Do you have a favorite Beatles song? Because I simply don’t, there are simply too mnay to choose from and if I would pick ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band ‘over ‘Yellow Submarine’ or ‘A Day In The Life’ over ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’, it’s very hard to pick a favorite song,… may be ‘Here, There, And Everywhere’ or ‘Eleanor Rigby’? However, none of these two made the following list though, the list of the most streamed Beatles songs according to each generation. It turns out that Spotify is a really impressive tool to study people’s musical tastes and the amount of data collected by the stream service is becoming impressive,… and certainly a bit too Big Brother for my taste? Is there any mystery left? I don’t want everyone to know what I listen to but let’s study what everyone is listening to!
Since their introduction to Spotify, Beatles songs in general have received 250 million streams, and all these data could be used for a real sociological study. It turns out that people do not listen to the same songs according to their age.
‘Here Comes the Sun’ is a winner among the young generations, and it’s hardly a surprise, it’s a happy, carefree song which fit youth, but it doesn’t even appear in the top 10 of the listeners who are above 25. I am a bit surprised ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ is number one for the 18-29, or should I? It’s an adolescent song. The more serious and deep songs appear a bit later, for the older generations, although it is always a mixed bag each time. And what’s the deal with ‘Rock and Roll Music’ being number 1 for the 55+? It is not even a Beatles song!
The big classics like ‘Let It Be’, ‘Yesterday’ and ‘Hey Jude’ appear in three or two lists, whereas I was expected to see them all over the generations.There are also a few odd choices like ‘Mean Mr Mustard’, which would not make my top 10? I am also amazed by all these old songs popping up, as I am more a late-period kind of fan, there is not enough ‘White Album’ material in all this for my taste! Yes, you find ‘Back in the USSR’, ‘Glass Onion’ and Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da’ but no ‘Revolution 1’? ‘No ‘Yer Blues’, no ‘Helter Skelter’? No ‘Sexy Sadie’? Anyway here is the complete list per age groups:
17 & Under
Here Comes The Sun
Let It Be
Hey Jude
Come Together
Twist And Shout
Yellow Submarine
Yesterday
I Want To Hold Your Hand
Love Me Do
Penny Lane
18-24
I Want To Hold Your Hand
Here Comes The Sun
Come Together
Penny Lane
You Never Give Me Your Money
With A Little Help From My Friends
Twist And Shout
Hey Jude
Let It Be
Yellow Submarine
25-29
I Want To Hold Your Hand
Penny Lane
You Never Give Me Your Money
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
Love Me Do
From Me To You
A Hard Day’s Night
Something
Can’t Buy Me Love
Get Back
30-34
She Loves You
Paperback Writer
Ticket To Ride
The Long And Winding Road
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Hello, Goodbye
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Day Tripper
Can’t Buy Me Love
Blackbird
35-44
We Can Work It Out
A Day In The Life
Ticket To Ride
The Long And Winding Road
She Loves You
Paperback Writer
Back In The U.S.S.R.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Please Please Me
Something
45-54
Back In The U.S.S.R.
We Can Work It Out
Ticket To Ride
A Day In The Life
Yesterday
Let It Be
Got To Get You Into My Life
I Feel Fine
She Loves You
Help!
55+
Rock And Roll Music
Back In The U.S.S.R.
Mean Mr Mustard
Nowhere Man
Drive My Car
Glass Onion
We Can Work It Out
Long, Long, Long
Do You Want To Know A Secret
A Day In The Life