# twenty-one years of scrobbles, zero genre supervision

- Link: https://tacobout.online/2026/10/25/lastfm-history-all-time-no-snooze/
- Published: 2026-10-25T21:16:28-05:00
- Author: schwegler

![](https://i0.wp.com/tacobout.online/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/telly-skeletal-
lamping-1.png?resize=1194%2C1317&ssl=1)

My two most-scrobbled albums on Last.fm are separated by one play. _Skeletal Lamping_
has 417; _Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?_ has 416. Both are by of Montreal.
After all this time, apparently there is still an internal election.

That is the useful surprise in looking through [my public listening history](https://www.last.fm/user/schwegler?tracks_date_preset=ALL&artists_date_preset=ALL&albums_date_preset=ALL#top-albums).
The singles chart has Käärijä, Lorde, Britney Spears and Kim Petras. The albums 
still have a substantial indie-rock foundation. The collection has acquired more
entrances without demolishing the original building.

This account goes back to high school. Last.fm gives the joining date as October
23, 2005, and the profile showed 66,955 scrobbles across 5,589 artists when checked
on October 26, 2026.

## the 2006 evidence is still there

The [oldest accessible page of loved tracks](https://www.last.fm/user/schwegler/loved?page=25)
supplies something more specific than nostalgia by release date. In September 2006,
the marked favorites include Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s “The Skin of My Yellow Country
Teeth,” the New Pornographers’ “Twin Cinema,” and the Decemberists’ “Bandit Queen.”
Weird Al’s “White & Nerdy” is there too. The filing system was never especially 
strict.

![](https://i0.wp.com/tacobout.online/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/hitch-song-for-
the-dumped-1.png?resize=1183%2C1329&ssl=1)

October adds of Montreal’s “Happy Yellow Bumblebee,” Jump, Little Children’s “B-
13,” and Ben Folds’ “Zak and Sara.” By November, the Mountain Goats’ “This Year”
and Silversun Pickups’ “Lazy Eye” appear. They establish an actual early trail: 
distinctive voices, busy songs, and room for a joke.

![Kevin Barnes sings into a microphone, wearing glittering eye makeup and a red 
ruffled top.](https://i0.wp.com/tacobout.online/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/lastfm-
kevin-barnes-jonas-riise-hamre.jpeg?resize=1920%2C1280&ssl=1)

The [middle of the archive](https://www.last.fm/user/schwegler/loved?page=22) makes
the overlap clearer. By 2012–13, the loved tracks include _The Book of Mormon_’s“
Hasa Diga Eebowai,” Scissor Sisters’ “It Can’t Come Quickly Enough,” and Icona Pop’s“
I Love It,” featuring Charli XCX. Jump, Little Children and of Montreal appear in
that same stretch. The pop and theatre were already sharing the room with the bands.

## the albums stayed; the singles got louder

Across the account’s recorded history, of Montreal leads the artist chart with 2,124
scrobbles. Lady Gaga follows with 1,285, then Jump, Little Children with 1,207, 
RuPaul with 1,039, and Charli xcx with 904. That top five is a fairly efficient 
rebuttal to the idea that a listening history needs one genre.

Below the nearly tied of Montreal albums sits Jump, Little Children’s _Magazine_,
followed by Gaga’s _Chromatica_ and Alaska Thunderfuck’s _Anus_. Album totals count
individual track scrobbles, so they are not counts of complete album listens. Even
with that limitation, the company is revealing. The art-pop, the band records, and
the very large pop gestures have all accumulated substantial repeat business.

[From my media collectionSkeletal Lamping — of Montreal (2008)Artist: of Montreal • Genre: Rock • Year: 2008View on Trove ](https://trove.schweg.xyz/albums/4-skeletal-lamping-2008)

[From my media collectionMagazine — Jump Little Children (1998)Artist: Jump Little Children • Genre: Rock • Year: 1998View on Trove ](https://trove.schweg.xyz/albums/5-magazine-1998)

The lifetime track chart puts “Cha Cha Cha” first at 98 recorded plays, with “Royals”
at 96. “Work,” “Die Young,” “My Queer Teenage Anthem,” and “There Will Be Blood”
follow. Then Rilo Kiley’s “With Arms Outstretched” turns up in the top ten, keeping
a seat for the guitars. This is a persuasive argument for a playlist with very few
quiet transitions.

![Lady Gaga plays a sculptural piano under blue light, with her face projected on
the screen behind her.](https://i0.wp.com/tacobout.online/wp-content/uploads/2026/
10/lastfm-lady-gaga-sjoerd-van-der-schaaf.jpg?resize=1920%2C1440&ssl=1)

## the newer window has its own cast

![](https://i0.wp.com/tacobout.online/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/facet-poker-face-
1.png?resize=1027%2C1532&ssl=1)

The [past-365-days artist chart](https://www.last.fm/user/schwegler?tracks_date_preset=LAST_365_DAYS&artists_date_preset=LAST_365_DAYS&albums_date_preset=ALL#top-artists),
checked on the same date, is led by Charli xcx, followed by Ke$ha and Kim Petras
tied, then Nemo and Robyn. That is a different emphasis from the lifetime totals.
It does not establish a clean break with the older music: the [current loved-tracks pages](https://www.last.fm/user/schwegler/loved)
still put of Montreal, the Postal Service and Rilo Kiley alongside Gaga and RuPaul.

The interesting pattern is accumulation. The early indie favorites remain visible
while dance-pop and theatrical singles gain more space.

## all-time, no snooze

![](https://i0.wp.com/tacobout.online/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/telly-cha-cha-cha-
1.png?resize=1194%2C1317&ssl=1)

The accompanying all-time bangers playlist turns that combination into something
playable: a selection informed by the history, rather than a mechanical countdown
of the highest totals. The brief is a commute with some momentum. The scrobbles 
can handle the paperwork.

[Open “all-time, no snooze” in Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6UJg216ttzFC28Sn37Zpdg):
50 tracks, about 2 hours 44 minutes. Seven selections are editorial picks from heavily
scrobbled albums; the rest have direct track-level evidence in the public history.

Last.fm isn’t the whole story, but twenty-one years of scrobbles still leave a pretty
good paper trail.

Photo credits: featured, [Käärijä at the Eurovision 2023 final rehearsal](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eurovision_2023_-_Jury_Final_-_Finland_-_Käärijä_(01).jpg)
by Michael Doherty, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
Body: [Kevin Barnes in Gothenburg, 2005](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kevin_Barnes_from_of_Montreal_in_Sweden_2005-11-03.jpeg)
by Jonas Riise Hamre, public domain; [Lady Gaga at The Chromatica Ball, 2022](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lady_Gaga_performing_%22Always_Remember_Us_This_Way%22_(GelreDome,_July_26,_2022).jpg)
by Sjoerd van der Schaaf, [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/).
Resized for display; no other changes. Concert photographs illustrate the artists,
not events attended by the author.
