By Jason Grishkoff | December 31st, 2010
2010 was a good year for Indie Shuffle. We had more than 3.5 million pageviews, partnered with SPIN and IndieClick, and made some amazing new friends through our contributors and you, our readers. While we’re eagerly looking forward to 2011 (we have a lot of awesome stuff in store, including a redesign and a couple new weekly special posts), it’s nice to reflect on 2010. So, what the hell happened? Well, one way to answer that would be to look at the 10 most popular posts in the last 365 days. Without further ado…
Views: 61,071. Clear winner here with this track. In fact, it's the closest we've gone to getting viral. With more than 1,000 Facebook "Likes" and some great Google SEO traffic, we're grateful to Little Wayne and The Office (and of course, Clockwork) for the sounds that made this track so popular.
Note: In many cases we can't share a track for free. So, we either link to sites that can, or provide purchase links (e.g., iTunes).
Views: 31,841. Chiddy Bang's "The Swelly Express" featured a number of tracks that hit a chord with listeners. Our post featured "All Things Go" (sampling Sufjan Stevens) and a remix of Kid CuDi's "Day and Night." In all likelihood, Kid CuDi drove this one to #2 in our charts. As such, we're gonna feature this one in our post.
Note: In many cases we can't share a track for free. So, we either link to sites that can, or provide purchase links (e.g., iTunes).
Views: 27,789. It's tough to say which track drove this post to be most popular: "Swimming," or "The XX – You’ve Got The Love (Florence & The Machine Cover)(The Very Best Remix)." Sure, the latter has a really long title, but based on the sources of traffic driven to this post, I believe that it was actually Florence doing it on her very own. Notable, though, was Florence's remix with The xx.
Note: In many cases we can't share a track for free. So, we either link to sites that can, or provide purchase links (e.g., iTunes).
Views: 26,065. If Part 1 of 2 was popular, you can bet that Part 2 of 2, which featured our top 8 winter albums, was even more so. Including The Postal Service, Arcade Fire, Stars, Bon Iver and Simon & Garfunkel (among others), the list was topped by Radiohead's Amnesiac, which remains one of my favorite winter albums to this day.
Note: In many cases we can't share a track for free. So, we either link to sites that can, or provide purchase links (e.g., iTunes).
Views: 24,770. In Fall of 2009, we ran a series titled "Essential Sounds of Fall" that wound up being hella popular. Naturally, that meant we followed up with an Essential Sounds of Winter, featuring 16 albums reviewed by a number of our contributors. This list included Thievery Corporation, Minus The Bear, Exposions in the Sky and Feist, among others.
Note: In many cases we can't share a track for free. So, we either link to sites that can, or provide purchase links (e.g., iTunes).
Views: 22,764. Ten popular posts, and only one Kid CuDi track?! To be fair, there were two tracks on this post. Additionally, the Bonus track on #2 certainly helped push this one up the charts. Still, that brings Kid CuDi's count to ~3 tracks (out of a possible 20 if you include bonuses) from these top 10 posts. It's a little surprising, really. He was one of the most popular artists on the charts this year, and I reckon that success was driven in large part by this track.
Note: In many cases we can't share a track for free. So, we either link to sites that can, or provide purchase links (e.g., iTunes).
Views: 22,057. While the head track on this post was hugely popular before 2010 ("We Are The People" by Empire of the Sun), it's likely not the reason this post became so popular. Rather, Wiz Khalifa's "The Thrill (Feat. Empire of the Sun)," which was appended as the Bonus track, found itself to be an even more addictive, catchy song. I'm fairly certain that Wiz mashing up with the popular indie rock band exposed him to a whole new fanbase -- one that found his music really easy to digest.
Note: In many cases we can't share a track for free. So, we either link to sites that can, or provide purchase links (e.g., iTunes).
Views: 21,768. Barely edging out the Ratatat vs. Lupe Fiasco mashup, Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You" wasted no time climbing the top of the charts worldwide. Spurred by an accompanying viral video, the front-man of Gnarls Barkley quickly made an international name for himself with this cheeky single. Indeed, he proved that he was capable of putting out awesome music without DJ Danger Mouse (the other half of Gnarls Barkley).
Note: In many cases we can't share a track for free. So, we either link to sites that can, or provide purchase links (e.g., iTunes).
Views: 21,637. Believe it or not, this track was my first introduction to Lupe Fiasco. The fact that it was mashed up with one of my favorite bands, Ratatat, made it much easier to digest. Hell, I'll even go so far as to say I really, really like this one. Regrettably however, I haven't gone out to listen to much Lupe. Instead, I find myself falling back on this track.
Note: In many cases we can't share a track for free. So, we either link to sites that can, or provide purchase links (e.g., iTunes).
Note: In many cases we can't share a track for free. So, we either link to sites that can, or provide purchase links (e.g., iTunes).