Review Fix Exclusive: Kevin Stapleford Talks LiveXLive Song of the Decade List And More

LiveXLive Logo (PRNewsFoto/Loton, Corp.)

Review Fix chats with Kevin Stapleford @ Slacker.com/LiveXLive, who breaks down the brand’s new Top 100 Songs of the Decade compilation.

Determined by LiveXLive’s proprietary  EQ (engagement quotient) ratings, “Uptown Funk” is ranked at #1 based on listening trends, including 67 billion total plays, “hearts,” skips and bans.  

The five-and-a-half hour Top 100 Songs of the Decade special, which starts at song #100 and counts down to number one, is hosted by Raymond T, Parker, Jess Wright, Red and Jennifer While (who double as the curators of LiveXLive’s vaults of various genres of music).  An installment of LiveXLive’s “Ranked” audio series, the Top 100 Songs of the Decade can be accessed on-demand alongside Ranked episodes such as  The Top 100 Artists in Streaming History, the  Most Important Hip-Hop Songs Ever,  the 33 Greatest Rock Albums Ever, and the 44 Most Controversial Songs Ever, at www.livexlive.com/ranked

Review Fix: What inspired this countdown?

Kevin Stapleford: We’ve compiled annual “end of the year” countdowns since 2015, so we thought it only made sense to do something big to celebrate the entire decade. The original concept was sparked by the fact that we have access to really interesting listener data that is exclusive to our platforms. Unlike other charts, our analytics are based on direct listening. We know when people choose to listen to a song, when they decide to skip a song before it ends, when they “heart” it so that it will be played more, etc.  We take all those data points and assign each song an “engagement quotient,” and that dictates where they land on the countdown. It’s science, but it’s fun.  Also, we go far beyond merely creating a chart, as we present them as fully hosted radio shows. This allows our listeners to not only hear what songs made the list, but we also tell the stories behind them.

Review Fix: Any fun moments putting it all together?

Stapleford: Since our countdown is dictated by pure data, I try to keep things as pure as possible. So, really, the most fun I have is watching all of our curators react to the results.  We have very passionate music people here at LiveXLive, and they’re all very strong advocates for their respective genres.  The rock guys, for example, weren’t loving the fact that some of their favorites didn’t make the cut—but, really, it all comes down to the listener data. Rock just isn’t as dominant as Pop, Hip Hop, and Country.  Our users, meanwhile, will have fun hearing what all these musical knuckleheads talk about in regards to what did and did not make the list.

It was also cool to see the trivia points that the curators pulled out of the countdown. For example, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, and Ed Sheehan tied for the most songs, with four. But Taylor wrote a fifth song for a different artist that made the list, so I suppose you could argue she’s the big winner. Joe Jonas appears on the list in two separate bands (Jonas Brothers and DNCE), and Bruno Mars made it as a solo act and as part of a collaboration with Mark Ronson—and then you have Rihanna who placed two of her own songs on the list, and also appeared on collaborations with Eminem and Calvin Harris.

Review Fix: Any songs surprisingly make or not make the list?

Stapleford: I was really surprised to see that Beyoncé didn’t make the cut. “Drunk in Love” came close, but no cigar. Jay Z doesn’t appear either. There are several country songs, but nothing from Carrie Underwood. Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” came out in October of 2009, but it got enough spins in 2010 to make the countdown. On the other side of the spectrum “Señorita” by Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes was only released five months ago, but it powered its way in.

Review Fix: Where does this countdown stand in comparison to the other ones you’ve done?

Stapleford: Well, it’s bigger, for one thing.  We generally limit our countdowns to 40 or 50 songs, so people can hear them in one or two sittings…but we went with a full 100 songs for the decade. Consider this, “Despacito” by Luis Fonzi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Bieber was a very important song, but it still placed at #51. If we didn’t make this an extra large countdown, we’d be missing a lot of massive hits. The Top Songs of the Decade takes around five and a half hours to complete, but we think it’s well worth it.

Review Fix: What’s next for the brand?

Stapleford: In 2019, we started to create video companions for our biggest “radio” specials, and this was no exception. We will be looking to create a lot more content that embraces both platforms.  Also, countdowns have always proven to be very popular with our audience, so expect tons more in 2020.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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