2022 In Review: A Good Year

Here are some year-end, top-five lists in case you were curious what my most-played songs of the year were on each major music streaming service.

You might like knowing about these as suggestions of songs for you to check out, if you haven't heard some of them yet.  You can satisfy your own curiosity and listen for why they have been popular.  We all have our favorites of songs we like by particular artists.  We make our own "best of" playlists in the streaming apps.  Our favorites can change, and our tastes can change over time.  It's fun.  We like to see which ones get the most streams, and it informs our decisions to try those out, then decide for ourselves whether they make our lists or not.

Apple Music:

1. Mackinac Island
2. Cooley's Rap
3. Puttin' Up A Pole Barn
4. Smitten With The Mitten
5. In My El Camino

Spotify:

1. I Did A Bad Thing
2. The River Of No Return
3. Mackinac Island
4. Puttin' Up A Pole Barn
5. Whatever Floats Your Boat

YouTube Music:

1. Mountain Time
2. Christmas Is Cancelled
3. Early Mornin' Rain
4. Midnight On The Moon
5. Light Years

YouTube:

1. Mackinac Island
2. Smitten With The Mitten
3. Into The Sunset
4. Coney
5. Austin's Story

Amazon Music:

1. Whatever Floats Your Boat
2. Mackinac Island
3. Puttin' Up A Pole Barn
4. Stuck In The Wrong Dimension
5. I Won't Forget You

Pandora:

1. Back Where You Belong
2. This Is Goodbye
3. The Joy Of Your Company
4. Promises
5. Burtucky Breakdown

Bandcamp:

1. Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
2. Taco Tuesday (Observed)
3. Brain Dead
4. When I'm Gone
5. Used To Be Good Looking

As always, at the end of the year I'm curious to see which songs resonated with people the most, so I check it out, but then I'm not sure what to do with that info.  A record company might suggest I write more songs like the ones that did best.  Thankfully, I write and record what I want, when I want.  That won't change.  I like variety, and apparently so do the listeners.  That's about all I get out of looking these up:  they are all over the place and make little sense.  That, and the fact that Mackinac Island is still my most popular song.

2022 was a fairly busy year for me as a songwriter and recording artist.  I wrote, recorded, and released two full-length albums, Bluebird Days II and Lockdown Leftovers.  I also uploaded a bunch of music videos I made for songs on those albums.  I ran a campaign to raise donations for children in need in association with the Sing Me A Story foundation.  I even performed a couple of live gigs for small audiences in Michigan.  The streaming stats went up.  Overall, it was a good year.  

Thanks blog readers, and happy new year!  😊