I had started to form an opinion that Auckland radio stations play too much Queen, Elton John and Rolling Stones. so set out to prove that thinking with data. I was bloody right.
Data collected since 24th June 2023
Queen are good, but are they so good they should command 1.8% of all songs played on Boomer/GenX radio (GoldFM, The Sound, Coast FM, Radio Hauraki) in Auckland. The answer it a resounding bloody no.
| Play Count | Track |
|---|---|
| 5,814 | Queen |
| 5,602 | David Bowie |
| 5,510 | Rolling Stones |
| 4,809 | U2 |
| 4,556 | Dire Straits |
| 4,550 | Fleetwood Mac |
| 4,354 | Pink Floyd |
| 4,210 | AC/DC |
| 3,906 | Talking Heads |
| 3,823 | Elton John |
| 3,681 | Led Zeppelin |
| 3,568 | INXS |
| 3,497 | Eagles |
| 3,144 | Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers |
| 2,944 | Guns N' Roses |
| 2,911 | Aerosmith |
| 2,882 | Bruce Springsteen |
| 2,850 | Split Enz |
| 2,771 | Billy Joel |
| 2,436 | The Beatles |
I coded this on 24th June 2023 with only 2 stations, The Sound and Gold FM and then a month later added Hauraki and Coast FM. Even though Coast FM has a month's less data, they are clearly playing more music.
| Play Count | Track |
|---|---|
| 734 | Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) Eurythmics |
| 667 | Money For Nothing Dire Straits |
| 629 | Livin' On A Prayer Bon Jovi |
| 628 | Learning To Fly Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers |
| 609 | Rain Dragon |
| 598 | Go Your Own Way Fleetwood Mac |
| 587 | Bohemian Rhapsody Queen |
| 558 | Owner Of A Lonely Heart Yes |
| 555 | Pour Some Sugar On Me Def Leppard |
| 550 | Another One Bites The Dust Queen |
| 545 | Free Fallin' Tom Petty |
| 535 | Sweet Home Alabama Lynyrd Skynyrd |
| 527 | Under Pressure Queen & David Bowie |
| 511 | Start Me Up Rolling Stones |
| 511 | The Final Countdown Europe |
| 504 | In The Air Tonight Phil Collins |
| 500 | You Give Love A Bad Name Bon Jovi |
| 497 | April Sun in Cuba Dragon |
| 495 | Who Are You The Who |
| 494 | Dancing In the Dark Bruce Springsteen |
| Play Count | Track |
|---|---|
| 439 | Out of the Night Racing |
| 307 | Pull Me Through Royal Blood |
| 287 | Emotion Sickness Queens of the Stone Age |
| 283 | The Narcissist Blur |
| 282 | The American Dream Is Killing Me Green Day |
| 279 | Under You Foo Fighters |
| 279 | ONE MORE TIME blink-182 |
| 259 | Apex Boy & Bear |
| 224 | Beautiful People (Stay High) The Black Keys |
| 220 | Say It Ain't So Weezer |
| 219 | Who Really Gets What They Want MACEY |
| 210 | Everlong Foo Fighters |
| 201 | Summer of Luv (feat. Unknown Mortal Orchestra) Portugal. The Man |
| 197 | Dance Stamina Pluto |
| 189 | Ground On Down Ben Harper |
| 185 | Overcome Nothing but Thieves |
| 185 | Santa Monica Everclear |
| 180 | Are You Gonna Go My Way Lenny Kravitz |
| 180 | Long White Cross Pluto |
| 179 | Thunderstruck AC/DC |
| Play Count | Track |
|---|---|
| 221 | Sharp Dressed Man ZZ Top |
| 216 | All Along The Watchtower Jimi Hendrix |
| 212 | Smoke On The Water Deep Purple |
| 210 | Be Mine Tonight Th' Dudes |
| 207 | That's All Genesis |
| 206 | White Room Cream |
| 206 | In The Air Tonight Phil Collins |
| 205 | I Got You Split Enz |
| 205 | Who Are You The Who |
| 203 | Rebel Yell Billy Idol |
| 202 | The Chain Fleetwood Mac |
| 198 | Learning To Fly Pink Floyd |
| 196 | Learning To Fly Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers |
| 196 | Free Fallin' Tom Petty |
| 196 | Runnin' Down A Dream Tom Petty |
| 196 | Life's Been Good Joe Walsh |
| 194 | Go Your Own Way Fleetwood Mac |
| 193 | Thunderstruck AC/DC |
| 193 | Fortunate Son Creedence Clearwater Revival |
| 193 | Gimme Shelter Rolling Stones |
Over the years I have spent way too many hours messing with ID3 tags of my own music collections to get them perfect. They are still not. Radio stations ID3 tags are worse than mine. This is the total artists they have played
And below is distinct artists by radio station. I'm willing to bet that at any one time all of them have advertised they have the most variety in music, clearly not the case