My Top Artists of 2019

Since I don’t use any streaming music services, I haven’t been able to generate any of those fancy year-end summaries I see posted on Twitter. But I have been thinking about what my top songs and artists of the year are anyway.

So I decided to put something together based on what data I do have; I primarily listen to music on my phone during my commute to work or hockey, so I can at least track number of plays. To be scientific about it, I started by limiting it to music I acquired this year (but regardless of actual year of release — it’s just new to me!), then sorting by numbers of plays by track and artist.

I’ll put together my top songs of 2019 in another post (the math gets fancier there), but I’ll start here with my Top 10 (new*) Artists of 2019, ranked by cumulative number of plays:

* Purchased in 2019.

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10. HKT48

This one’s unexpected; I’d have trouble if you asked me to name three HKT songs off the top of my head. In fact my top-played HKT songs in general are not from this year, but in a quest for ever more Hana-Bibi-Maria-Miku-Nako content I’m enjoying the group more and more.

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9. STU48

Less surprising — I’m a big fan of STU. I feel like there haven’t been a lot of their tracks that I love, but I’ve enjoyed almost everything they put out. Maybe its the earnestness of a new group, a pleasant nautical theme, and a pervading mixture of energy and sadness in their music.

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8. IZ*ONE

My wife dragged me into Produce48 and I ended up watching the whole season plus some of the spin-off content, but I was skeptical I would like the final product — I don’t follow a lot of K-pop maybe for the same reasons I don’t follow a lot of US pop music. But I’ve really enjoyed their songs, especially the Japanese releases.

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7. Official髭男dism

One of those groups I got into from watching CountdownTV (I suppose just as the producers would hope). Maybe one of the best things is they actually sell their digital tracks on US music sites, so it’s so much easier (and cheaper!) to get into their catalog.

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6. OVERGROUND ACOUSTIC UNDERGROUND

I think I came across this group on one of the NHK The Covers episodes that Little Glee Monster was in. Of the Japanese bands I listen to, they probably remind me the most of the music I grew up with. I suspect that sound, and the proliferation of English material on their site, is due to their lead singer Martin but can’t find much more info beyond that. According to Wikipedia they officially changed their name to OAU this year though, so there’s that.

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5. 乃木坂46

Solid work all year from Nogi, A-sides and unit songs. Though 1st gens are fading away faster, seems like there are plenty of likable characters coming up in the new 4th gens. But the best news this year was Manatsu becoming captain, so not only are there more opportunities for Manatsu content, hopefully my oshi won’t be going anywhere soon. Plus I discovered the original song from Manatsu-Reika-Wakatsuki-Kana unit I’d somehow been missing in my life until now.

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4. 日向坂46

The Hinatas were in my Top 5 already, but combining with their Hiragana Keyaki releases this year pushed them into 4th. Despite an enduring quest to find themselves an identity as a group, they’ve been putting out consistently good content. Cutesy but catchy A-sides, great unit songs, and hard work paying off in variety. I suspect even if they stay with Nao as center they will go back to flowerier main tracks, but I we’ll probably see early next year.

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3. NMB48

Two singles this year, and as you can probably tell by the subs on this site, both had several tracks that absolutely nailed my tastes. Dark and fluffy, catchy and salty, there was a lot to like.

Unfortunately two big losses for me with Ota Yuuri and Kawakami Rena graduating, so it will be interesting to see what the future holds. Fortunately for them, getting such good NMB content this year, including their excellent MVs and concert video releases, has gotten me into a bunch of other members like Saepii, Nagisa, Ayaka, Chihiro, and Keito.

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2. Little Glee Monster

I expected them to take the top place, but 2nd ain’t bad considering I liked but didn’t love their last single. LGM is still my go-to for awesome songs and awesome singing, and responsible for my favorite song of all time, which I hope to re-translate and sub before the end of the year…

After their successful tie-up with the Rugby World Cup, I’m hoping they get some good Olympics-related work next year. Well, I missed seeing them last time I was in Japan because of an Olympics job, so there’s precedent anyway. I wouldn’t mind a more traditional LGM single in-between though.

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1. AKB48

The winner by a wide margin, in part because I’ve started digging deeper into the AKB back catalog this year. So a win perhaps in sheer quantity over individual quality, but not bad at that.

Interestingly the only AKB song in my top 20 by number of plays this year is 抱きしめちゃいけない, the Flying Get Sousenkyo unders song from 2011 with a fun 1-shot MV.

I have vastly increased the number of members I know though, despite the massacre of AKB-related TV and radio shows, so their content is ever more interesting. But my big hope for next year is a Naachan center (or even a double center with Yuiri, as the winds seem to be blowing in that direction) with a better song this time that really shows off her strengths.

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Honorable Mention

I’m not that surprised Keyaki didn’t make the list with only one release this year, but they actually did respectably overall. In fact there was a big drop-off after #13, so I’ll acknowledge the three artists that almost made it into my Top 10 for 2019 were: 欅坂46, King Gnu, and TWICE.

22/7 also didn’t make the top 10, but I wanted to acknowledge them anyway so they get the header image. See, no spoilers!