Well… this is coming in about 18 days late!
Nevertheless, I thought it might be interesting to do a big round-up of the most popular music posts on Sophistefunk for the entirety of 2012.
Considering over 1,000,000 people visited Sophistefunk this year (according to Google Analytics), there were a lot of popular posts to choose from, but I narrowed it down to the 20 most viewed.
Let’s dig in!
1.) Seven Nation Army by The Glitch Mob
This one almost isn’t even fair… because it was posted in 2011!
Regardless, it still made the #1 spot of the year this year, likely due to the song blowing up after it was featured in the GI Trailer (which was posted Dec 11/Jan 12, essentially the beginning of 2012)
I never thought to see this one here, but hey, gotta go by the numbers, and this was the most popular post of last year.
Visit: Seven Nation Army Remix by The Glitch Mob
2.) Heart Anthem Remix by Cryptex
This showed up around March 2012, a big dubstep release by Cryptex and one of the many tracks that catapulted him further this year.
Although not the usual serving of what I post around here, this was a great release nonetheless.
Visit: Heart Anthem Remix by Cryptex
3.) Monolith Code by Break Science
Although Break Science had some great collaborations with Michal Menert this year, their solo EP was also a smash.
Above was the most popular track from YouTube, but I encourage you to check out the WHOLE album, it’s great.
Visit: Monolith Code by Break Science
4.) Digital Freedom by Gramatik
This was a BIG release for Gramatik this year, and it shows by being the #4 most popular post of the year.
The album definitely hinted towards a slightly new sound that seems to be his focus nowadays, good stuff.
Visit: Digital Freedom by Gramatik
5.) Beatz & Pieces Vol 1 by Gramatik
This one is actually from 2011 as well, but I only posted it recently to showcase it to a new audience.
Apparently that was a good idea, because a TON of people viewed this post for the first time.
It’s a fantastic album, so I encourage you to check out the full thing.
Visit: Beatz & Pieces Vol 1 by Gramatik
6.) Nocturnal by Big Gigantic
Big Gigantic is one group I get to be all “hipster” about, as I was jamming to them back when Wide Awake was released, but I’m glad to have seen the duo take off recently.
Dom especially is killer with that signature sax, I expect more big things from them this year.
Visit: Nocturnal by Big Gigantic
7.) Smash the Funk by GRiZ
It’s hard to deny that GRiZ had a big year this year.
Funnily enough, I only started posting his stuff recently, thank you to the many people who emailed me about him and got my head out of the sand!
Visit: Smash the Funk by GRiZ
8.) Seychelles by Perseus
This one definitely got a lot of help due to the fact that this track just seem to have taken off about 2 weeks after release.
That Toni Braxon sample is definitely legit though, great job by Perseus as usual.
Visit: Seychelles by Perseus
9.) Binary Suns Jedi Theme Remix by Coyote Kisses
Certainly reveals how riding off of the coattails of something successful can be great for exposure (not trashing them at all, great group, just pointing it out).
Fortunately, Coyote Kisses always delivers on quality as well, so this turned out great.
Visit: Binary Suns Jedi Theme Remix by Coyote Kisses
10.) Soft Focus by Vanilla
This almost feels like a “beat tape,” but it’s so much more, definitely an undiscovered gem of the year.
Not that Vanilla doesn’t have a bit of a following, just that it deserves to be much larger!
Visit: Soft Focus by Vanilla
11.) The Future is Now by GRiZ
Another appearance by GRiZ on this list, again, thanks to all those who emailed me about the guy.
This was a single release but still made a big splash on both SoundCloud and YouTube.
Visit: The Future is Now by GRiZ
12. Spring Forward Vol. II
I was glad to see this here, as it was one of my favorite releases this year, and one that I consider very underrated.
It was a group effort that I gladly laid down a donation for, show this whole album some love!
Visit: Spring Forward Vol II
13.) Alone in Kyoto Remix by SoundFow
Very notable for being one of few entries that didn’t benefit from a YouTube upload.
Definitely an interesting track that hits hard, I know I had this on repeat when it was released.
Visit: Alone in Kyoto Remix by SoundFlow
14.) You Get High by Pretty Lights
Unfortunately for my upload, people seemed to be more concerned with the picture than the actual song (lol).
This was obviously a huge track from a big artist, definitely expected this one to be here.
Visit: You Get High by Pretty Lights
15.) Vision Vision Remix by R/D
Back when this blog started, this was the artist that the most people thanked me for introducing them too (he gets a lot more features now).
Click play to find out why!
Visit: Vision Vision Remix by R/D
16.) The Great Divide Remix by Seven Lions
Seven Lions had a huge year this year in terms of gaining traction with the electronic music community.
Tracks like this definitely show you why, the vast sound and unique choice of songs to remix help Seven Lions make an incredibly strong showing every time.
Visit: The Great Divide by Seven Lions
17.) Don’t Let Me Down Remix by Gramatik
How many appearances can a single artist make in a list like this, heh.
Gramatik is back with another track, and although most people should stay away from source material like this, Gramatik turns up with another classic.
Visit: Don’t Let Me Down Remix by Gramatik
18.) Birdland Vol. 1 by Bird Peterson
Although hip-hop tracks tend to be pretty popular here (especially if they have an electronic flavor), this was the only hip-hop style post to crack into the top 20.
Glad to see it though, I had this on replay forever this year!
Visit: Birdland Vol 1 by Bird Peterson
19.) Mountain Legends by CloZee
Although CloZee got a few mentions this year, the video for this post really took off and contributed to it’s high view count (not as many social shares on this one).
Super excited this got some traction though, definitely an artist that deserves more of the spotlight.
Visit: Mountain Legends by CloZee
20.) The Way U Do by Shlohmo
First song that got me hooked on TammySzu’s channel!
This was a hugely popular track this year, I think The Weeknd shared it and it just snowballed from there.
Visit: The Way U Do by Shlohmo
Honorable Mentions
Have to throw a few quick honorable mentions out to posts that were just shy of the top 20.
Find them below…
Even If It Isn’t Right by Michal Menert
Le Rondo Des Sirenes Remix by CloZee
Be Serious Remix by Benny Loco (also the first post of the year, Jan. 1 2012)
Most Popular Articles
As you guys know, from time to time I post longer posts (like this one!) that either includes thoughts or a unique round-up of some kind.
They tend to get into a bunch of different topics, all music-related, and are actually pretty popular (fun fact: if I did a site-wide list, 3 of these articles would make it into the top 20!)
Below you can check out the most popular “non-traditional” posts on Sophistefunk this year.
1.) 10 Greatest Video Games Remixes
Ha, so awesome to see this make #1, one of my weirdest posts to date, but you gotta love that nostalgia.
I’m pretty proud this piece made it here because I spent a fair amount of time writing it, and it’s one of the more “serious” articles on the whole site.
3.) The Psychology of Concerts
The call-to-arms article for concert lovers, all backed with science!
4.) On Splintering Music Genres
A very early article that resonated with a lot of people.
My answer to the 1,000,000 emails I get a month on this topic!
Interesting Site Statistics This Year
Here are a few weird stats I noticed this year from my analytics…
1.) Everyone searching for “Lindsay Lowend” had already been to the site
Nearly every single person who ended up on the site by searching for “Lindsay Lowend” related terms had seemingly been to the site before.
For instance, every single person of the ~1,000 people who searched “lindsay low end” had already visited the site in the past… not a single person was a new visitor!
Weird!
2.) Sophistefunk readers do NOT use Twitter
Twitter, despite being the #2 most popular social network of the year, sent the least amount of traffic in comparison to other popular sources.
The most popular for this site seem to be YouTube (the channel), Facebook, StumbleUpon and other blogs (thanks homies!).
3.) 85 people found the site by searching for “sophist e funk”
I thought that was cute, lol.
…conversely, 71 people found the site by searching for “sofistefunk” … ಠ_ಠ
4.) Sophistefunk reached the #1 result in Google for “electronic music blog“
Thank you for all of the readers who linked to me!
As you know this blog is just run for fun, but I do have a competitive streak and like the fact that I’m #1 for that term.
Suck it Gotta Dance Dirty! 😉
5.) Outside of the US, the country with the most visitors was France!
Go France!
The other top countries were Germany, England, Poland and Spain.
This was my favorite fact of the year, really cool to see such a varied audience! 🙂
That’s about for this year…
Be Excellent to Each Other
… and enjoy your 2013!
Note: I’ve currently removed those obnoxious social media buttons (gag) from the site, but if you enjoy the music, do your best to help it spread!
