited

will reportedly begin recording new

MGMT. With a quick line in danceable

vinyl releases.

material in 2010.

electronica, the band’s Chunk of

Manners opened with the stellar ‘Make

Change EP lit a fire in New York’s club

Light’, a rising, stomping track making

While the album’s scrobbles peaked

scene, despite its humble beginnings

the most of their clockwork rhythm

dramatically on release in May (an

as an anniversary gift for singer

section and Angelakos’ wild and

Michael Angelakos’ then-girlfriend.

spindly vocals. ‘Little Secrets’ followed,

The band have moved on from this

a surprise airplay favourite for the

haphazard start, following the EP

band, while ‘The Reeling’ brought the

with album Manners, one of the most

band a sound sometimes compared to

popular debuts on Last.fm this year.

‘Star Guitar’-era Chemical Brothers.

47,995 people on Last.fm saw Arctic Monkeys in 2009 83%

at 76 festivals at 92 gigs

unmastered version was widely played after being leaked earlier in the year), the number of listeners has

17%

been building steadily. Warp Records, known for their electronica output, have taken special care of the group, and more than 30,000 fans on Last.fm saw Grizzly Bear live this year.

December 2009 | 5

LEARN MORE ABOUT THESE ARTISTS ON LAST.FM HOT NEW ARTIST

Kicking off our top 20 are Londonbased synth-pop duo La Roux. They

LA ROUX 4,807,418

album scrobbles

PARAMORE

stormed the UK in 2009, with singles ‘Quicksand’ and ‘In For The Kill’ getting

5,066,577

album scrobbles

heavy rotation throughout the summer. La Roux’s career started with under the radar remixes and releases on Kitsuné before the debut dropped in June. Touted by music bloggers

In fact, it’s almost impossible

and journos on web and print, many

to mention Paramore without

were waiting for the pair to flop, but

mentioning Twilight. Part of the band’s

storming single ‘Bulletproof’ proved

reach is down to the film franchise, for

them wrong and paved the way for

which they’ve appeared prominently

a summer of attention on the festival

on both soundtracks. Tie-in videos

circuit. Singles and remixes have

and touring followed, and like it or not

kept scrobblers coming back, with

To the half-a-million Last.fm listeners

they’ve become the musical outlet

new edits and cuts being played over

who played Paramore’s latest album,

for the saga’s fans. None of which

the year.

this band needs no introduction.

gets in the way of some incredible

To those of you left, the Tennessee

pop-rock; over three albums Paramore

Touring heavily in 2009, you saw them play at festivals alongside Fever Ray and

five piece have become a global

Metric, rounding out a summer of electropop. La Roux will be on tour long into

rock phenomenon, a direct line to

pin-up for a generation of guys and

winning over an initially disdainful

2010, starting in North America in January then playing throughout Europe.

the bedrooms and headphones of

girls who are just as happy in a mosh

Kerrang! and courting the respect of

teenagers everywhere. The band is

pit as in a bedroom reading books by

established bands like New Found

fronted by Hayley Williams, a new

Stephanie Meyer.

Glory and Jimmy Eat World.

When Placebo formed in 1994 they probably never expected to be the chart bothering heroes of Brit-rock

PLACEBO 4,807,418

album scrobbles

they are now. The London-based band are a perennial favourite in festival line-ups, and have stretched

have honed their heavy ballads,

PHOENIX 5,083,286

album scrobbles

way beyond their initial black-clad, eyeliner-smeared alternative fanbase. Part of a wave of bands that includes Muse and Incubus, Placebo’s latest effort Battle for the Sun had a popappeal that resulted a number one album throughout Europe and an MTV award. Battle For The Sun’s title track has all the erratic stomp and thrust of a

The hottest band in continental

skinny jeans. With a much-adoring

live belter, and ‘For What It’s Worth’

Europe – in fact, the most popular

fanbase and boosted by the release

sported a surprise chant-along chorus

artist in the Best of 2009 that doesn’t

of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, this

that resounded through the festival

hail from North America or the

year the four piece are on the cusp of

earlier this year the band confessed

circuit. They played 130 of them this

U.K. – French indie rockers Phoenix

stardom.

that the YouTube fan-video of the

year alone, reaching just shy of 50,000

have been releasing consistently

fans on Last.fm in total. As you’ve

charming and infectious indie-pop

The band’s fourth album was

The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink,

since 2000’s United. Spawned from

previewed with ‘1901’, a jerky single

Footlose and more – might well be

the same culture that brought the

sharing a bit in common with Modest

the band’s “best video”, despite the

world Daft Punk and Air, the band

Mouse and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.

official big-budget offering shot at

bring precise, playful electronics to a

First single proper, ‘Lisztomania’,

Bayreuth Festspielhaus. It’s a sign of

world dominated by serious men in

followed soon after. In an interview

just how dedicated their audience are.

guessed, Placebo are a ridiculously hard-working live act. 2010 will see them on the road until at least March, and it’s a fair bet that they’ll make a few more appearances with the return of the sun.

KELLY CLARKSON 4,943,886

album scrobbles

50,465 people on Last.fm saw Placebo in 2009 82%

18%

at 131 festivals at 107 gigs

Following the troubled release of My

Carrie Underwood Jordin Sparks

December came All I Ever Wanted, a

track – featuring clips from

Katharine McPhee P!nk

Ashlee Simpson Katy Perry

Ashley Tisdale Lindsay Lohan

Kelly Clarkson

surprisingly danceable record that made the most of her natural vocal talents by playing them off against

Opening single ‘My Life Would Suck Without You’ made history by leaping

Listenership

auto-tuned and programmed cuts.

96 places in the Billboard 100 on its January release. It was a perfect trail for the album to come. Back with a dance beat and boasting a supercharged chorus it sounded like a celebration for the singer after the darker My December. It was soon

Jan 06 Apr

Jul

Oct

Jan 07

Apr

Jul

Oct

Jan 08

Apr

Jul

Oct

Jan 09

Apr

Jul

Oct

followed by ‘I Do Not Hook Up’, a song Hard to believe that it’s been seven

originally recorded by Katy Perry for

years since Kelly Clarkson won the

her unreleased album (A) Katy Perry,

first series of American Idol in 2002.

and it returned to her pop-rock roots.

Kelly Clarkson’s influence: This graph depicts listenership (normalised) since 2006, comparing a primary artist against a set of related artists (determined by overlaps listenership, tags, and other measures of similarity).

6 | December 2009

LAST.FM BEST OF 2009 THE HOTTEST NEW MUSIC, BASED ON YOUR SCROBBLES

LONDON VS. MONTH-BY-MONTH LISTENING OCT 08

NOV 08

DEC 08

JAN 09

FEB 09

MAR 09

APR 09

British artist Lily Allen is just as successful at home as she is abroad with her second record It’s Not Me, It’s You, released in February (in the UK and elsewhere). Londoners aren’t as fussed by Britney Spears’ Circus as the rest of the world, despite it selling over 505,000 units in its first week. (Released worldwide in December)

OCT ‘08

FEB ‘09

NOV ‘09

Londoners take notice of Bat For Lashes before the rest of the world with her single ‘Daniel’ in February, from her April album release ‘Two Suns’.

PETER BRODERICK

LONDON ANIMAL COLLECTIVE GIRLS ALOUD

LADY GAGA

BAT FOR LASHES

BRITNEY SPEARS KANYE WEST

TAYLOR SWIFT

RÖYKSOPP

A DAY TO REMEMBER

KELLY CLARKSON

THE LONELY ISLAND

BAT FOR LASHES

THE LONELY ISLAND

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE

RÖYKSOPP YEAH YEAH YEAHS

LILY ALLEN LADY GAGA

NICKELBACK

KANYE WEST

THE PRODIGY

DEPECHE MODE

OCT ‘08

American band Animal Collective takes the world by storm. Tagged “experimental” by fans on Last.fm, they’re the only band of this appellation to make the Top 40 this year.

OCT 08

DOVES

PET SHOP BOYS

BRITNEY SPEARS

THE WORLD

THE PRODIGY

FALL OUT BOY

THE ALL AMERICAN REJECTS

THE KILLERS

BAT FOR LASHES

LILY ALLEN

NOV 08

DEC 08

JAN 09

* Derived from the Top 1000 artists of the year. Artists eligible for inclusion must have released a full-length album of new material between Oct ’08 – Nov ’09.

FEB - MAR ‘09

NOV ‘09

Yeah Yeah Yeah’s It’s Blitz! gets leaked on the internet in February. The original April release date gets pushed forward to the beginning of March. The album puts them in the top 10 for the year.

FEB 09

MAR 09

APR 09

The sections in this graph illustrate the top 15 artists in each month, for London (in colour) and the world (in grey).

December 2009 | 7

LEARN MORE ABOUT THESE ARTISTS ON LAST.FM

THE WORLD TRENDS FOR LONDON IN 2009* MAY 09

JUN 09

JUL 09

AUG 09

SEP 09

OCT 09

NOV 09

The xx had some solid early adopters, and consistently high plays since.

Little Boots’ popularity continues as she plays 63 summer festivals.

British fans take to the freak-folk sounds of Grizzly Bear after their UK album tour – later landing them a sold-out concert at the Barbican with the London Symphony Orchestra in late October.

OCT ‘08

Two hot new artists to emerge from London this year – La Roux and Little Boots – remained talked about but not listened to until their summer debut album releases.

As promotion starts for the second Twilight film (New Moon, released in November in the UK and US), Paramore’s popularity continues to surge, and their scrobbles jump to 1.4M at the beginning of September, triple what they were at the end of August.

THE CRIBS REGINA SPEKTOR

EMINEM MANIC STREET PREACHERS

LILY ALLEN YEAH YEAH YEAHS LADY GAGA

THE MACCABEES

ARCTIC MONKEYS GRIZZLY BEAR

LITTLE BOOTS

KASABIAN

GREEN DAY

ENTER SHIKARI

THE HORRORS

PHOENIX

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE

PLACEBO

CALVIN HARRIS

LA ROUX

JAMIE T

FRANKMUSIK

LADY GAGA

EMINEM

THE TEMPER TRAP BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB

LITTLE BOOTS

THE XX

MUSE

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE

THE MACCABEES

PARAMORE

NOAH AND THE WHALE REGINA SPEKTOR

TAYLOR SWIFT

BRAND NEW

ALL TIME LOW

LA ROUX

THE KILLERS

GREEN DAY

SEP ‘09 NOV ‘09

LA ROUX

BRITNEY SPEARS

CHERYL COLE WILD BEASTS

PARAMORE

LILY ALLEN

ARCTIC MONKEYS

PHOENIX

LADY GAGA

MUSE

GRIZZLY BEAR

GREEN DAY PHOENIX

ENTER SHIKARI

OWL CITY

THE XX

JAY-Z

OCT ‘08

London-based Placebo play 131 festivals this year. Most of these are continental (Bilbao, Rock Am Ring and Pukkelpop amongst others), netting them international scrobbles.

MAY 09

JUN 09

JUL 09

DEVELOPERS & DESIGNERS: download a data dump of the top 1000 artists of 2009 to make your own data visualisations: www.last.fm/bestof/2009/about

SEP ‘09 NOV ‘09

British band Muse surge from 631K to 2.5M tracks scrobbled globally in September with their release The Resistance.

AUG 09

SEP 09

OCT 09

NOV 09

8 | December 2009

LAST.FM BEST OF 2009 THE HOTTEST NEW MUSIC, BASED ON YOUR SCROBBLES

BLACK EYED PEAS 5,280,181

album scrobbles

HOT NEW ARTIST

Hailing from Los

Angeles, Black Eyed Peas have been around

TAYLOR SWIFT 5,512,011

album scrobbles

for a little over a decade. The E.N.D. dropped in June. Founder Pea and producer will.i.am to talks about his vision of music for the future in relation to the album: “I’m trying to break away from the concept of an album. What is an album when you put 12 songs on iTunes and people can pick at it like scabs? That’s not an album. There is no album anymore.” Despite that, his band’s album proved a popular relic of how music used to be, with almost a million Last.fm listeners trying tracks like ‘I Gotta Feeling’ and ‘Boom Boom Pow’.

Formerly a MySpace sensation, Taylor Swift is an accomplished songwriter, balancing the ticks and limitations of country with a pop sensibility. Her music has a high-gloss charm that avoids the aggressively sexual pop of her rivals for a sweeter, more heartfelt approach to life and love. A record you’ve been listening to for much of the last year – and one of the oldest eligible albums in the chart – Swift’s sophomore album Fearless was released in November 2008 and became an international success. It

won over new fans quickly enough

MUSE 5,362,926

to become the 13th hottest artist of the year at Last.fm, long before the

album scrobbles

VMA incident. That brought Swift

In a sleepy village in English county

and Kanye West to the attention of

Devon, a band came together that

the world’s press not for winning an

would later take over the world. Muse

award (‘You Belong with Me’ had won

remain one of the startling successes

Best Video at the MTV bash) but for

of British Pop music; a three-piece

the interruption. On the plus side,

that once appeared to be little more

her scrobbles rose, and Swift has

than Radiohead-aping miserablists

remained popular since.

have evolved into glam-evoking prog-rock stadium legends. In 2003 they released epic space-opera Absolution and took their incredible

live show around the world for two years, following it up with Black Holes & Revelations in 2006. Hotly anticipated, The Resistance was released in September, and in that short time it’s generated five and

15–8

FALL OUT BOY 5,512,011

album scrobbles

Originally scattered through Illinois, Fall Out Boy formed in the early days of 2001. They broke onto MTV with From Under The Cork Tree, which spawned hit singles ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down’ and ‘Dance, Dance’, and the four-piece has since become a radio fixture.

a half million scrobbles. Prior to its release Last.fm listeners had been

Folie à Deux was released in December 2008, featuring appearances by Pharrell,

scrobbling the band’s back catalog

Panic! at the Disco and Debbie Harry. It landed the band a slot on blink-182’s

heavily, but tracks old (‘Supermassive

reunion tour line-up as well as several hundred thousand scrobbles. Track ‘What

Black Hole’, ‘Time Is Running Out’) and

a Catch, Donnie’ featured an epic array of collaborators, including Elvis Costello,

new (‘Uprising’, ‘Undisclosed Desires’)

and boasted a suitably epic promo to accompany it.

shot up afterwards and remain high.

December 2009 | 9

LEARN MORE ABOUT THESE ARTISTS ON LAST.FM

BRITNEY SPEARS 6,268,504

album scrobbles

YEAH YEAH YEAHS 6,885,404

album scrobbles

their position as an all-powerful group with the release of Tell Me What Rockers To Swallow.

Now one of the defining bands of the decade,

They returned in 2009 with It’s Blitz!,

many assumed that

an album that surprised fans and

Brooklyn’s Yeah Yeah Yeahs would

listeners with its surprisingly upbeat

melt away after their 2003 debut

tone, light melodies and a slew of

Fever To Tell, like so many young

indie-club floor-fillers. ‘Heads will Roll’

art-rock sensations had done before

and ‘Zero’ shot up the band’s chart.

them. It took three years of writing,

Their scrobbles reached a new peak

recording and touring but follow up

over festival season and as Karen O’s

Show Your Bones proved that wrong;

soundtrack for Where The Wild Things

this band stepped up, cementing

Are started generating attention.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ influence: This graph depicts listenership (normalised) since 2006, comparing a primary artist against a set of related artists (determined by overlaps listenership, tags, and other measures of similarity).

The Kills Metric

Interpol Be Your Own Pet

Arcade Fire The Gossip

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Florence + The Machine Franz Ferdinand

in pop, Britney Spears launched her

Spears cast personal problems aside

comeback campaign late in 2008 with

to record Circus, her sixth studio

the release of Circus. The Mississippi

album. ‘Womanizer’ was the first

native played 97 dates to almost

single, released in Autumn 2008,

one million people, and took in more

and Last.fm listeners went crazy for

than $83,000,000 at the box office.

it. Despite that, she has vied for the

Listeners have played tracks from

top spot of ‘Most Unwanted’ with Katy

Circus over six million times – not

Perry, Rihanna and Lady GaGa over the

bad for someone the tabloid press

last twelve months. Does the phrase

came close to writing off at the start

‘Guilty Pleasure’ mean anything to any

of 2008.

of you?

Listenership

One of the most powerful women

Jan 06 Apr

KANYE WEST 6,615,339

album scrobbles

Jul

Oct

Jan 07

Apr

Jul

Oct

Jan 08

Apr

Jul

Jan 09

Apr

Jul

Oct

It’s been fifteen years since Green

GREEN DAY 7,607,693

Oct

Day erupted onto MTV with ‘Basket album scrobbles

Case’. Hailing from California, the three bratty boys began spouting what would become the cliches that

It might have been

continue to define pop-punk to this

impossible to escape

day. After six albums the band took

Kanye West’s face this

a four year break and, after a sly side

year, as his MTV Awards interruption

project, came back with American

became one of the year’s fastest

Idiot, an album that sought to define

spreading memes. West popped

opposition to globalisation and its

up all over the internet to steal

macabre figurehead George W. Bush.

the limelight and make hamfisted

Songs like ‘Boulevard of Broken

apologies, while even U.S. President

Dreams’ and ‘American Idiot’ top the

Barack Obama branded him a jackass.

band’s chart, although the release of 21st Century Breakdown mixed things

Released in November 2008, 808s

up a little.

and Heartbreak is the rapper’s fourth studio album. Reportedly recorded

The band’s eighth studio album, a

in just three weeks, the sound of the

three act concept narrative, loosely

album marked a huge departure for

tells the story of Gloria and Christian

West. Last.fm listeners responded

and their troubled romance in the

with repeat plays and loved tracks,

faltering hours following the Bush

pushing old favourite ‘Jesus Walks’

Administration. Lead single ‘Know

out of his top five tracks with new

Your Enemy’ stomped around the

cuts ‘Heartless’ and ‘Love Lockdown’.

radio all summer, angry and bitter,

–Yo, Kanye, I’m really happy you made

trailing the new album and its seven

the top ten, and I’mma let you finish,

million scrobbles wonderfully. It was

but we just gotta check out the next

soon followed by ‘21 Guns’, ‘East Jesus

artist, who had one of the top nine

Nowhere’ and the title track as Last.fm

tracks of the year.

fans lapped up the new record.

10 | December 2009

LAST.FM BEST OF 2009 THE HOTTEST NEW MUSIC, BASED ON YOUR SCROBBLES

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE 8,642,704

album scrobbles

FRANZ FERDINAND 8,795,186

album scrobbles

While pop rules the Best of 2009

Scrobbles of the band’s back catalogue

pretty unashamedly, the success of

had always been consistent but

Part of the wave of guitar rock to come

Reportedly unhappy with second

Animal Collective proves that a wider

modest, however Merriweather Post

out of Britain in the early ‘00s, Franz

album You Could Have It So Much

audience has developed a taste for

Pavilion opened them up to a huge

Ferdinand have been one of the most

Better, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand saw

some of the stranger sides of the

number of new listeners. The drop

successful of their contemporaries

the band adopt a more dancefloor

genre in the last few years. Alongside

off of listeners proved much slower

despite only having released three

friendly sound, with tracks ‘Ulysses’

fellow Best Of act Grizzly Bear, the

than many of their fellow top twenty

albums. The band formed in Glasgow,

and ‘No You Girls’ returning to the

four-piece collective have brought

acts, as ‘My Girls’ became a surprise

the members linked through previous

jerky pop of early singles ‘Take Me Out’

experimental pop and freak folk to

radio hit and ‘Summertime Clothes’

bands, art school and the famously

and ‘This Fire’. They toured heavily

the airwaves, becoming one of the

became one of the summer’s indie

supportive music scene in Scotland’s

supporting the record, reaching more

most frequently referenced bands

anthems, helped along by mainstream

second city.

than 44,000 Last.fm concert-goers

of 2009 on classic album polls and

tastemakers like David Letterman.

7–4

this year. They also found time to

indie charts.

squeeze in a cover of Britney Spears’ ‘Womanizer’, a song since reputed to be one of their most requested.

BEYONCÉ 8,642,704

The Fighting Temptations she stayed album scrobbles

in the spotlight while Destiny’s Child disbanded.

Beyoncé Knowles began her pop career

At the close of 2008 she released

with Destiny’s Child

I Am... Sasha Fierce which spawned

THE PRODIGY 8,642,704

album scrobbles

addiction and rehab, and continually

years to regroup after Always

released commercially successful

Outnumbered, Never Outgunned,

hard dance music. Despite several

and while they had never officially

thousand fewer listeners of Invaders

left the band it may have taken

Must Die than Tonight: Franz

some persuading to bring original

in 1997, the group forming around

eight singles internationally. Most

a Texas high school. The all-girl

of her current top ten are from the

line-up continually shuffled during

album, proving Last.fm listeners have

Big beat pioneers The

Ferdinand, The Prodigy still nudged

members Keith Flint and Maxim back

its ten year career and Beyoncé

yet to get bored of it. The album’s

Prodigy can boast an

past the Glasweigian rockers and into

into the fold. It resulted in a powerful

found solo success with guest spots

success, her talents as a singer, and

almost 20 year career

number four.

album, worthy of the band’s best. The

on ‘03 Bonnie and Clyde’ and ‘The

her open support of Barack Obama

since they emerged from Essex in

Closer I Get To You’, before releasing

while campaigning for the Democratic

1990. Since then the band have

Invaders Must Die was a long time

including headline events at England’s

2003’s Dangerously In Love, a chart

party nomination resulted in Knowles

headlined festivals, survived drug

coming; it took Liam Howlett several

National Bowl.

success. With roles in Dreamgirls,

performing ‘America The Beautiful’ at

Austin Powers in Goldmember and

his inauguration ceremony in January.

band will be touring long into 2010,

December 2009 | 11

LEARN MORE ABOUT THESE ARTISTS ON LAST.FM

THE TOP

LILY ALLEN 10,522,633

album scrobbles

LADY GAGA 18,487,195

album scrobbles

Given that Lady GaGa’s

Perhaps the first true MySpace

It’s Not Me, It’s You dropped in

style and sounds have

sensation, Lily Allen became a

February, and Last.fm listeners

superstar after demos of tracks ‘LDN’

immediately played it in earnest.

pop it may only surprise a few of you

and ‘Smile’ first began circulating

Allen’s album generated almost

that she’s stormed to the top of our

on her page. Largely unnoticed by

2 million more scrobbles than

listener chart. The Fame has proved

her label initially, they were soon

The Prodigy’s effort, perhaps in part

to be the most impressive, assured,

bombarded with press requests. In

due to the strength of tracks like

catchy and triumphant debut album

no time at all she had decamped to

twee bounce-along ‘Not Fair’ and

of the year, and possibly for a lot

a studio with Mark Ronson and Greg

‘Fuck You’. The centrepiece though

longer than that too. A fully-formed

Kurstin, and the group set about

remains ‘The Fear’, an honest and

star from the off, Lady GaGa brought

laying down one of the biggest pop

open track which echoes through

electro, hip-hop, pop, dance and

records of the decade. Allen’s debut

the speaker; a little confession that

a little dash of rock to the party, a

Alright, Still became a multi-platinum

perhaps she’s not quite at home in

lively cocktail that proved tough to

success around the world.

all this.

shake on radio stations, TV shows,

dominated the year in

soundtracks... pretty much anywhere with a speaker actually.

THE KILLERS 12,471,571

If The Fame is the album of the year

album scrobbles

then surely ‘Poker Face’ is the defining Day & Age was released last

track. While GaGa initially claimed

November, and fans of the band

the track was clearly about sex and

From a city famed for

had the record on heavy rotation

gambling, the New York native later

entertainment, illusion

for the year. Consistently high

revealed during a 2am set in Palm

and disappointment

scrobbles from more than two

Springs that the track related to her

The Killers haven’t done too badly.

million Last.fm listeners (one of

experiences as a bisexual. It remains

The Las Vegas foursome have

two Top 40 bands to reach so many

at the top of her artist scrobbles

released three albums since

this year) make them a force to be

week-in, week-out, often generating

single ‘Somebody Told Me’ lit up

reckoned with, and new material

as many as double the plays of

indie clubs back in 2003. Fronted

is hotly anticipated. If any tracks

singles ‘LoveGame’ and ‘Paparazzi’,

by the charismatic – sometimes

prove to be as catchy as ‘Human’,

and it has been such a success that

confrontational – Brandon Flowers,

or as epic as ‘Spaceman’, then they

Christopher Walken and Eric Cartman

the band have done more than

might just about budge ‘Somebody

have both been moved to cover it.

attract the kind of trendsetters that

Told Me’ and ‘Mr Brightside’ out of

program TV soundtracks: they’ve

their top tracks. Don’t hold your

charmed the world.

breath though.

1.3M

1.1M

955K

804K

636K

536K

318K

268K

0 WINTER

SPRING

SUMMER

AUTUMN

WINTER

SPRING

SUMMER

AUTUMN

12 | December 2009

LAST.FM BEST OF 2009 THE HOTTEST NEW MUSIC, BASED ON YOUR SCROBBLES

P H O N O G R A M

THE SINGLES CLUB #4 KONICHIWA BITCHES BY KIERON GILLEN AND JAMIE McKELVIE WITH MATT WILSON

THIS GUITARIST HAS LOST HIS LEGS!

CONNECT THE DOTS TO COMPLETE THE MEME*

START

4 14

6 7 8

END

Passion

Boots

Temper

Lips

16 15 14

Boys

Fever

Beetroots

Owl 6

12 11

Porcupine

7 8 9 10

NAME THE GENRE: * This emerging musical genre – inspired by the moves in a video from American band Attack Attack! – was among the fastest growing Last.fm tags of 2009.

Rabbits

Little Animal

18 17

HELP THESE TRENDY 2009 BANDS PUT THEMSELVES BACK TOGETHER BY MATCHING UP THEIR NAMES:

Bloody 3

3 13

ROCK STAR MIX-UP!

Indian Shakes Choir

Junior

Club

Harlem

Stilts

Volcano

Tree

Crystal

City

Black

Pit

White

Ray

Neon

Trap

Slow

Collective

LAST.FM BEST OF 2009 – THE CROSSWORD ACROSS 3 Medicine with no intended therapeutic effect

4 Forever agreeing 5 Passion Pit hopefully have 6 11 12 13 14 15 18 21 22 23 24

good ones Leaked in February The genius Chocolate sweet Put a ring on her Florence might need a set of these Ragged bit of material Vegetables in a fight Elly Jackson Take That and Britney both had a Tiny feet require The jealous part of the week

DOWN 1 2 3 7 8 9 10 16 17 19 20

Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer Total losers from the US The mythical bird and city Look down; genre Writers and artists need one Don’t wake this animal or you’ll get an angry one Canadian band and decimal based measuring system Radioactive Man’s sidekick Blind pianist with a temperature Bat For Lashes alter ego Monkeys have a sweet tooth for these traditional hard-boiled sweets

Cover: Night sky image remixed from content on jimkster’s Flickr photostream, under a Creative Commons license.

20 22