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Iced Earth, Draconian, Opeth, The Gathering, Lacuna Coil, Blind Guardian, Kamelot, Evanescence, Nightwish, Grave Digger, Iron Maiden, Epica, Stream of Passion, Metallica, Anathema, Within Temptation, Seether, Amaran, Evergrey, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Ayreon, Eluveitie, a-ha, Katatonia, Apocalyptica, Beseech, Joe Satriani, Battlelore, Tristania, After Forever, Children of Bodom, Subway to Sally, Dark Tranquillity, Demons & Wizards, In Extremo, Arch Enemy, Heaven Shall Burn, Megadeth, Pyramaze, Rammstein, A Perfect Circle, Bruce Dickinson, Die Happy, Extreme Music, X-Ray Dog, Pink Floyd, Riverside, Sirenia, Disturbed

Another year is behind us, so I decided to write a little recap about what this year meant to me in terms of development of my music tastes... Here are my 2009 charts, counting scrobbling from Januray to December:

1) Marilyn Manson

If someone told me on 1.1. 2008, that out of all the wonderful musicians, Marilyna Manson will leap on a #1, I would never ever believe him, but so it happened. Here is a little background to my relationship with MM: When I was a maybe 13 year old kid, watching MTV religiously, there was this one videoclip that I really, really disliked. It was called mOBSCENE. I thought it was too harsh and the guy singing was looking like a buffoon. From this point on, I never spoke good about MM, always had this prejudice, that came from a judgement of 13 old me…
But this January, a friend of mine sent me an album called Eat Me, Drink Me…and I was shocked. This was MM nothing like I remembered…there were personal lyrics, there actually were real emotions there…I got really into this album after a while and decided, that maybe the 13 year old kid has grown up and needs to give MM another chance…Golden Age Of Grotesque totally sold me…and I was hooked. Visted MM gig this year, and his new album, The High End of Low, is my favourite release of the year.
A lot of it has to do with the fact, that in the beginning of the year, I was in terrible state of mind, lot of hatred, self-hatred, confusion and other not so pleasent feelings were present in me quite a bit…which of course was the pefect oportunity for MM to step in…anyway, I am glad I changed my opinion about him, he is a true artist, if you manage to look beyond maybe not so attractive image he projects.

Prediction for 2010: I think Marilyna Manson will be put on a back burner a little bit, I think in my current state of psyche he really is not the type of musician that would emotionally fill me …but ocassionaly I will definitely give him a listen. I predict 20. place for him. In overall charts, he will drop one, maybe two spots, but not more.


2) Rise Against

All of my top 10 could be somehow classified as metal, except for one band, and that band is Rise Against. I am not fond of punk rock as a genre really, but those guys somehow speak to me….I love the overlap between political and personal themes in their songs, I love the voice of Tim McIlrath and their gig that I visited this November was the best I have ever been to. I was absolutely totaly and emotionally exhausted and I had to sit on the couch in the club before their set even ended…but it was worth it and I loved every second. I will never forget their performance of Audience of One and other couple memorable moments as well… Plus, Rise against are the best music for any kind of physical exercise -).

Prediction for 2010: I think they might get into top 5 in overall charts, but in 2010, they will not be in top 10 in the year charts. They are so many new albums coming up from other bands, it just will not happen…but they will get close.


3) Nightwish

Nightwish are one of only two bands from last years top 10 that managed to get in it again and there is a big reason why…I kinda wished that they were number one, because: 1) They are a great representative of what was this year really about to me in my emotional and personal development. 2) They are a great representative of my overall music taste. Ad1: This year, to me, will always will be the one where are struggled with feelings of losing innocence and how I lost that child wiew on how the world and relationships operate…Anyone who is somewhat familiar with Nightwish knows that loss of innocence and whole theme of innocence is big part of their lyrics and will understand why I related to them so much…Another thing that helped to get them so high was also the fact that I attended two concerts of them, one in New York and one few months later her eat home and the NY concert was actually the moment that I really began to explore their back catalogue. I still think those fights about Tarja and Anette are pointless, and while it may by true that Tarja is better singer, people should also relize that chemistry in the band is as much important factor for their end product as technical skills of the singer. I like all of their work.

Prediction for 2010: They will not be in the top 10, but barely. They will be maybe 12th, or something like that. In overall charts, they will get ahead of Marilyna Manson and get to a 3rd. place.


4) Tiamat

These guys are weird. Johan Edlund is a freak that oozes charisma and has a very characteristic and memorable voice. One of my favourite voices in music actually. Lyrics deal with some serious topics (Religion is probably the most frequent one) and wide spectrum of genres to be found in their work. I think that makes them so appealing and it also got them to #4…Tiamat has music for every mood. From angry to mellow. They have straight-up pop rock hits in their repertoire, they have doom, they have death, they can do it all. Only thing that I kind of regret is that I could not really enjoy their concert at Masters of Rock festival that much, because I was so tired/drunk. I hope they come again, because I really would like to take it all in with a sober mind one day.

Prediciton for 2010: I think they will be around 15th place. Ahead of MM, but behind Nightwish. They will barely retain their spot in overall top 10, finishing exactly 10th.


5) Anathema

Funny how life goes. There was this girl that was a really, really close friend of mine and she once send to me an Anathema song. I am not sure which one it was, probably Natural Disaster…I listened to it and…Nothing happened. I didnt like it. It didnt resonate with my careless mind…But I remembered the band, because the girl repeatedly stated to me how great they are…Fast Forward two years…Quite, little bit depressive evening at home and I am listetning to last.fm Radio. Violance pops up. And it clicks immediately. At that moment I am beginning to have second thoughts about the band…Then, in January 2009, which was one of the shittiest months of my life emotionally, I decide to give them a real chance. I listen to album Judgment and when Parisienne Moonlight comes up, I just lose it. I know that grown-ups dont cry…But that songs just broke me. The album touched me in a way that no other album touched me before… and I never looked back. In those two years that I didnt hear a thing from them, I became more mature and I have grown to appreciate the awesomeness that their pure, honest, really simple music is. They are the band that I will always defend, more then any other band, because they kinda saved my life. If you like Pink Floyd, and you are going through some sort of big emotional struggle in your life…you will like Anathema. Most honest music I know. They are not higher in the charts, because they are not the kind of music you put on repeat and they are so emotionally intense, you just cant listen to it all the time. But from all the bands in this top 10, I love them the most.

Prediction for 2010: Well, well…I think the new album coming up might help them get back to back top 10 spot. But it is going to be very, very close.


6) Sonata Arctica

The second and final member of last years top 10 to appear in this ladder. Last year they were 2nd and this year they are 6th. The album that put them here was the magnificent The Days of Grays and I dont care what the haters say, to me it is second strongest outting of SA to this day, much better then Unia and much better then their simple old power stuff. Tony has also grown quite a bit as a lyrics writer which is good to see and hear. Their gig here in Prague was also quite neat. I think what makes them so strong to me is their ability to avoid some really dumb clichés of the genre. No dragons, no knigts, no bullshit, just normal topics that normal people can realate to. They are a 2nd band in my charts overall and I think that quite correctly reflects my appretiation of them. Also love the Wolf theme reccuring in their songs -).

Prediction for 2010: They will keep overall 2nd spot, but for 2010, they will be around 15. place. The lack of new material will not be overcome.


7) Kamelot

Kamelot should be higher. Much higher. Only reason they are not is the fact that I got my ears on them too late, I think in November. I think they are a potential top 5 band for me and this late surge of listening put them at #7 in this years charts. Since last December, I wasnt captivated so much by one band. The voice of Khan is really something special and he instantůy became one of my favourite vocalists. Sick range, sick expresiveness. Some people might be put off by his melodramatic manners…but I love them as well -). Plus, the music is catchy, memorable yet not simple. The lyrics are the best I know in this genre (power metal), which is known for having sucky and terrible lyrics., they often deal with serious issues in an inteligent way. I am just happy they picked the Faust story for their concept albums and not some Tolkien bullshit -) I also desperately need to see them live…Unfortunately, they have not Czech Republic on their schedule for next year so far, so that sucks…but other then that, they currently are my new obsession.

Prediction for 2010: Those guys will get their way in overall top 10 soon. They might get into top 5. I think they will, I predict 4th place. In terms of the year 2010 charts, I dont know exactly how high they will get, with new album coming up…I think #1 could be a realistic guess. Top 5 I think for sure.


8) Heaven Shall Burn

Only band in my top 10 that does not use cleanly sung vocals as their main sound. I discovered this band thanks to Masters of Rock festival. Few months prior to this fest I looked at list of the bands and decided to give couple of them a go and HSB grabbed my attention the most. I really dont know which genre they belong to, I dont really care, but their music is full of energy and is great to listen in a angry, bitter mood. Great, inteligent, thought-provoking lyrics…And live, they were awesome. Maybe the best performance at Masters of Rock festival, I enjoyed it from front row and was very happy with it. I am yet to listen to their oldest stuff, so I have some material to get my hands on this year…Overall, Heaven Shall Burn changed my musical taste in that I am no longer so hung up on clean vocals, they were the stepping stone in my way to explore melodeath, altough they are very different to bands from that genre that I like. They are also probably the least melodic band from this top 10…does not make them any less awesome though. Nothing beats Endzeit, when you are really, really, really pissed off.

Prediction for 2010: 14. place. They will not get into overall top 10.


9) Edguy

I think Edguy are doing just fine. I find it funny that so many musical journalists are after Sammet for his narcisissm…I think his narcisissm kind of makes their stuff work, because it really is a simple music, with simple lyrics and it needs a big persona in front to work. When the words „Happy metal“ are used, the first band I imagine is Edguy. There is nothing deep in there, it is a easy listening, but when I want to listen to something more upbeat, they are a way to go and I dont really care what the haters say… They also very good live.

Prediction for 2010: I think they will be in the 2010 top 10. 9. place or something like that. They will not squeeze into a top 10.


10) Lordi

I think Lordi and their simple hard-rock is fun. I understand, that they would not have this much success without their eurovision win and without their monster costumes…but guess what, image is part of a music product and the monster costumes obviously work for them. I do not listen to them as much anymore, I had a huge phase with them in the beginning of the year and I am really not that much into their monster themed lyrics, but I think they are fun to listen to and they do their thing and it works for me, so there you go…

Prediction for 2010: Around 30. place. Overall, they will drop out of top 10 and get maybe to 15-20. place


In overall charts, this is what I think will happen: HammerFall will drop out, R.E.M. will drop out, Bruce Dickinson and Tiamat will be a close call. Iron Maiden will keep their lead with a new album and Kamelot will attack top 5, maybe even top 3, with Manson and Sonata arctica in third and second place not having new albums next year.

Overall, when it comes to genres, this year was the one when I started to listen to melodeath, altough no melodeath band cracked top 10. It was also the year when heavy and power metal lost their total dominance in my charts, with Manson and Rise Against taking the reign this year…but they still remain my favourite genres. It was a year, where the atmospheric and depressive rock of Anathema and Katatonia(11th place this year, close behind Lordi) really began to spoke to my heart. It was a year of excellent gigs, with Rise Against taking the crown for the best one in November. And it was year that made me even a bigger fan of music. Lets hope 2010 continues that trend.

20. O.S.T.R.
98 odtworzeń
19. Kat
103 odtworzeń
18.Sirenia
113 odtworzeń
17.Rammstein
122 odtworzenia
16.In Extremo
128 odtworzeń
15.Metallica
130 odtworzeń
14.Retrospective
140 odtworzeń
13.Ankh
148 odtworzeń
11.In Flames, Tenacious D
159 odtworzeń
9.Akurat, Lordi
166 odtworzeń
8.Farben Lehre
241 odtworzeń
7.Nightwish
258 odtworzeń
6.Eluveitie
261 odtworzeń
5.Linkin Park
280 odtworzeń
4.HammerFall
283 odtworzeń
3.Jelonek
319 odtworzeń
2.Hunter
417 odtworzeń
1.Coma
755 odtworzeń

liam-s's top albums (12 months) 1. Evil Empire - Does This Genocide Make Me Look Sexy? (876) 2. Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile (850) 3. Joy Division - The Best Of Joy Division (724) 4. Panic at the Disco - Pretty. Odd. (610) 5. Pixies - Doolittle (571) 6. Children Collide - The Long Now (561) 7. Weezer - Pinkerton (524) 8. Radiohead - Hail To The Thief (487) 9. Pivot - O Soundtrack My Heart (486) 10. Nightwish - Once (456) 11. Dropkick Murphys - Blackout (421) 12. My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (401) 13. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (398) 14. Placebo - Meds (395) 15. Metallica - Metallica (388) 16. Tool - Lateralus (369) 17. The Cure - Greatest Hits (369) 18. Slayer - God Hates Us All (366) 19. Pixies - Surfer Rosa (363) 20. Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy (353) 21. Iron Maiden - Dance of Death (350) 22. Placebo - Battle For The Sun (342) 23. Placebo - Sleeping With Ghosts (337) 24. Dream Theater - Greatest Hit (And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) (336) 25. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf (335) 26. The Beatles - The White Album (312) 27. Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (311) 28. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare (311) 29. Placebo - Without You I'm Nothing (303) 30. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Their Satanic Majesties Second Request (295) 31. Joy Division - Closer (288) 32. Radiohead - OK Computer (286) 33. Pink Floyd - The Wall (285) 34. Dropkick Murphys - Sing Loud, Sing Proud (284) 35. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow (282) 36. Radiohead - Kid A (274) 37. Weezer - Weezer (274) 38. Muse - Absolution (271) 39. MY FUTURE LiES - My Future Lies (262) 40. Dropkick Murphys - The Meanest of Times (255) 41. Billy Talent - Billy Talent III (253) 42. Metallica - Ride The Lightning (250) 43. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World (245) 44. Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion II (244) 45. Various Artists - The Meanest of Times (243) 46. Megadeth - Rust in Peace (229) 47. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (214) 48. Radiohead - Lost Treasures 1993-1997 (207) 49. Sonata Arctica - Silence (203) 50. Angels & Airwaves - I-Empire (202)

Most Listened Artists of 2009:


1. Epica (2,059)
2. Apocalyptica (1,093)
3. Nightwish (976)
4. Delain (653)
5. Xandria (634)
6. L'Âme Immortelle (508)
7. After Forever (464)
8. Krypteria (447)
9. Kamelot (429)
10. Within Temptation (410)
11. Muse (387)
12. Lacuna Coil (326)
13. Sirenia (310)
14. Backstreet Boys (306)
15. Danny Elfman (301)
16. Sarah Brightman (300)
17. Radiohead (294)
18. Avantasia (293)
19. Stream of Passion (265)
20. Tristania (264)

Most Listened Albums of 2009:


1. Epica - Design Your Universe (636)
2. Epica - The Classical Conspiracy (414)
3. Nightwish - Dark Passion Play (396)
4. Epica - Consign to Oblivion (357)
5. Delain - April Rain (342)
6. Epica - The Divine Conspiracy (337)
7. Delain - Lucidity (291)
8. Epica - The Phantom Agony (244)
9. Kamelot - The Black Halo (224)
10. Apocalyptica - Cult (220)
11. Apocalyptica - Worlds Collide (217)
12. Krypteria - Bloodangel's Cry (216)
13. Apocalyptica - Reflections Revised (190)
14. Xandria - Salomé - The Seventh Veil (182)
15. After Forever - After Forever (177)
16. Within Temptation - Silent Force (173)
17. Xandria - India (159)
18. L'Âme Immortelle - Namenlos (152)
19. Kamelot - Ghost Opera (151)
20. Tarja - My Winter Storm (151)

Most Listened Songs of 2009:


1. Epica – Resign to Surrender (A New Age Dawns Part IV) (96)
2. Epica – Unleashed (85)
3. Epica – Sensorium (78)
4. Nightwish – The Poet and the Pendulum (74)
5. Epica – Samadhi (Prelude) (65)
6. Nightwish – While Your Lips Are Still Red (64)
7. Epica – Martyr of the Free Word (63)
8. Epica – Burn to a Cinder (56)
9. Epica – Blank Infinity (55)
10. Epica – The Phantom Agony (55)
11. Epica – Quietus (55)
12. Epica – The Last Crusade (53)
13. Epica – Illusive Consensus (50)
14. Epica – Beyond Belief (49)
15. Nightwish – Whoever Brings the Night (49)
16. Epica – Kingdom of Heaven (A New Age Dawns Part V) (49)
17. Epica – The Price of Freedom (Interlude) (48)
18. Epica – Mother Of Light (A New Age Dawns Part 2) (48)
19. Apocalyptica – S.O.S. (Anything but Love) (46)
20. Epica – Consign To Oblivion (A New Age Dawns Part 3) (44)

Top Artist:

1. Epica

Top Artist in: July, August, September, October, November and December

2. Nightwish

Top Artist in: January, February and April

3. Apocalyptica

Top Artist in: May and June

4. Radiohead

Top Artist in: March

Best Concerts of 2009:

1. Vie 16 Oct – Sarah Brightman en Chile

Sarah is a godess! She has the most beautiful voice in the world!

2. Vie 28 Ago – Xandria en Chile!

I was dying to hear Kerstin's voice! She is incredible, hundred times better that Lisa!

3. Dom 1 Mar – Backstreet Boys En Chile

One of my childhood dream come true! <3

4. Vie 27 Mar – Radiohead, Kraftwerk

Simply mind-blowing

5. Jue 10 Sep – Children of Bodom + Amorphis

I really enjoyed this concert, even with a cold and fever. Thank god for Gatorade!

JOEYsicJORDISON's top albums (12 months) 1. Children of Bodom - Hate Crew Deathroll (1809) 2. Children of Bodom - Follow the Reaper (1462) 3. Children of Bodom - Blooddrunk (1360) 4. Children of Bodom - Are You Dead Yet? (1266) 5. Children of Bodom - Hatebreeder (1054) 6. Bullet For My Valentine - The Poison (924) 7. Norther - N (840) 8. Bullet For My Valentine - Scream Aim Fire (649) 9. Norther - Till Death Unites Us (569) 10. Bring Me the Horizon - Suicide Season (543) 11. Norther - Death Unlimited (520) 12. In Flames - Reroute to Remain (489) 13. Dark Tranquillity - Fiction (478) 14. Children of Bodom - Something Wild (462) 15. Психея - Каждую Секунду Пространства (421) 16. Nightwish - Dark Passion Play (421) 17. Психея - Психея (421) 18. Children of Bodom - Skeletons in the Closet (416) 19. Children of Bodom - Tokyo Warhearts - Live in Japan (415) 20. Ensiferum - Ensiferum (382)

Just for kicks I thought I'd take a look at my charts for the past year and do a little analysis.

First Track Of 2009
Tarot - Back in the Fire

Last Track Of 2009
Sethian - Nothing Is True

Top Artists Of 2009
1) Dream Theater - 381 scrobbles
2) Nightwish - 381 scrobbles
3) Sonata Arctica - 354 scrobbles
4) Stratovarius - 247 scrobbles
5) Within Temptation - 174 scrobbles

No big surprise here. I've definitely kicked up my Dream Theater listening to a new level. It edged out Nighwish, who I consider my favorite artist, by a single track. I expected to see a little less Stratovarius who I know I've been listening to less and less.

Top Albums Of 2009
1) Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica - 48 scrobbles
2) Lacuna Coil - Comalies - 47 scrobbles
3) Dream Theater - Live Scenes From New York & Sonata Arctica - Silence - 46 scrobbles
5) Sonata Arctica - Unia & Queensrÿche – Operation: Mindcrime - 43 scrobbles

Definitely a close race here, all from albums I really enjoy. I didn't expect to see Lacuna Coil up there, especially so high. I was also surprised that Scenes From A Memory wasn't up there and instead was replaced by Live Scenes From New York. My favorite album of 2009 (which to be fair was one of a few albums I got this year), Dream Theater's 'Black Clouds & Silver Linings' makes an honorable mention at number 34 with 28 scrobbles.

Top Tracks Of 2009
1) Dream Theater - Metropolis - Part I (The Miracle and the Sleeper) - 11 scrobbles
1) Dream Theater - The Shattered Fortress - 11 scrobbles
1) X JAPAN - WEEK END - 11 scrobbles
1) Dream Theater - Forsaken - 11 scrobbles
5) Dream Theater - Strange Deja Vu - 10 scrobbles
5) Dream Theater - The Glass Prison - 10 scrobbles
5) After Forever - The Evil That Men Do - 10 scrobbles
5) Sonata Arctica - UnOpened - 10 scrobbles
5) Dream Theater - The Spirit Carries On - 10 scrobbles
5) Nightwish - Dark Chest of Wonders - 10 scrobbles

Metropolis Part 1 is definitely one of my favorite tracks ever. The Shattered Fortress completely blew my mind this year; the epic conclusion to Portnoy's Twelve Steps Suite, something 7 years and 5 albums in the making. (The Glass Prison, the first entry of the suite managed to tie for 5th as well). I feel like Week End managed to sneak up there due to it's tendency to play on Fridays despite my usual random play alls. Also, I believe most of the plays for that song come from The Last Live album, my favorite version of it.

I must say I am very surprised that Dream Theater dominated this list and only one entry from Nightwish and Sonata Arctica made it up there. Strange Deja Vu and The Spirit Carries On may have managed to sneak their way up there due to my big binge on Scene From A Memory on its 10th anniversary.

I wanted to make a little data-mashup to see how my listening habits changed from 2008 up to 2009.
To do this, I used the the API from Last.fm to gather my complete listening history. This ended up in about 1700 files full of xml-information with a total size of about 60MB. After stripping out the unnecessary info (e.g. image-tags) via some regular expressions I had all necessary information reduced to about 10MB (or 425k lines of xml).
To process the data and put it into some simple csv (for me the best way to handle the data in an easy way) I used my favorite scripting-language Python (version 2.6.2, shipped with Fedora 12) and after some experiments I came up to the following, not really spectacular, but still interesting data.

Growth:
New Artists: 846
New Tracks: 4930

2008 (7th January – 31st December)
Total scrobbles: 42273
Unique artists: 918
Unique tracks: 7042
Scrobbles per day: 117.43
Scrobbles per artists: 46.05
Scrobbles per track: 6.00

Top 25 Artists:
1. Judas Priest (2103 plays)
2. Motörhead (1693 plays)
3. Megadeth (1488 plays)
4. Doro (1334 plays)
5. Manowar (1296 plays)
6. Moonspell (1179 plays)
7. Primal Fear (1019 plays)
8. Rammstein (1011 plays)
9. Airbourne (979 plays)
10. Black Stone Cherry (948 plays)
11. Saxon (818 plays)
12. Die Toten Hosen (761 plays)
13. Schandmaul (753 plays)
14. Grave Digger (732 plays)
15. Kreator (652 plays)
16. Sepultura (604 plays)
17. After Forever (581 plays)
18. Saltatio Mortis (574 plays)
19. HammerFall (542 plays)
20. Halford (503 plays)
20. Sodom (503 plays)
22. Anthrax (500 plays)
23. Gotthard (496 plays)
24. Agalloch (489 plays)
25. Running Wild (486 plays)

Top 25 Tracks:
1. Doro – Burn It Up (121 plays)
2. Airbourne – Girls in Black (94 plays)
3. Black Stone Cherry – Hell and High Water (93 plays)
3. Airbourne – Blackjack (93 plays)
5. Airbourne – Let's Ride (91 plays)
6. Airbourne – Runnin' Wild (88 plays)
7. Airbourne – Diamond in the Rough (87 plays)
8. After Forever – Energize Me (86 plays)
9. Airbourne – Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast (82 plays)
10. Black Stone Cherry – Blind Man (79 plays)
11. Airbourne – Hellfire (78 plays)
12. Airbourne – Stand Up For Rock 'N' Roll (77 plays)
13. Moonspell – Age of Mothers (76 plays)
14. Airbourne – Cheap Wine & Cheaper Women (75 plays)
15. Airbourne – Heartbreaker (74 plays)
16. Airbourne – Fat City (73 plays)
16. Manowar – Warriors of the World United (73 plays)
18. Primal Fear – Sign of Fear (68 plays)
19. Airbourne – What's Eatin' You (67 plays)
20. Doro – Salvaje (62 plays)
21. Black Stone Cherry – Violator Girl (57 plays)
22. Agalloch – Falling Snow (55 plays)
23. Motörhead – Be My Baby (53 plays)
24. Manowar – Call to Arms (52 plays)
25. Krusher – Highway To Hell (51 plays)


2009 (1st January – 31st December)
Total scrobbles: 42650 (diff: -)
Unique artists: 1191 (diff: +273)
Unique tracks: 8179 (diff: +1137)
Scrobbles per day: 116.85 (diff: -0.58)
Scrobbles per artists: 35.81 (diff: -10.24)
Scrobbles per track: 5.21 (diff: -0.79)

Top 25 Artists:
1. (+36) Nightwish (1964 plays)
2. (+33) W.A.S.P. (1769 plays)
3. (-) Megadeth (1763 plays)
4. (+45) Pain (1475 plays)
5. (-4) Judas Priest (1461 plays)
6. (-) Moonspell (1448 plays)
7. (+7) Grave Digger (1419 plays)
8. (+379) Oomph! (1181 plays)
9. (+190) Mötley Crüe (1080 plays)
10. (+48) Amorphis (1037 plays)
11. (+2) Schandmaul (969 plays)
12. (*new*) Avril Lavigne (749 plays)
13. (+103) Linkin Park (747 plays)
14. (-7) Primal Fear (703 plays)
15. (*new*) HIM (690 plays)
16. (+495) Dark Tranquillity (633 plays)
17. (+7) Agalloch (590 plays)
18. (+369) Brother Firetribe (536 plays)
19. (+54) Bad Religion (511 plays)
20. (*new*) Jennifer Rostock (488 plays)
21. (-6) Kreator (459 plays)
22. (+160) Rebellion (450 plays)
23. (*new*) Apocalyptica (414 plays)
24. (-16) Rammstein (397 plays)
24. (+487) Papa Roach (397 plays)

Top 25 Tracks:
1. (+883) Judas Priest – Angel (165 plays)
2. (*new*) Nightwish – Escapist (112 plays)
3. (+3622) Moonspell – Vampiria (100 plays)
4. (+1801) Nightwish – Sleeping Sun (81 plays)
5. (*new*) W.A.S.P. – Crazy (76 plays)
6. (*new*) Nocte Obducta – Und Pan spielt die Flöte (Desîhras Tagebuch - Kapitel II) (73 plays)
7. (*new*) Avril Lavigne – Nobody's Home (72 plays)
8. (*new*) Dark Tranquillity – Cathode Ray Sunshine (67 plays)
8. (+427) W.A.S.P. – Wild Child (67 plays)
10. (*new*) Amorphis – Magic and Mayhem (64 plays)
11. (*new*) Children of Bodom – Rebel Yell (62 plays)
12. (*new*) Pain – Clouds Of Ecstasy (bassflow remix) (58 plays)
13. (+1792) Judas Priest – Fever (56 plays)
14. (+98) Rammstein – Ohne dich (54 plays)
15. (*new*) Grave Digger – Pray (53 plays)
16. (*new*) Linkin Park – Valentine's Day (52 plays)
17. (+3608) Nocte Obducta – Es fließe Blut (51 plays)
17. (*new*) Agalloch – The Misshapen Steed (51 plays)
17. (*new*) Dark Tranquillity – The Mundane And The Magic (51 plays)
20. (+195) Amorphis – Her Alone (50 plays)
20. (+4382) Pain – Monkey Business (50 plays)
22. (*new*) Eisbrecher – Phosphor (49 plays)
22. (*new*) Oomph! – Das letzte Streichholz (49 plays)
24. (*new*) Amorphis – Silver Bride (48 plays)
24. (+3027) Nightwish – Walking In The Air (48 plays)
24. (+349) W.A.S.P. – Hold On to My Heart (48 plays)


Conclusion:
So what can I say?
I listened to a lot of new artists in 2009 (most due to remixes by Overclocked) but only a few were able to stay in the top positions of my charts, most likely Avril Lavigne and HIM. There were also some artists where I obtained some records and due to this, the play-amount grew by a large amount (Oomph!, Mötley Crüe, Brother Firetribe) But in general the changes for the top-positions weren't that big, except the fact that many of the top bands in 2008 dropped out of the top 25 and now stay in the top 50.
For the tracks the changes are more dramtically. No one of my former top tracks was able to be a catchy tune in 2009, again. Instead, I listened to a lot more different artists and tracks (2008 was the "Airbourne-Year") mostly of bands that also dominate my top artists.
A thing that surprises me a lot is the fact that I have nearly listened to the same amount of songs, even though more of my mp3-player listens were scrobbled. Mainly the reason was the fact that I was more on tour than 2008?

Maybe I will try to make my script much easier to use and turn it into one of those many webscripts so you can also use it, if you want.

Disclaimer: Data-inconsistency in comparison to the library-data of my profile may exist, but most likely this has to do with the api-information (or personally caused problems due to the wrong use of spreadsheet programs ^^")