The Singles Project
Through most of my life, I’ve paid little attention to thinking about what is popular. Some of the musical artists I like have been popular, some haven’t.
Similarly, I haven’t paid much attention to what was released as a single and what hasn’t, but about 10 years ago, I started thinking about The Singles Project.
What are my favorite songs that were released as singles? I went through each year in history, and made quick mixes based on the songs I already knew and liked. Even with minimal effort, they turned out great. By reducing the music I like into just the music geared toward mass consumption, and knowing my personal tastes leaned away from more pop-minded work, I was left with engaging playlists that straddled the line between familiar and esoteric, enjoyable songs that (mostly) weren’t overplayed.
Of course, I still had more exploring to do, so I set a task for myself. Listen to 1,000+ singles released in 1963, what I considered a great start for exploring mass media in general, and make a mix. Then repeat for each of the next 50 years. The mix turned out great, and I started on 1964, only to promptly abandon the project.
After starting my A Million Songs project, and stalling out on that, I thought about revisiting The Singles Project. I thought maybe being stuck in one time period was something that soured me on the project, so I went through each year and exported a list of up to 2,000 singles (1,000 in the rock genre, and 1,000 in every genre besides rock), and started listening to them in alphabetical order by song. It’s been a very rewarding experience, and I’ve finished four mixes so far – singles that begin with numbers, non-alphanumerics, and songs that begin with the word A. I think they’ve turned out great, and you can find them below. I’m currently working further into the letter A.