Today it's exactly four years since I joined last.fm so in order to celebrate, here are the current Top 50 artists compared to where they were a year ago. In parantheses you'll find the position last year and the increase in play count since Nov 7 2007.

01 (01) Swans 2,789 (319)
02 (02) Depeche Mode 1,903 (128)
03 (03) Current 93 1,843 (203)
04 (04) Nine Inch Nails 1,734 (238)
05 (05) Covenant 1,491 (86)
06 (07) Coil 1,461 (321)
07 (06) The Legendary Pink Dots 1,427 (257)
08 (08) Death in June 1,232 (165)
09 (09) Icon of Coil 1,012 (43)
10 (10) CMX 932 (56)
11 (11) KMFDM 834 (107)
12 (12) Front Line Assembly 727 (88)
13 (13) Deine Lakaien 695 (59)
14 (14) Combichrist 693 (67)
15 (21) Einstürzende Neubauten 645 (226)
16 (15) Project Pitchfork 604 (44)
17 (17) The Angels of Light 590 (90)
18 (***) Sleep Chamber 577 (577)
19 (19) :wumpscut: 575 (141)
20 (16) VNV Nation 559 (49)
21 (18) Assemblage 23 542 (78)
22 (24) Coph Nia 468 (69)
23 (20) Paradise Lost 466 (36)
24 (22) Rammstein 456 (46)
25 (25) Diary of Dreams 454 (63)
26 (***) The Tiger Lillies 446 (446)
27 (29) Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio 443 (92)
28 (23) Mesh 440 (37)
29 (34) Black Sun Productions 432 (121)
30 (27) Diorama 430 (45)
31 (26) Pet Shop Boys 401 (14)
32 (28) Rotersand 396 (25)
33 (45) Dead Can Dance 392 (139)
34 (31) Siouxsie and the Banshees 388 (52)
35 (30) Gary Numan 381 (45)
36 (41) Bauhaus 348 (82)
37 (32) Velvet Acid Christ 345 (22)
38 (38) This Morn' Omina 337 (64)
39 (40) Joy Division 335 (66)
40 (50) Skinny Puppy 332 (100)
41 (59) Lustmord 331 (115)
42 (53) Sol Invictus 329 (100)
43 (38) Sara 324 (51)
44 (33) Mew 324 (4)
45 (46) The Dresden Dolls 320 (69)
46 (43) Woven Hand 312 (52)
47 (78) Ladytron 311 (147)
48 (35) VAST 311 (14)
49 (71) Of the Wand and the Moon 310 (124)
50 (***) The Doors 305 (305)

Compared to last year, there were only very small changes in the overall positions of artists, especially at the top positions. Death in June has been number 8 for three years. Last year there were no completely new artists in Top 20 but this year Sleep Chamber, The Tiger Lillies and The Doors entered Top 50 although I hadn't listened to them at all before the past year (that's what *** means).