I have a great big post on the boil looking at Last FM stats but in case it doesn’t get finished here’s a quiz for you. NO PEEKING – Peeking meaning no going to Last FM and checking the answers.
The quiz is very easy! All you have to do is guess which is the highest ranked track on Last FM by each of these artists. LFM’s public data only goes back 6 months, which makes a difference in some cases, and it hasn’t got the VERY latest hits (i.e. Katy Perry’s #1 is “I Kissed A Girl” not “California Gurls” let alone “Teenage Dream”). For some of the listed acts it is the obvious track, for others it isn’t, this is where blind luck your skill and judgement will play a role.
So here goes! Quiz under the cut, answers in the comments box and I’ll let you know who does best.
1. MGMT
2. Lady Gaga
3. Vampire Weekend
4. The Smiths
5. Lily Allen
6. Blur
7. Kanye West
8. The Prodigy
9. Beyonce
10. Radiohead
11. Rihanna
12. Michael Jackson
13. Johnny Cash
14. Metallica
15. Britney Spears
16. The Kinks
17. The Beatles
18. Donna Summer
19. Jay-Z
20. Outkast
I’m going by gut instinct, figuring that’s how most LastFM users work. Possibly.
1. Kids
2. Poker Face
3. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
4. There’s a Light That Never Goes Out
5. Fuck You
6. Song 2
7. Good Life
8. Firestarter
9. Crazy in Love
10. Creep
11. Russian Roulette
12. Man in the Mirror
13. Hurt
14. Enter Sandman
15. Toxic
16. Waterloo Sunset
17. Come Together
18. Bad Girls
19. Empire State of Mind
20. Hey Ya
1. Kids
2. Poker Face
3. Cousins
4. How Soon is Now
5. The Fear
6. Song 2
7. Gold Digger
8. Omen
9. Irreplaceable
10. Just
11. Take A Bow
12. Beat It
13. Ring of Fire
14. Enter Sandman
15. Womanizer
16. Waterloo Sunset
17. Hey Jude
18. I Feel Love
19. Run This Town
20. Hey Ya
1. Kids
2. Poker Face
3. Oxford Comma
4. This Charming Man
5. Smile
6. Song 2
7. Golddigger
8. Firestarter
9. Single Ladies
10. Creep
11. Umbrella
12. Beat it
13. Hurt
14. Enter Sandman
15. Toxic
16. You Really Got Me
17. ?!? Hey Jude?
18. I Feel Love (surely)
19. Empire State of Mind
20. Hey Ya!
1. MGMT – er, i don’t know any MGMT song titles, so will have to say ‘kids’ too (i’m assuming this is the famous one with the horrible ‘all around the world’ “””trippy””” video)
2. Lady Gaga – poker face
3. Vampire Weekend – sorry, no idea
4. The Smiths – this charming man
5. Lily Allen – smile
6. Blur -song 2
7. Kanye West – golddigger
8. The Prodigy – firestarter
9. Beyonce – single ladies
10. Radiohead – creep
11. Rihanna – don’t stop the music
12. Michael Jackson – billie jean
13. Johnny Cash – hurt
14. Metallica – enter sandman
15. Britney Spears – womanizer
16. The Kinks – all day and all of the night
17. The Beatles – hey jude
18. Donna Summer – hot love
19. Jay-Z – empire state of mind
20. Outkast – hey ya
1. MGMT – Kids
2. Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
3. Vampire Weekend – err A-Punk?
4. The Smiths – This Charming Man
5. Lily Allen – Smile
6. Blur – The Universal
7. Kanye West – Stronger
8. The Prodigy – Firestarter
9. Beyonce – Single Ladies
10. Radiohead – Treefingers hahaha no er Creep
11. Rihanna – Umbrella
12. Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
13. Johnny Cash – Hurt
14. Metallica – Nothing Else Matters
15. Britney Spears – Baby One More Time
16. The Kinks – Waterloo Sunset
17. The Beatles – errrrr Ticket to WINE?
18. Donna Summer – I Feel Love
19. Jay-Z – 99 Problems
20. Outkast – Miss Jackson
ACTUALLY does this last.fm count ‘featured’ artists properly now? ie would Rihanna get Umbrella or would that be Rihanna ft Jay-Z? Likewise would Empire State Of Mind be Jay-Z ft Alicia Keys and not him on his own?
As far as I can tell there are still hundreds of iterations of the “featuring” dilemma. The autocorrect mechanism is randomly both v useful and totally useless – I wish they’d man up and impose a “house style” for remixes, features etc., rather than letting users vote.
A lot of these are “the only song title I know offhand by this artist”…
1. Time To Pretend
2. Bad Romance
3. I don’t know the names of any VW songs offhand
4. How Soon Is Now?
5. The Fear
6. Song 2
7. Stronger
8. Firestarter
9. Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)
10. Paranoid Android
11. Rude Boy
12. Beat It
13. Hurt
14. Enter Sandman
15. Gimme More
16. I don’t know any Kinks songs
17. Eleanor Rigby
18. Love To Love You Baby
19. Big Pimpin’
20. Hey Ya :(
The ‘featuring’ is certainly better than it used to be but still a bit off – how much it affects these picks I don’t know: there are a couple where obvious choices might have been scuppered by a featuring but at least one non-obvious winner where I’d have expected it to be a problem, too.
Pink Champale is currently in the lead (with 7/20 so plenty of scope for overtaking)
Hey, I got 7 too! (Yes, I was too curious, so I had to google. ;))
Yes! You did, sorry, I missed one you’d got.
Time To Pretend
Poker Face
A-Punk
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
The Fear
Song 2
Stronger
Omen
Single Ladies
How To Disappear Completely
Rude Boy
Billie Jean
Folsom Prison Blues
Enter: Sandman
If U Seek Amy
All Day And All Of The Night
Eleanor Rigby
I Feel Love
Empire State Of Mind
Hey Ya
1. Kids
2. Poker Face
3. No idea
4. How Soon is Now
5. The Fear
6. Parklife
7. Gold digger
8. Fire Starter
9. Crazy in Love
10. Creep
11. Umbrella
12. Beat It
13. Ring of Fire
14. Enter Sandman
15. Hit me baby one more time
16. Waterloo Sunset
17. Let it Be
18. I feel love
19. Empire State of Mind
20. Hey Ya
Current leader is Steve M with 8/20.
1 Time To Pretend
2 Just Dance
3 (don’t know any of their songs)
4 There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
5 The Fear
6 Parklife
7 Love Lockdown
8 Out Of Space (sp?)
9 Single Ladies
10 High & Dry*
11 Take A Bow
12 Billie Jean
13 Ring Of Fire
14 Enter Sandman
15 Baby…One More Time
16 Waterloo Sunset
17 Hey Jude
18 I Feel Love
19 Hard Knock Life LOL
20 Hey Ya
*(god Radiohead are dreadful aren’t they? There was some comp of their “hits” playing in HMV last night. All the songs were utter shite. Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.)
1. Kids (Congratulations was pump)
2. Alejandro
3. White Sky
4. Heaven Knows…
5. I reckon The Fear still
6. Song bloody 2
7. Stronger
8. Invaders Must Die
9. Telephone
10. Paranoid Android
11. Umbrella, surely
12. did Man in the Mirror ever go away
13. Ring of Fire
14. One
15. Oops… I Did It Again or however it’s spelt
16. You Really Got Me
17. Er… Hey Jude
18. I Feel Love
19. Empire State of Mind
20. Hey Ya!
1 Time to Pretend
2 Bad Romance
3 Cousins
4 How Soon is Now
5 The Fear
6 Park Life
7 Gold Digger
8 Firestarter
9 If I were A boy
10 Just
11 Umbrella
12 Thriller
13 Hurt
14 Enter Sandman
15 Womaniser
16 You Really Got Me
17 Hey Jude
18 I Feel Love
19 Empire State of Mind
20 Hey Ya
here goes:
Kids
Telephone
A-Punk
This Charming Man
Smile
Song 2
Love Lockdown
Smack My Bitch Up
Crazy In Love
15 Step
Umbrella
Man In The Mirror
Hurt
Unforgiven
If U Seek Amy
Waterloo Sunset
Across The Universe
I Feel Love
99 Problems
Miss Jackson
1. Kids
2. Bad Romance
3. Cousins
4. How Soon Is Now
5. The Fear
6. Song 2
7. Love Lockdown
8. Omen
9. Single Ladies
10. Karma Police
11. Rude Boy
12. Man In The Mirror
13. Hurt
14. One
15. Womanizer
16. Waterloo Sunset
17. Yesterday
18. State Of Independence
19. Empire State Of Mind
20. Hey Ya!
So, who won? And what were the correct answers?
Good question :) I intended to get parts II and III of the Last FM thing up sooner than I have done – answers to come in a day or two.