REWOUND RADIO COUNTDOWN ANALYSIS:
Welcome to our first ever analysis of the Annual Rewound Radio Countdown of Fan Favorites.
I have been listening to (and highly recommending) Rewound Radio for nearly two decades now. While I wasn't there for their very first countdown 24 years ago (Forgotten Hits didn't come along until a full year later ... we launched Thanksgiving Weekend of 1999), I have listened to this countdown every year since I have known of its existence. In fact, I look forward to that week between Christmas and New Year's every year because I know I am going to be treated to ... and enjoy the widest range of music variety imaginable each year ... and I am never disappointed.
Rewound has always prided itself on playing the songs that most other radio stations have forgotten about right alongside the biggest hits we all remember. Their motto of "It's not how old it is ... It's how GOOD it is" is one that resonates well with our readers.
This year, we decided to take a closer look at what makes up this year's Year-End Chart.
(Having done our own countdown of THE TOP 3333 MOST ESSENTIAL CLASSIC ROCK SONGS OF ALL TIME a couple of years ago, I know first hand what it takes to put something like this together ... and I tip my hat once again to Allan Sniffen and his incredible crew for yet another job well done.)
For starters, here is a link to the final countdown of this year’s Rewound Radio Fan
Favorites …
2021 Top
2948 Voted Songs.pdf (musicradio77.com)
This is the COMPLETE list of songs nominated by Rewound Radio Listeners …
2948 songs in all!
Some further chart information and analysis can be found below, courtesy of FH Reader Frank B, who sent us these stats pertaining to the countdown …
HERE ARE THE SONGS
THAT MADE EVERY COUNTDOWN, 24 YEARS IN A ROW (1998 - 2021)
SHE LOVES YOU / Beatles
( 2021 # 22 )
I WANT TO HOLD YOUR
HAND / Beatles ( 2021 # 17 )
STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN /
Led Zeppelin ( 2021 # 14 )
AMERICAN PIE / Don
McLean ( 2021 # 11 )
IN THE STILL OF THE
NITE / Five Satins ( 2021 # 9 )
LIGHT MY FIRE / Doors
/ ( 2021 # 8 )
GOOD VIBRATIONS /
Beach Boys / ( 2021 # 6 )
BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED
WATER / Simon & Garfunkel / ( 2021 # 4 )
SATISFACTION / Rolling
Stones / ( 2021 # 3 )
HEY JUDE / Beatles / (
2021 # 1 ) --- Has come in at #1 23 out of 24 years. Only missed one year, when RAG DOLL by The Four Seasons came
in at #1.
Out Of 2948 Songs, 458
Artists Had More Than One Countdown Entry.
Here are the Top Ten
Artists, their peak position in the countdown, and the number of songs for each
that made the list …
NUMBER TEN / #157 / RESPECT
= Aretha Franklin --- 13 Countdown Songs.
NUMBER NINE / # 70 /
DAYDREAM BELIEVER = Monkees --- 14 Countdown Songs.
NUMBER NINE / # 175 /
TAKE IT EASY = Eagles --- 14 Countdown Songs.
NUMBER EIGHT / # 128 /
BACK IN MY ARMS AGAIN = Supremes --- 15 Countdown Songs.
NUMBER SEVEN / # 193 /
TINY DANCER = Elton John --- 16 Countdown Songs.
NUMBER SEVEN / # 16 /
AQUARIUS - LET THE SUNSHINE IN = 5th Dimension --- 16 Countdown Songs.
NUMBER SIX / # 5 / RAG
DOLL = 4 Seasons ---17 Countdown Songs.
NUMBER SIX / # 74 /
STAYIN'ALIVE = Bee Gees --- 17 Countdown Songs.
NUMBER FIVE / # 53 /
SUPERSTAR = Carpenters --- 18 Countdown Songs.
NUMBER FOUR / # 52 /
SUSPICIOUS MINDS = Elvis --- 29 Countdown Songs.
NUMBER THREE / # 3 /
SATISFACTION = Rolling Stones --- 33 Countdown Songs.
NUMBER TWO / # 2 / GOD
ONLY KNOWS = Beach Boys --- 36 Countdown Songs.
NUMBER ONE / # 1 / HEY
JUDE = Beatles --- 94 Countdown Songs.
What Can You Say About
The Beatles That Hasn't Been Said Before?
FB
As I said, I look forward to
seeing and hearing these results every year.
Rewound Radio does an EXCELLENT job of bringing us a wide selection of musical variety every
single day … it truly is a joy listening to this station. It STILL makes me feel good to hear a song I
haven’t heard in a while (sometimes in DECADES!) just pop up in their random rotation. I can’t offer enough kudos to Allan Sniffen,
who oversees this whole operation with an unquestionable love for this music.
That being said, with a
countdown of this size, here are a few observations, spoken as a fan …
We have run numerous Reader Polls over the past 23 years in FH. One of the reasons that
we don’t run annual countdowns is that you essentially have
the same people voting from any given year to year. (We typically leave about a ten year gap between
our countdowns so as to allow some lesser-known songs to perhaps gain in popularity, whether
it be thru use in advertising campaigns, movies, etc., or just a new generation
discovering these tunes.) This ten year
gap on something like Favorite TV Themes, for example, also allows some new
shows to make the list that maybe our “regular audience” didn’t appreciate as
much in the ‘80’s and beyond. (Let’s
face it … the art of the perfect tv theme song has been greatly diminished over
the years.) That’s why something like
the Theme from “Friends” could become such a big hit on the pop charts as “I’ll
Be There For You” by The Rembrandts.”
(Well, that … and the fact that it really IS a great song!!!)
One thing I noticed
about this year’s list is that 17 of The Top 20 Songs ALSO made The Top 20 the
year before. (The sheer fact that “Hey
Jude” has been #1 for 23 of the 24 years this countdown has existed shows some
need to “shake things up” a little bit!) In fact, eight of The Top Ten songs this year were Top Ten repeats,
albeit in a slightly different order.
That being said, the fact that only TEN songs have made the list all 24
years of its existence is a bit shocking … when you have this many great songs
to choose from, I would have thought that easily 200-300 ... and maybe even 500 songs would be
“repeat offenders” … after all, that’s the way most radio station playlists
are developed, isn’t it???
One HUGE surprise was
that the top new debut this year went to “Get Back” (likely due to the intense
campaign pushing the new Disney+ Series.)
How this song didn’t make The Top 3000 the previous year is beyond me …
that means it didn’t generate ONE SINGLE VOTE in 2020!!! This year it earned enough support to premier
at #76.
The other really cool thing about this countdown is that with nearly 3000 titles to choose from, a song can literally jump … or fall … by over 1000 places within the countdown!!! (A couple of these tunes made moves of over 2000 places in just a single year!!!) This is a good indicator of the listening and airplay trends of the past year.
Here are some of the
most amazing and dramatics Leaps and Falls on this year’s countdown:
“Heroes and Villains”
by The Beach Boys – up from #1220 in 2020 to #118 in 2021, a leap of over 1100
places!
“Classical Gas” by
Mason Williams - #1620 in 2020 and #147 in 2021 … a jump of nearly 1500 spots
“As Tears Go By” by The
Rolling Stones – up from #1440 to #179 – up 1260 spots
“Pleasant Valley
Sunday” by The Monkees - #2076 to #221 (1850 places)
“White Rabbit” by
Jefferson Airplane - #1645 to #235
“Go Your Own Way” by
Fleetwood Mac - #2085 to #241
“Twist And Shout” by
The Beatles - #1545 to #243
“Moondance” by Van
Morrison - #1532 to #246
“Night Fever” by The
Bee Gees - #1432 to #254
“Rock Your Baby” by
George McCrae - #2323 to #270
“You Keep Me Hangin’
On” by Vanilla Fudge - #1525 to #274
“Reflections” by Diana
Ross and the Supremes - #1905 to #286
“Build Me Up Buttercup”
by The Foundations - #1791 to #290
“Same Old Lang Syne” by
Dan Fogelberg - #2420 to #301
“Sunshine Of Your Love”
by Cream - #1734 to #305
“Galveston” by Glen
Campbell - #1470 to #323
“Please Mr. Postman” by
The Carpenters - #2434 to #329 (2100 places!)
“The Look Of Love” by
Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 - #1370 to #337
“Instant Karma” by John
Lennon - #1779 to #341
“Come And Get These
Memories” by Martha and the Vandellas - #2213 to #344
“Sunny Afternoon” by
The Kinks - #1982 to #345
“This Boy” by The
Beatles (#2502 to #347)
“Gimme Some Lovin’” by
The Spencer Davis Group (#2465 to #354, another 2100 spot mover!)
“Solitary Man” by Neil
Diamond - #2469 to #358 (ditto!)
“Time Passages” by Al
Stewart - #2155 to #391
“Mission Bell” by
Donnie Brooks - #1809 to #397
“Kiss And Say Goodbye”
by The Manhattans (#1449 to #406)
“Stop Look Listen (To
Your Heart)” by The Stylistics - #1580 to #409
“Love Train” by The
O’Jays - #2168 to #415
“Brother Love’s
Traveling Salvation Show” by Neil Diamond (#2055 to #418)
“Woman Woman” by Gary
Puckett and the Union Gap (#1960 to #420)
“A Pirate Looks At
Forty” by Jimmy Buffett (#2192 to #425)
“More Love” by Kim
Carnes (#2070 to #429)
“Me And You And A Dog
Named Boo” by Lobo (#2485 to #430)
“You’re The One” by The
Vogues (#2016 to #432)
“Green Grass” by Gary
Lewis and the Playboys (#2058 to #435)
“Touch Me In The
Morning” by Diana Ross (#2253 to #436)
“Hello Again” by Herb Oscar Anderson (#2486 to #440) – I’m not quite sure I get this one! In fact, I don't even for sure if I know this tune!!! And when I tried to find it on iTunes to give it a listen just to be sure, I couldn't find it there either! (I was finally able to hear it on YouTube ... and no, I have NEVER heard this song before in my life!!! So a #440 showing is quite a surprise indeed!) Then again seeing Adele come in 50 spots lower with "Rolling In The Deep" also shows you the diversity a countdown like this has to offer ... that song came out in 2011. (Turns out Anderson was a VERY popular New York Disc Jockey and this was the theme song to his program ... so New York listeners are far more familiar with it than us Midwest kids. The whole premise of the Rewound Radio Countdown has always been the Top 77 Charts put out by New York's WABC Musicradio back in the hey-day of Top 40 Radio ... so it all makes a little more sense now. Why the sudden rise of over 2000 spots is still a bit of a mystery, however!)
“The Twelfth Of Never” by Johnny Mathis - #1858 to #442
“Elenore” by The
Turtles - #1775 to #449
“Evil Woman” by ELO -
#2509 to #450
“I Can Hear Music” by
The Beach Boys - #2489 to #457
“Strangers In The
Night” by Frank Sinatra - #1962 to #459
“Friday On My Mind” by
The Easybeats (#2456 to #482)
“Up The Ladder To The
Roof” by The Supremes (#1798 to #484)
“It Don’t Come Easy” by
Ringo Starr (#2457 to #486)
… and that’s just The
Top 500!
Of course there were
also mammoth moves in the OTHER direction …
Taking a look at the
bottom of the countdown …
“Wildfire” by Michael
Martin Murphey fell from #507 to #2948, a drop of nearly 2450 places!
Looking at more of the
most dramatic falls from grace, we’d have to include:
“Hello Mary Lou” by
Rick Nelson - #606 to #2927 (more than 2300 places)
Now THAT'S a shame ... what a GREAT song to fall out of favor!
“Hush” by Deep Purple
(this one’s got to be the most dramatic … it fell from #172 to #2924, a drop of
over 2750 places on a list that only includes 2948 titles!)
“Silly Love Songs” by
Paul McCartney and Wings (#497 to #2914)
“Theme From ‘New York,
New York’” by Frank Sinatra (#769 to #2864)
“I Could Be So Good To
You” by Don and the Goodtimes (#725 to #2845)
“Superstar” by Murray
Head (#840 to #2840 … a fall of exactly 2000 places)
“Soul Deep” by the Box
Tops (#194 to #2819 – better than 2600 places!)
“I’ve Been Hurt” by
Bill Deal and the Rhondels (#570 to #2816)
“Little Deuce Coupe” by
The Beach Boys (#642 to #2801)
“Blue On Blue” by Bobby
Vinton (#624 to #2787)
“Topsy, Part II” by
Cozy Cole (#402 to #2764)
“More Today Than Yesterday”
by The Spiral Starecase (#203 to #2757)
“I Want You Back” by
The Jackson Five (#926 to #2750)
“Make It With You” by
Bread (#486 to #2731)
“#9 Dream” by John
Lennon (#664 to #2730)
“ABC” by The Jackson
Five (#761 to #2716)
“Lotta Love” by
Nicolette Larson (#710 to #2702)
“Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man”
by The Bob Seger System (#366 to #2682)
“It’s The Same Old
Song” by The Four Tops (#701 to #2680)
“White Room” by Cream
(#461 to #2658)
“I Believe In Music” by
Gallery (#535 to #2637)
“Promises” by Eric
Clapton (#938 to #2613)
“The Happening” by
Diana Ross and the Supremes (#521 to #2611)
“Wake Up Everybody” by
Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (#514 to #2600)
“Rhapsody In The Rain”
by Lou Christie (#795 to #2599)
“You’re The One That I
Want” by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (#647 to #2575)
“You Really Got Me” by
The Kinks (#412 to #2565)
“Palisades Park” by
Freddy Cannon (#758 to #2555)
“Sugar Shack” by Jimmy
Gilmer and the Fireballs (#450 to #2549)
“Happy” by Pharrell
Williams (#913 to #2547)
“All Shook Up” by Elvis
Presley (#968 to #2492)
“Kokomo” by The Beach
Boys (#771 to #2485)
And “At The Hop” by
Danny and the Juniors (#634 to #o2482)
Radio programmers may
want to pay particular attention to this portion of the list to see which songs
may have fallen out of favor with your listeners. (That being said, I am VERY surprised by some
of the titles on this list that took this big a tumble!) kk
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