Last.fm Best of 2008

Wednesday, 3 December 2008
by Robin Lisle
filed under Announcements and Found On Last.fm
Comments: 36

While other annual retrospectives are based on editors’ picks or sales data, the Last.fm Best of 2008 list is based entirely on what the Last.fm community has been listening to this year and shows which artist, albums and tracks defined the musical landscape in 2008.

Last.fm Best of 2008

We compiled the list by looking at the data in a number of different ways to get a full picture of what you all listened to this year. First we looked at absolute numbers. It won’t surprise any followers of the Last.fm weekly charts to know that Coldplay, Radiohead and The Beatles topped the list. While Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends” certainly made an impact this year, many of the other artists had not released any new material, and we wanted to know what artists really made 2008 different. So, we decided to slice the data to show us which new artists really broke through this year. We chose to define “new” artists as artists who released their debut full-length album in 2008 in the UK, and we ranked them by total number of listeners. Check out who made the top ten here.

Next we looked at the top albums by scrobbles in 2008. When looking at all scrobbles in 2008 by album again we saw the weekly chart champions dominated the list. We then looked just at albums physically released in 2008 in the UK and ranked them by listeners, and came up with a list that shows what albums are this year’s classics. See if you can name all top ten and then score yourself here.

The top tracks of 2008 list (as you can probably guess by now) is made up of tracks released in 2008 and ranked by listeners. Who dominated the list: earnest rockers or that summer hit you couldn’t escape? Check it out here.

Finally, we put it all together in a radio for your listening enjoyment. To mix it up a bit and keep you guessing, we expanded the radio to include the top 30 artists, albums and tracks of 2008. If you’re feeling sleuthy, you can track down the source of the radio to see who didn’t quite make it to the top.

Enjoy!

Update: If you’re logged in on one of our international sites, please change your language to English to see http://www.last.fm/bestof/2008

Comments

  1. Perronaider
    3 December, 18:12

    Error 404

    Perronaider – 3 December, 18:12
  2. Jakob
    3 December, 18:23

    the link is broken.

    Jakob – 3 December, 18:23
  3. Flash Gordon
    3 December, 18:24

    = top 10 payola payers

    Flash Gordon – 3 December, 18:24
  4. philippe
    3 December, 19:09

    the link doesn’t work…

    philippe – 3 December, 19:09
  5. the internet
    3 December, 19:13

    just a general comment: YOUR SEARCH LOGIC SUCKS ASS

    the internet – 3 December, 19:13
  6. Adam
    3 December, 19:20

    Mine’s working.

    Where is Vampire Weekend?

    Adam – 3 December, 19:20
  7. Toby Padilla
    3 December, 19:22

    Just a note, but this hasn’t been ported to the international sites yet hence the 404 if you’re not on www.last.fm.

    Toby Padilla – 3 December, 19:22
  8. Robin Lisle
    3 December, 19:22

    Thanks for the heads up on the link. If you’re logged in on one of our international sites, please change your language to English to see http://www.last.fm/bestof/2008

    Robin Lisle – 3 December, 19:22
  9. Kimiko
    3 December, 19:41

    But what about the artists who the Last.fm users discovered in 2008? All you’d have to do to find those is to subtract the top artists of 2007 from those of 2008 I think, right?

    Kimiko – 3 December, 19:41
  10. Josh Savage
    4 December, 00:04

    An interesting comparison with the iTunes charts for 2008 from Mashable.

    Obviously many of us use iTunes but overall it shows how much cooler us Last.fm’ers are :) It’s very nice to see MGMT ranking so highly.

    Josh Savage – 4 December, 00:04
  11. Jelle
    4 December, 11:19

    “If you’re feeling sleuthy, you can track down the source of the radio to see who didn’t quite make it to the top.”

    How does one track down the source of the radio?

    Oh, and by the way: very nice work once again!

    Jelle – 4 December, 11:19
  12. treespotter
    4 December, 13:18

    just really need to stop by here and say that you guys really do some great stuff here.

    treespotter – 4 December, 13:18
  13. Fred
    4 December, 17:00

    2008 isnt over yet, so by definition… this data is all incorrect!

    Fred – 4 December, 17:00
  14. Chris
    4 December, 21:22

    Wouldn’t things have an advantage based on how early in the year they were released? Plus, it’s not that big a deal but there’s still a whole month left in 2008.

    Chris – 4 December, 21:22
  15. Autiste2000
    5 December, 05:39

    what about future album ?!?

    Autiste2000 – 5 December, 05:39
  16. 0mgz0rz
    5 December, 08:22

    Charts without The Beatles or Radiohead? This must be a first!

    0mgz0rz – 5 December, 08:22
  17. iPhone Fan
    5 December, 09:06

    Can’t believe that so many people like MGMT….can’t believe a 40 year old like me does in fact :)

    iPhone Fan – 5 December, 09:06
  18. James B
    5 December, 10:04

    That’s great, thanks for the list, pretty much predictable, but what’s hot for 2009? Surely you can tell us that? or is it still all Coldplay, Radiohead and Oasis?

    This is what the BBC thinks:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7758169.stm

    James B – 5 December, 10:04
  19. MP3 Music Download Site
    5 December, 11:09

    Wouldn’t things have an advantage based on how early in the year they were released? Plus, it’s not that big a deal but there’s still a whole month left in 2008.

    MP3 Music Download Site – 5 December, 11:09
  20. Roel van der Ven
    6 December, 19:18

    Nicely presented list y’all. I love these kind of trends, please do this more often!

    Roel van der Ven – 6 December, 19:18
  21. CA
    7 December, 18:27

    Since when does “the most popular” mean “the best”?

    CA – 7 December, 18:27
  22. muhh
    8 December, 13:29

    were can I change language to see the tops?? can’t find such option.

    muhh – 8 December, 13:29
  23. ismail yk
    10 December, 01:23

    Coldplay’s new album very cool and its #1.
    And, very thanks for best of 2008.

    ismail yk – 10 December, 01:23
  24. megadethnatic
    10 December, 15:04

    OK, I don’t even know one of those songs. I haven’t even heard the Coldplay-song.
    But that’s no surprise at all. But what’s the sense of those charts:
    Records that were released quite early get more scrobbles —> higher rank.

    megadethnatic – 10 December, 15:04
  25. tobyz1
    11 December, 15:17

    It didn’t make much of an impression on me, but then again I love last.fm for the ability to do such odd stuff as spend a day listening to jazz piano or a capella.

    Btw (and off-topic), is last.fm planning any changes to integrate the listeners of Yahoo’s Launchcast? The folks who post on Launchcast’s Yahoo group are all upset about CBS’s taking over Launchcast and in some unspecified way combining it with Last.fm. Imho, last.fm beats the pants off Launchcast, except that Launchcast has an explicit music rating system that shapes what is heard on a ‘personal’ radio station. Some people have invested huge amounts of time in rating thousands of tracks. They’re upset. I stopped listening to Launchcast when I discovered last.fm.

    tobyz1 – 11 December, 15:17
  26. djneilhowell
    12 December, 12:25

    http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=279191603

    djneilhowell – 12 December, 12:25
  27. Jevon
    16 December, 00:35

    The Bestof 2008 list is really awesome! I hope it becomes a regular end-of-year present :)

    Jevon – 16 December, 00:35
  28. Jeff
    17 December, 10:14

    Great list, I do like them all!
    I hope there´ll be another one next year. Perhaps you make it for every quarter.

    Jeff – 17 December, 10:14
  29. pumpkinlll
    18 December, 18:12

    It’s NOT based on listeners only, is it. What about Vampire Week-end?

    pumpkinlll – 18 December, 18:12
  30. Adam
    19 December, 15:28

    Sorry for saying that but this list is so wrong and inaccurate.

    Do you mean that the things which are overhyped by the media and overlistened by people are the best? This is hilarious, especially the top tracks – 3/4 is Coldplay.

    I’ll second the question – where is Vampire Weekend? Lost in progress?

    Adam – 19 December, 15:28
  31. Me
    21 December, 00:20

    Don’t you get it people? This is just statistics. Nothing more, nothing less. Not a list of the crew’s favourite artists, not a list of the best artists of 2008.

    Me – 21 December, 00:20
  32. sniffer2
    21 December, 04:15

    it is irritating that you cannot view the entire list on one page

    sniffer2 – 21 December, 04:15
  33. Cooking book
    22 December, 06:19

    Nicely presented list y’all. Thanks and greetings!

    Cooking book – 22 December, 06:19
  34. Somebody in Hong Kong
    22 December, 07:25

    I love the idea of giving a list of the most scorrble(?) tracks. However, I think tyou need to know 1 thing.

    It should be quite obvious by now that the majority of the last.fm community sticks to their favourite for a quite a long time(its not a must,in asia, the life of any song seldom last more than 3 weeks).It gives such an overwhelming advantage to those songs released in the beginning or middle of the year.

    Somebody in Hong Kong – 22 December, 07:25
  35. Caspar Wrede
    5 January, 11:07

    Hi Guys,

    Nice idea with the lists. I think you could make the whole thing even better with a few simple tweaks.

    For example:

    • For the Top Tracks list, introduce a rule that any artist can only be present once. This way you solve the “Coldplay problem” and the list immediately becomes more interesting.
    • Have a “Best newcomer” list, by not allowing artists that were present on the previous list.
    • Publish all best of lists more often, say once a month or once every two months. Make them more prominent on your site. Make sure to write something about each track/artist.

    In general I think you could do a lot more with your charts. At the moment they are not very well laid out and difficult to understand (What on earth is a “Hyped Artist”?)

    My two cents. That will be all.

    Caspar Wrede – 5 January, 11:07
  36. jose
    5 January, 20:16

    Someday we can see custom charts like these in last.fm? http://rateyourmusic.com/customchart

    jose – 5 January, 20:16

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