Why make a personal chart?

[P(A)]

I'm curious of everyone's motivation to make a chart every week.

[Gravity Happens]

I've had varying reasons. At first, I made up an imaginary country and a whole system around it (I had a huge imagination back in high school, it was quite elaborate), and decided a music chart would be a good idea for it (surely inspired by listening to Rick Dees every week), so I started to make a chart based on my favourite songs each week. It also allowed me to keep track of what was out then, and remember my favourite songs of the day, mostly influenced by what I was hearing on the radio at the time.

The chart evolved over time, and as I put it online, I started being influenced less by what I heard on the radio and more by songs I heard from message board exposure; eventually as I heard more new music, my chart expanded from 40 to 100 positions. It has since become a way to program my MP3 playlist; each week, I add new songs that I think have a chance to make my chart and remove songs that are about to fall off. Without my chart, I have a feeling I might end up losing touch with new music... but week after week, I still get excited to make my chart.

[DJ 7.0]

idk i just do. its fun to see what i liked..and its a good way to compile a year end chart

[taylor]

because brian told me to

[DJ 7.0]

lollll

[Bri.I.Am]

Ever since I was little, I remember staying up on New Years Eve with my family listening all day to the Z100 Top 100 songs of the year. And being amazed how they compiled those lists...how many plays a song must have each year to earn its place on the chart.

In 8th grade, I got my first iPod and really started burning a lot of mixes...for friends and even for myself to play on my boom-boxes. All of my friends would always tell me how great I was at making mixes...I was always the "mix maker." For every sweet 16, every prom(yes I went to about 8 in HS), every function I was asked to be the mix maker. I just loved compiling lists of my favorite songs at a given moment.(I still do) It is so great because I can go back to some of those older mixes and be transported back to those times. It is truly amazing how people relate so much to music.

What annoyed me with these mixes was that there was no single radio station that played all of my favorite songs. At one point I had a group of friends that would ask me to make them a mix almost seasonally because they couldn't stand listening to the same 15-20 songs on the radio.

This caused me to make my charts. I would post them on my facebook(back then myspace) and people would download, try out some songs I suggested ect...EXCEPT the only problem with that was...I wasn't really getting anything out of it... I wasn't really learning about any new music. I was just giving suggestions to other people. In searching for new music, I came across PMB which had an entire section devoted to posting personal charts. This was just so epic for me because it was a forum filled with people who had similar passion for music.

What I love most about the personal charts is learning and discovering new musical acts. I love to be ahead of the musical curve and I want to be open to all genres of music.

[Zack]

Woo! I get to tell my life story about how music has influenced my life so much!

I have been making charts since I was about 8. It started out with putting numbers on sticky notes and putting them on my favorite CDs each week. The more I listened to each CD that week, the higher number sticky note it got. I started making a chart of songs when I was 10 or 11. I just put all my favorite songs from the CDs I had and wrote them on a piece of paper. During the 2nd season of American Idol, my favorite contestant was Josh Gracin. He came in 4th that year.

My dad became a big fan of Country music when he went to college at Auburn (after moving from Vermont). In Vermont, Country music is not very popular and there wasn't a decent station there. So I was never exposed to much Country music until I moved to Georgia. But we were listening to Country radio on the way home from some trip and the DJ said "Here is American Idol contestant, Josh Gracin's debut single." So I had to go find out about this. I searched and found out that his album was about to come out. So I bought his album and absolutely loved it. I started listening to Country radio all the time just so I could hear his music on the radio. While listening to Country radio, I started to like other Country artists like Rascal Flatts, Sara Evans, Gretchen Wilson, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, and others. This is when I fell in love with Country music.

I started following the Country chart when I stumbled upon it while searching more about some Country artists. I started buying songs off iTunes and I tried to get every Country song that appeared on this chart I looked at. I made my own chart of the Country chart and had all my favorite songs on there. This grew to a higher extent when I got my first laptop. I soon discovered a website that told when new singles and albums by artists were getting released. This made my chart expand even more.

While desperately searching for Sarah Buxton's song "Innocence" on the internet, I stumbled upon Pulse. This led me to even more information about Country music and along with Limewire and my bestest buddy, Aaron, I saved a bunch of money and got way more new songs at the same time.

Now that I have expanded my musical taste once again to more than just Country, I take all the songs that I discover and make a chart from them. It helps me keep track of what songs I do and don't like; which ones I like more than others; and how my musical taste has grown over time. Charts and music have always been a big part of my life. Without my chart, I probably would not pay as much attention to current music, and this would lead to less songs I like over time. So charts have expanded my musical taste tremendously.

[P(A)]

i think in my case im just obsessed with looking at songs in order
like i stare at not only my weekly charts but also my itunes playlists, last fm charts (both artist & songs), and even take random data every month of my playcount stats
ive been addicted to this kind of stuff since 2oo7

nobody i know in real life knows that i make these charts weekly lol.

[DJ 7.0]

I forgot how I found PMB. I was searching for news on an album or something. And I don't know...I just found it lol

I first made any form of a chart in 2004 when I was using last.fm after one of my friends told me about it so i would write down my favorite songs and stuff.

and just like brian said, i am the mix master. all of my friends come to me and say do you know this song blah blah. they will give me a lyric and almost instantly i know the song. i send a lot of new music to my friends as well and i have hundreds of mix cds i made all over my house lol

i remember making 3 disc sets of my favorite songs of the year. i still have my 2004 discs lol but then around 2007 or whatever when ipods came out, i didnt make the year end cds but i would still make like best of summer or whatever type mixes

[DJ 7.0]

I still like making CDs as well even though I don't really ever listen to them its just fun. i love making my personal chart and i nevah wanna stop! although when i go away to college in 2 years it might be difficult but ill find some way

[s4c]

Uhmwow. LOL I wish my life was as story-filled as some of y'all.

I just started mine because I thought the idea was cool at Pulse. I kind of regret it, LOL. Because I'll be doing it until the day I die because I'll never be able to stop. When I started, I had enough time to make 5 charts a week... Now I'm 4 months behind. I'm just addicted to the numbers. I can't help it.

[- `J0EL™]

I do it becasue i can.

[Pipa]

I stopped and then Brian cried so it's back.

[keepitcp]

How do you make one? Do you mean by using last.fm?