Nat's Notes

Albums I’ve listened to 100 times

(No statistics were used in the making of this post)

I’ve been in the process of migrating all my (and my family’s) music to a media server from iTunes Match (and many, many CDs). In doing so, I’ve lost my play counts and new apps have changed the layout of my library. Now every album is “recently added,” whether I just got it or have been listening for years. Between ripping CDs and watching Sex and the City, I scrolled by a thread of people posting albums they’d listened to 100 times.

@methylcain.bsky.social

post an album you've listened to 100 times13 of my top 14 most played songs of all time are the 13 songs on this album (crush is the 14th, which beat out the two instrumentals on PD) my least played song from the album is televangelism at 545 listens. im really about this shit idk what to tell ya

(via bluesky)

Of course, I don’t really have complete statistics (my Last.fm usage has been on-again-off-again for years), and 100 listens isn’t all that much for me (I tend to listen to albums on repeat until I get bored), but I figured it’d be a fun thought exercise to pick out the albums I’ve listened to most.

Methodology

I’m going mostly on vibes and guesses here. I’m trying to go in roughly chronological order (by my obsessions, not release dates).

The early years

The first two albums I listened to on repeat were Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster and Justin Bieber’s Believe. Both were on repeat, by my insistence, in my mom, dad, and step mom’s cars from just before kindergarten to first grade. I still listen to The Fame Monster, and think it’s a really fantastic album. I don’t think I’ve listened to Believe in the last decade. The Black Eyed Peas’ Elephunk gets an honorable mention from this era.

I started listening to music a lot less after that. Most of my listening time was spent listening to This American Life in the car on the way to the school bus pickup point with my dad. My most listened to single album during this time was probably The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which my step mom loved, and would play in the car driving back from picking me up from cross country or track and field after school.

My next obsession would end up being U2’s Songs of Innocence (it was free!) and The Joshua Tree. I would eventually see them in concert with my dad at SAP Center in San Jose, which was a ton of fun. After that came a long audio-affair with Fleetwood Mac that ebbs and flows to this day. Rumours dominates my Fleetwood Mac listening, then and today. I was lucky enough to see them in 2018, on what would be the band’s last tour. My step mom got the tickets, and me, her and my dad all went. It was such a blast. I’m so grateful I got to see them before Christine McVie passed and the band said they’d never tour again. Rumours is still one of my all time favorite albums.

Between the end of 8th grade and freshman year, I probably logged a couple hundred plays of Anderson .Paak’s Malibu and CASIOPEA’s Asian Dreamer.

  • Jack Johnson’s In Between Dreams

High school

Next came high school, where my music listening kicked up again. First was A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders, ODESZA’s A Moment Apart (of which my best friend gave me a stick and poke tattoo on my ankle), Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon (I tattooed the prism on my wrist).

  • Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks
  • David Bowie’s self titled album
  • Declan McKenna’s What Do You Think About The Car?
  • DROELOE’s The Choices We Face

Bike shop

Casandra Jenkins’ An Overview on Phenomenal Nature was the soundtrack to the loss of my friend Hansel. It remains one of my favorite albums. It’s probably closer to 1000 plays than 100. It’s beautiful and I’ll never grow tired of it. Jenkins’ follow up album My Light, My Destroyer is also fantastic, in safely in the 100 club.

  • Carly Rae Jepsen’s The Loneliest Time (easily in the thousands). I think this is one of the best albums I’ve ever listened to
  • Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
  • Amyl and the Sniffers self titled album and Comfort to Me
  • Courtney Barnett’s Things Take Time, Take Time
  • Janelle Monae’s The Age of Pleasure (pure joy)

New York (and Montréal)

  • Ethel Cain’s Preacher’s Daughter
  • Hozier’s Hozier and Wasteland, Baby!
  • Big Thief’s Double Infinity
  • CMAT’s If My Wife New I’d Be Dead and EURO-COUNTRY
  • Counting Crows’ August and Everything After, which my late step mom thought was the best album ever made. I can’t argue
  • Carly Rae Jepsen’s EMOTION is one of the best albums ever made. It’s certainly under-appreciated, probably because it came out between Call Me Maybe (on Kiss) and The Loneliest Time
  • underscores’ U

The road to 100

  • Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter and Lemonade
  • Courtney Barnett’s Creature of Habit
  • The Cure’s Wish
  • Dave Matthews Band’s Live at Folsom Field: Boulder, Colorado. This rendition of Crash is so, so good. Another favorite of my step mom
  • Dire Staits’ Brothers in Arms
  • Doja Cat’s Hot Pink
  • Hiatus Kaiyote’s Tawk Tomahawk
  • Honeycrush’s Dogwoods