iTunes vs. eMusic: the singles
13Dec07
iTunes recently posted their year-end lists for their best-selling titles, as well as their editorial picks. While we will have to wait until next week to look at eMusic’s editorial choices, we thought it might be fun to do a title-by-title comparison of the best-sellers between the two services, with edges being handled out to each. Today we’re taking a look at the singles; recently we compared albums. For a full, and slightly out of date, list of the best-sellers on eMusic, head here.
Note on the methodology for the eMusic selections: since we are primarily an album-based service, the singles results had to be edited for the purposes of this. Rather than highlight every single Arcade Fire/Spoon/whoever song, I just selected the most-downloaded song from each album instead. Also note that I restricted results to just recent tracks (which had only a very slight effect), as iTunes obviously did the same for their list. That said, here we go:
| Rank | iTunes | eMusic | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fergie, “Big Girls Don’t Cry” | Plain White T’s, “Hey There Delilah” | Plain White T’s. Joe made an impassioned plea for the greatness of “Delilah,” and who are we to disagree, especially when Fergie is in the mix? |
| 2 | Gwen Stefani, “The Sweet Escape” | Taylor Swift, “Tim McGraw” | Draw. Oh man. The Stefani track is one of my least favorite songs of the past couple of years, those obnoxious “wooohooos” and, of course, the omnipresent, half-robotic Akon, too. But the Swift track? The indie-rock equivalent of writing a song about the Arcade Fire. Everyone loses. |
| 3 | Plain White T’s, “Hey There Delilah” | Arcade Fire, “Keep the Car Running” | Arcade Fire. But we do have to disagree with Joe when it comes to picking “Delilah” twice. Plus “Keep the Car” is one of the stronger songs in the AF repertoire. |
| 4 | Avril Lavigne, “Girlfriend” | Spoon, “You Got Yr Cherry Bomb” | Spoon. Certainly among my favorite songs of the year gets a big boost by facing off against one of the worst. |
| 5 | Fergie, “Glamorous” | Paul McCartney, “Dance Tonight” | Macca. I still have nightmares about that “Glamorous” video, not to mention the Duchess of Whatever herself. As for the Macca, it’s merely okay. Not even in the same league as “Hope of Deliverance.” |
| 6 | Kanye West, “Stronger” | Lil Jon, “Snap Yo Fingers” | Kanye. Not a fan of “Stronger” at all (and I’m okay with “Snap”), but it’s getting the edge just for the strength of “Flashing Lights” and “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” (Note: not “The Good Life.”) |
| 7 | Maroon 5, “Makes Me Wonder” | The National, “Mistaken For Strangers” | National. I wouldn’t be surprised if something interesting comes of the Maroon 5 new-wave flirtation, but the stupid-generic “Makes Me Wonder” ain’t it. I much prefer the laconic resignation of the National. |
| 8 | Akon, “Don’t Matter” | Of Montreal, “Suffer For Fashion” | Of Montreal. So did two or three major-label executives just decide this year that every guest vocal would go to Akon or T-Pain? So bizarre. Akon is terrible, completely lifeless and cold, and not in a fun way like Sean Paul. The Of Montreal song is okay, so we’re handing them the trophy. |
| 9 | Timbaland, “The Way I Are” | Panda Bear, “Bros (Album Version)” | Panda Bear. More dullness from 2007 Timbo, this one a rip of his own “Sexy Back” (I know we all loved barking “yeah” but ain’t that well dry by now, Mr. Mosely?). As for “Bros,” so mesmerizing and gorgeous, and an excellent 12-minute bargain! |
| 10 | Shop Boyz, “Party Like a Rock Star” | Okkervil River, “Plus Ones” | Okkervil. I promise I listen to pop music, but the stuff that made the iTunes list is making me nauseous. Such dimwitted singles that, despite their boisterousness, are anti-fun. The Okkervil couldn’t be less like the Shop Boyz, a clever, quiet tune that gently strolls away with this. |
| 11 | Soulja Boy, “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” | Unk, “Walk It Out Remix (W/ OutKast & Jim Jones)” | Soulja Boy. “Crank That” had the fastest ascendance into the sports music pantheon that I can ever remember — even quicker than “Who Let the Dogs Out.” We choose it here without reservation, but also know that our children will be dancing to this in years to come. Hell, even Lambeau probably has this on its playlist by now. |
| 12 | Rihanna, “Umbrella” | Caribou, “Melody Day” | Rihanna. Big Caribou fans here, but “Umbrella” is impossible to dispute, though the Cinderella remix can go drown in a bathtub. |
| 13 | Timbaland, “Apologize” | Heartland, “I Loved Her First” | No One. Timbaland power ballads? Where can I get off, pls? And a cheesy, generic song tailor-made for weddings? I choose death. Each site loses a point for this monstrosity. |
| 14 | Nickelback, “Rockstar” | Beirut, “Nantes” | Beirut. “Nantes” is good. “Rockstar” is “Rockstar.” |
| 15 | Colbie Caillat, “Bubbly” | Elliott Smith, “Angel in the Snow” | Smith. Any song that feels like it was made for a scented candle commercial (”Bubbly”) gets no traction around here. And the Smith tune? Divine. |
| 16 | Timbaland, “Give It to Me” | Little Big Town, “Boondocks” | Timbaland. For all the Tim-bashing, he did have a couple of good moments this year, most of them non-”Promiscuous,” Furtado-based. Though not as good as the next track, I did dig this one. |
| 17 | Nelly Furtado, “Say It Right” | Explosions in the Sky, “The Birth and Death of the Day” | Furtado. “Say It Right” is on the short-list of my favorite songs to hit this year, a wonderfully wistful pop song that arrives fully realized. So big and gorgeous, as is the Explosions track, but Nelly still wins it. |
| 18 | T-Pain, “Buy U A Drank (Shorty Snappin’)” | Lumidee, “She’s Like the Wind” | Lumidee. Just for making “Never Leave You” (the “uh oh” song), Lumidee gets the nod. But “She’s Like the Wind” ended up being pretty great, and has stuck around way more than I thought (I still hear it around). |
| 19 | Gym Class Heroes, “Cupid’s Chokehold” | Cold War Kids, “Hang Me Up to Dry” | Gym Class Heroes. I like both of these songs, but know “Cupid’s Chokehold” (which I swear was on MTV every morning at 8:37am for a good six months) much better. I could still do without the Fall Out Boy chorus, though. Oh, and the Cold War Kids song is pretty good. |
| 20 | Daughtry, “It’s Not Over” | Deerhoof, “Believe E.S.P.” | Deerhoof. Even from Deerhoof skeptics this is as easy as it gets. |
And so, after factoring in the points subtracted for #13, the results? eMusic 10 - iTunes 6.
There are Deerhoof skeptics? Wha-?