Wrapped 2023

There were a few surprises when I took a look at my 2023 Wrapped on Spotify a few days ago.

The music streaming company has sent out its annual diagnosis of its users' listening habits and - as I said at the beginning - I found myself shocked at the results.

First off, I am not completely shocked to see The Smiths and Morrissey at number one and five, respectively, on the list of my Top Artists. 

I did listen to a lot of The Smiths and their lead singer in the couple of months I used Spotify as my main music streamer in 2023. However, I was kind of stunned to find that the two were top five because - whenever I listen to The Smiths, or Morrissey solo - I do so using my Apple iTunes library.

The Chainsmokers at number two is funny because I more or less pranked myself with that one. 

A few years ago, I was on hold for quite some time as I waited to get through to a Virgin Media technician and Closer by The Chainsmokers played on a loop. It got quite irritating after a while. Anyway, earlier this year, I found myself on hold with the Virgin Team numerous times - and each time I did - I came away thinking of ' The Closer Incident' which resulted in me playing the tune from my Spotify account.

WWE in third place in the 'Top Five' is acceptable. I played Head of the Table - Roman Reigns' theme tune - many, many times in 2023. Especially when WWE was on its road to WrestleMania. It's one of my favourite wrestling tunes at the moment.

Nas is one of my favourite rappers. His name appearing on the list is no surprise considering I listened to what was then his newest album on the day it was released.

Here are the top five songs I played in '23.

I've already explained Closer (First) and Head of the Table (Fourth). 

Morrissey's Piccadilly Palare had a few more plays than usual because the version I listened to had an extra verse that I hadn't heard before. 

Flava in Ya Ear by Craig Mack is one of the videos I had on a VHS cassette from when I recorded episodes of Yo! MTV Raps back in the mid-90s, so I  must have listened to that a few times earlier this year.

I cannot recall playing Dance, Dance, Dance by Chic enough times to warrant its place at number five. All I can say about that is YOWSAH, YOWSAH, YOWSAH.