This may only work for users of iTunes, but I had a thought to look at each album by play count to see what U2 albums I really like instead of what I say I like.
The findings were kind of surprising - thought others could post theirs as well.
Here is how you do it:
- Select U2 songs only in iTunes (put "U2" in "Search Music" )
- Sort list by "Plays"
- find the top played song of each album, they will stand for the entire album
- list not by songs, but by top played song from each album
I was really surprised at what I found:
#1: at 84 listens: Passengers: Your Blue Room
#2: at 62 listens: No Line on the Horizon: No Line on the Horizon
#3: at 58 listens: Zooropa: Babyface
#4: at 36 listens: Pop: Do You Feel Loved
#5: at 34 listens: ATYCLB: Stuck in a Moment
#6: at 28 listens: Achtung Baby: Trying to Throw Your Arms
#7: at 26 listens: HTDAAB: Miracle Drug
#8: at 19 listens: Joshua Tree: One Tree Hill
#9: at 14 listens: Unforgettable Fire: A Sort of Homecoming
#10: at 14 listens: Boy: Out of Control
#11: at 10 listens: War: 40
#12: at 9 listens: Rattle and Hum: Heartland
#13: at 4 listens: October: Gloria
Big surprises for me - I knew I loved Passengers, but didn't realize it blows the other albums out of the water. I listen to it far more than any other album. Also surprised at how high No Line was, and that a song from HTDAAB would outplay anything from Joshua Tree (I...ahem...heavily dislike HTDAAB).
Of course this doesn't account for when I listen to albums in other ways (CDs in the car, etc...Boy is always on heavy rotation in the car), and only captures the time frame iTunes has been recording this, but thought this would be a fun little exercise to do and share...
I'll use Last.fm for this, which other fans might also use, which is a tool that tracks all the songs being played on any device linked to it. (my car plays also count)
I use it for over 6 years now, and more than 50,000 plays have been registered. Quite some numbers, so curiously to look into this.
U2 – How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (295)
U2 – Achtung Baby (246)
U2 – Zooropa (245)
U2 – All That You Can't Leave Behind (243)
U2 – No Line On The Horizon (236)
U2 – Pop (170)
Interesting, I would've thought Achtung would top the list but I think I listened to HTDAAB dozens and dozens of times after it's release which made a significant impact to this numbers. Nice one
#1: Zooropa - 186 plays
#2: Ultraviolet (Light My Way) - 136 plays
#3: Your Blue Room - 84 Plays
#4: Sunday Bloody Sunday - 75 plays
#5: With Or Without You - 73 Plays
#6: Angel Of Harlem - 69 plays
#7: The Unforgettable Fire - 66 Plays
#8: Moment Of Surrender - 62 plays
#9: Out Of Control - 60 Plays
#10: Gone - 58 Plays
#11: Kite - 54 Plays
#12: City Of Blinding Lights - 53 Plays
#13: October - 48 Plays
Wow, i've listened to Your Blue Room as much as robotsandmonkeys! Also surprised by how many times i've listened to Zooropa...
#1: at 127 listens: No Line On The Horizon: Fez - Being Born
#2: at 38 listens: Rattle And Hum: The Star-Spangled Banner
#3: at 23 listens: Under A Blood Red Sky: Gloria
#4: at 19 listens: The Unforgettable Fire: Pride In The Name Of Love
#5: at 15 listens: Passengers Original Soundtracks: Beach Sequence
#6: at 10 plays: Pop: If You Wear That Velvet Dress
#7: at 9 plays: Boy: The Electric Co.
#8: at 7 plays: Achtung Baby: Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
#9: at 7 plays: All That You Can't Leave Behind: Beautiful Day
#10: at 7 plays: October: Scarlet
#11: at 7 plays: The Joshua Tree: Where The Streets Have No Name
#12: at 7 plays: War: The Refugee
#13: at 5 plays: Zooropa: Some Days Are Better Than Others
#14: at 3 plays: How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb: Miracle Drug
Quite surprising. Didn't think I ever listened to Beach Sequence, nor Star-Spangled Banner.
1. Achtung Baby (935)
2. Pop (840)
3. Rattle And Hum (818)
4. All That You Can't Leave Behind (759)
5. The Joshua Tree (758)
5. Boy (758)
7. Zooropa (723)
8. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (714)
9. The Unforgettable Fire (691)
10. War (668)
11. October (527)
12. No Line On The Horizon (524)
13. Passengers (177)
This is pretty surprising for me, didn't expect Rattle & Hum to be so high. iTunes gives the following numbers:
1. War - New Year's Day (165)
2. The Joshua Tree - With Or Without You (143)
3. All That You Can't Leave Behind - Beautiful Day (141)
4. The Unforgettable Fire - Pride (125)
5. Pop - Staring At The Sun (121)
6. Achtung Baby - One (120)
7. Boy - I Will Follow (117)
8. Zooropa - Zooropa (114)
9. How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb - Vertigo (104)
10. Rattle & Hum - God Part II (100)
11. October - Gloria (81)
12. No Line On The Horizon - Get On Your Boots (74)
13. Passengers - Your Blue Room (41)
