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The Beatles top singles?  Highest ranked albums?  Top streamed songs?  Top songs played by musicians?  Biggest selling albums?

First we’ll look at the rankings the Muse Group put together showing which songs musicians are looking up through their sites.  To no one’s surprise, songs by The Beatles are looked up the most.  But which ones?  Here’s a chart showing the songs being checked out by guitarists and by pianists (players of other instruments are not included).  The data is for 12-months ending June 25th, 2025.  (Chart enlarges with a click.)

You can see “Let It Be” is the top song with both guitarists and keyboardists.  In fact, eight of the songs are on both lists.  The change from the guitar tabs list to the piano score list is that “Come Together” and “And I Love Her” drop off, and “Eleanor Rigby” and “Penny Lane” are added.  Songs written primarily by Paul McCartney are the top four on the guitar list, and four of the top five on the piano list.  George Harrison has his three best songs on both lists.

The above data was the inspiration for gathering other interesting rankings of The Beatles’ music, and putting them in easy forms that can be saved with screenshots (click to enlarge).  Here’s the streaming ranking.

The above list shows the overall popularity of Beatles songs on Spotify streaming through last year.  The top five songs being streamed in 2025 are the same, but in a slightly different order… 1. “Here Comes The Sun”, 2. “Let It Be”, 3. “Come Together”, 4. “Hey Jude”, and 5. “Yesterday”.  It’s amazing that the most listened to song wasn’t even a single, just an album track.  Other non-singles are “Blackbird”, “In My Life”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Ob-la-di Ob-la-da”, and “Norwegian Wood”.

This list shows how The Beatles’ singles performed on the Hot 100 chart.  “Hey Jude” spent 9-weeks at #1 in 1968.  We can see the 1964 surge of Beatlemania with the high rankings of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You”.  In the top 10 are two songs from Let It Be, two songs from Abbey Road, and two songs from A Hard Day’s Night.

There are a couple of surprises.  “Twist And Shout” only made it to #2 (held out of #1 by “Can’t Buy Me Love”), and “Please Please Me” only made it to #3.  The stats for two songs that did not make the list, #1 “Penny Lane” and #1 “Eight Days A Week”, look better.  They had about the same number of weeks in the Top-40, and were ranked higher.  “Twist And Shout” did re-enter the Top-40 in 1986 when it was featured in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, so that probably gave it an extra boost, but “Please Please Me” seems out of place.  Here’s a look at The Beatles #1 singles in chronological order.

The Beatles had a total of 47 Top-40 hits in the U.S. from 1964 to 1970.  The final total for them was 52, after a random release of “Got To Get You Into My Life” in 1976 (#7), the “Twist And Shout” re-release in 1986 (#23), and the post-Beatles singles of “Free As A Bird” (#6), “Real Love” (#11), and “Now And Then” (#7).  The last three singles were released in 1995, 1996 and 2023.  The Beatles’ biggest chart-topping year was 1964 when they had a still-record six #1 hits.

Moving from songs to albums…which Beatles LP’s hit #1 on the Billboard 200 chart?

It’s surprising how the above list isn’t readily available in a simple accurate form.  One list even had British album versions on it that weren’t available in the U.S. at the time.  Another list showed the Yellow Submarine Soundtrack as #1, but it peaked at #2.  Still another list erroneously said the American album Introducing The Beatles was illegally released and was withdrawn from the market.  They said that was why Meet The Beatles was considered The Beatles first U.S. album.  The truth is that Introducing The Beatles, which is very similar to the Please Please Me album, was the first Beatles album released in the U.S.

The Vee Jay Records album contained recordings that Capitol Records had declined to release.   Capitol lost in court to stop Vee Jay from continuing to produce the album, and the companies eventually agreed that the song rights would revert to Capitol in October of 1964.  Introducing The Beatles was very successful, reached #2 on the Billboard album chart, and stayed there for nine weeks.  It was held out of #1 by Meet The Beatles, which was released 10 days later (January 20, 1964), but rose quicker on the charts.

Capitol Records added to the confusion by naming their 2nd release The Beatles Second Album when it was really The Beatles third U.S. release.  Apparently Capitol wanted to pretend Introducing The Beatles didn’t exist.  When they later obtained the rights, Capitol released their version of the album in 1965 and named it The Early Beatles.

The Introducing The Beatles album had two songs fewer than the U.K. Please Please Me album.  In America Vee Jay Records didn’t have the rights to the songs “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You”, so those songs were taken off the album.  For The Early Beatles, Capitol was able to add back those two songs, but didn’t include the Lennon-McCartney written “Misery”, “There’s A Place”, and “I Saw Her Standing There”.  It was understandable that the last one was left off since it was on Meet The Beatles, but for the fans, Capitol should have included the other two and added “From Me To You”.

And which Beatles albums sold the most?

These are The Beatles’ 12 regular studio albums ranked by their official sales (hits collections are not included).  Two American albums, “Meet The Beatles” & “Beatles ‘65”, are shown because they were the biggest part of the sales combined with the British versions, “With The Beatles” & “Beatles For Sale”.

When you look at how many great songs and albums The Beatles put out from 1962 to 1970, it’s amazing what they accomplished.  It’s over six decades after they started, and no one else has even come close to their quality and their level of success.

Before The Beach Boys released “Surfin’ Safari” (their first Top-40 hit in September of 1962), Surf Music was mostly guitar instrumentals like “Misirlou” and “Let’s Go Trippin’” by Dick Dale & The Del-Tones.  It was The Beach Boys who added the singalong factor to songs about surf, cars, & girls.  Their success brought other artists, songwriters, and producers to try to capture that magic too.  See if you can remember the songs and artists who added to the West Coast sound.  Most of them were one-hit wonders, so the names aren’t easy to recall.

Before we get to those, here are The  Beach Boys’ friends and sometimes co-songwriters who had some major hits.

Jan Berry (on the left in the middle photo) and Dean Torrence performed as Jan & Dean.  They had hits in the late 1950s, but it wasn’t until 1963 (a few months after “Surfin’Safari” and “Surfin’ U.S.A.” by The Beach Boys), that Jan & Dean hit #1 with “Surf City”.  The song really was a collaboration by the two groups.  Brian Wilson wrote the music, Jan Berry wrote the words, and then Brian sang harmony with them on the recording.  All of Jan & Dean’s big surf-style hits came in 1963 and 1964… “Drag City” #10, “Dead Man’s Curve” #8, “ The Little Old Lady From Pasadena” #3, and “Sidewalk Surfin’” #25.  That last one was a remake of The Beach Boys song “Catch A Wave”, but with new lyrics by Jan Berry.  Trivia note:  That’s Dean Torrence singing lead vocals with Brian Wilson on The Beach Boys #2 hit “Barbara Ann”, recorded in 1965.

Now we come to other songs and artists of the surf era that are more like answers to trivia questions.

Here are some mid-1960s hits that sound a lot like The Beach Boys.  First the titles so you can see if you know the songs and guess who did them.  Then the names of the artists will be listed a little lower in this article.

1. G.T.O. (Little GTO) #4, 1964
2. Hey Little Cobra #4, 1964
3. California Sun (In That Warm California Sun) #5, 1964
4. Little Honda #9, 1964
5. New York’s A Lonely Town (When You’re The Only Surfer Boy) #32, 1965
6. Sandy #27, 1966

Surf instrumentals remained popular in the early 60s.  Here are four of them.  See if he titles remind you of what they sounded like and who did them.  The artists’ names are farther below.

1. Pipeline #4, 1963
2. Wipe Out #2, 1963
3. Penetration #18, 1964
4. Walk Don’t Run ’64 #8, 1964

Hollywood tried their best to get in on the surf craze with movies staring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon.  Annette was popular from being on the Mickey Mouse Club, and Frankie was a Teen Idol from music and films.  The movies were successful, but the plots were thin and the humor was mostly silly.

Ready for the names of the artists?

1. G.T.O….Ronny & The Daytonas
2. Hey Little Cobra…The Rip Chords
3. California Sun…The Rivieras
4. Little Honda…The Hondells (covering a Beach Boys song)
5. New York’s A Lonely Town…The Trade Winds
6. Sandy…Ronny & The Daytonas (their only other hit)

Instrumentals

1. Pipeline…The Chantays
2. Wipe Out…The Surfaris
3. Penetration…The Pyramids (who shaved their heads as a gimmick)
4. Walk Don’t Run ’64…The Ventures (an update of their #2 hit in 1962)

(Send this to your older music friends, and see how they do on the quiz.)

The popularity of surf and car songs was mostly from 1962 to 1965.  By that time, there was Folk Rock and more serious music taking over.  Maybe that’s why it’s still fun to go back and listen to those early hits.

By the way, there’s some misperception that The Beach Boys started with surf songs, and then moved on to car songs; however, the car song “409” (the engine size of a Chevrolet Impala SS) was the flip side of their first hit, “Surfin’ Safari”, and was on their first album.  The group’s earliest albums all included songs about surfing, cars, girls, and the West Coast lifestyle.  They were out there havin’ fun, in that warm California sun.

It always happens when one of our music stars dies…all of a sudden people buy & stream their albums and songs.

On iTunes the day after Brian Wilson’s death, The Beach Boys had the top three selling digital albums…their Classic Pet Sounds, and two of their greatest hits collections.  At the top of the singles chart were “God Only Knows” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, plus “Good Vibrations” at #6.  Even on the Music Videos chart there were three Beach Boys songs among the mostly new videos in the Top 10, “Surfin’ U.S.A.”, “I Get Around”, and “God Only Knows”.

Well-known artists from the last six decades have relayed how much they love the recordings and songwriting of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys.  The Pet Sounds album and the song “God Only Knows” have definitely been mentioned the most.  Pet Sounds has actually been criminally under purchased in the past.  It took from 1966 to 2000 for it to sell one-million copies.  It’s great to see it sitting at #1 in digital sales.  It’s only $9.99, and that’s less than the price of a burger at most restaurants these days.  Even if you just stream it, please listen closely to the clever and original arrangements of both the vocals and the instrumentation.

There are quite a few Beach Boys greatest hits collections, and here’s a ranking of the best three.  Song lists are included that you can click to enlarge.

#3

Endless Summer is a very good 20 song collection of The Beach Boys songs about surfing, cars, and girls, but it only covers 1962 through 1965.  So…no Pet Sounds songs like “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” & “God Only Knows”.  On this digital version, they did include 1966’s “Good Vibrations” as a bonus track.  About half of the tracks are in mono.  The price is $11.99 on iTunes.

#2:

For a few dollars more, you can get Sounds Of Summer.  It says it’s The Very Best of The Beach Boys, and that’s pretty accurate.  Most Beach Boys fans would be satisfied with the 30 songs in this career-spanning collection.  It’s mostly killer, not filler, so it’s a good choice.  The price is just $14.99.  The reason it’s not #1 here is because quite a few songs are in mono (unless the digital version was updated), and the #1 choice has 20 more songs for a very little increase in price.

#1:

50 Big Ones is the most complete as it contains all but one Beach Boys’ Top-40 hit, and is mostly in stereo.  The price is $19.99.  Fifty songs is a lot, but once you have them in your computer, you can divide them into two playlists, and put them in chronological order.  That way you hear the history and development of The Beach Boys.

“Caroline, No” is not on the hits collections.  It’s the only one of The Beach Boys’ 35 Top-40 hits missing from the 50 Big Ones album.  That’s probably because the single was released under Brian Wilson’s name, even though it’s on Pet Sounds.  You can’t go wrong with buying that album too!

Above are The Beach Boys in 1964, a little before they changed their hair to fit in better with The British Invasion.  1964 was the year they got their first #1 hit with “I Get Around”.  They did a good job of representing America in a friendly competition with the Brits, and they did it with their own original West Coast sound.  In fact, The Beach Boys were very popular in England.

Brian Wilson’s passing (at the age of 82) on June 11th, 2025 was a sad day, but his talents as a songwriter, singer, arranger, and producer will be enjoyed for decades to come.

For a more complete look at Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys, use this link:

https://ontherecords.net/2024/02/brian-wilsona-look-back-updated/

Billboard Magazine recently published an article showing the artists who spent the most weeks at #1 on their album chart.  First, we’ll show you the results, and then take a deeper dive.

As you can see, The Beatles have the most weeks at #1 by far, and Taylor Swift has the second most, with a significant lead over Elvis Presley in third place.  Of the nineteen artists on the list, most of them have either died or are unlikely to produce any new music.  Other than possible Greatest Hits or anthology releases, the artists most likely to add to their #1’s through new recordings are Taylor Swift, Adele, Drake, Eminem, and Morgan Wallen.

There are definitely surprises.

Who knew The Kingston Trio (Folk artists from the 1950s) would tun out to be the American group whose albums  spent the most weeks at number one?  Their biggest album, At Large, spent 15 weeks topping the chart.  The only other 1950s solo artist besides Elvis Presley is Harry Belafonte, and who expected that?  His album Calypso accounted for 31 weeks of his 37 at number one.  Other long-running albums were Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours at 31 weeks, and Michael Jackson’s Thriller with 37 weeks.

Besides The Beatles, the only 1960s artists on the list are The Rolling Stones and The Monkees.  The Stones had nine #1 albums from 1965 to 1981.  The Monkees’ time at the top fell within just 13 months, with two albums from November of 1966 to December of 1967.  The lone American Rock band to make the list is the Eagles.  It would be nice to include Fleetwood Mac, but although they were based in America in the 70s, they’re only two-fifths American.

The top two artists, The Beatles & Taylor Swift, not only have the most weeks at #1, they have the most albums that made it to that position.  The Beatles have 19 #1 albums that topped the Billboard 200.

Taylor Swift has 14 albums in a row that reached #1 on the Top 200 album chart…with the certainty that more will follow.  Swift’s 2006 first album, Taylor Swift, “only” hit #5, but it was #1 for 24 weeks on the Country chart.

It was her latest album that spent the most weeks (17) at #1.  Tortured Poets was the most streamed album in the world last year.  According to Spotify, Swift had three of the Top 10 most streamed albums globally in 2024, and no one else had more than one.

These days, it’s easier for well-known artists to get a number one album, because of the rush of streaming and sales the week it comes out.  It used to take time for music listeners to become aware of albums (they had to buy physical copies instead of instantly being able to listen to them).  Normally, the albums would work their way up the charts as the artists toured to support them.  Also, if singles from the albums became hits, people were more likely to take a chance on purchasing the albums.  On the other hand, today’s albums can fade fast unless people find enough good songs to warrant repeat listenings.

Sometimes we take a chance on concerts that don’t feature artist we know really well.  We only have two albums by The Wallflowers, plus songs Jakob Dylan performed in the Echo In The Canyon movie about the musicians of Laurel Canyon in the 1960s.  But, when we saw The Wallflowers were going to be in our hometown of Eugene, Oregon, we bought tickets.

The show was sold out at the 750-seat McDonald Theatre.  We ended up sitting in the balcony.  As you can tell by the marquee, the big draw is Jakob Dylan, the 55-year-old son of music legend Bob Dylan (84).

Jakob’s voice has always sounded a little smoother than his dad’s, but the similarities are very obvious.  The first album by The Wallflowers was released in 1992, but it was their 1996 album Bringing Down The Horse upon which their reputation and career were built.

The album includes their best known hits… “One Headlight”, “6th Avenue Heartache”, and “”The Difference”.  The only member of the group still active is Jakob Dylan, but that’s okay when he’s the lead vocalist and main songwriter.  The rest of the band was made up of talented backup musicians who have been with Jakob for about five years.

Jakob Dylan’s profile sure looks a lot like his dad’s.  As we watched the band, it was obvious how good all the musicians were, but there was a problem.  The lead vocals were too buried in the mix.  We could see Dylan was making an effort to convey the lyrics, but they were nearly impossible to discern, even for my wife, who has excellent hearing.  Compounding the problem was our unfamiliarity with many of the songs.

For us, the evening was saved by a strong ending.  “One Headlight” and “Who’s That Man Walking ‘Round My Garden” provided a solid finish to the main concert.

When the band returned for an encore, Dylan was wearing a hat, and we had the surprise of two excellent cover songs… “Wild World” by Cat Stevens, and “The Waiting” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.  Tom Petty, who often included covers in his shows, would probably have enjoyed another band covering his song.  Then The Wallflowers closed the evening with their own hit, “The Difference”.  That burst of five really good songs in a row made the whole concert worthwhile.

Taylor Swift is overjoyed!

She had been massively disappointed when she was unable to buy the rights to her own recordings six years ago, but today, May 30th, 2025, Swift announced she has purchased all her early recordings from Shamrock Capital.  Taylor published some photos with her first six albums that she hadn’t previously owned.

Taylor said… “All of the music I’ve ever made now belongs to me.”  Every aspect of her career, including videos, concert films, art, photography, and unreleased material, are all under her control.  Swift praised Shamrock Capital for their handling of the sale, and she said the price was reasonable for both sides, and not the high amount speculated in the media.  Shamrock paid $300-million, so the number was likely somewhere north of that when Swift bought the rights.  The popular estimate is $360-million.

So where does that leave “Taylor’s Version” of her Reputation album?  Fans have been expecting the re-recorded album to be released any day, but Taylor says she hasn’t even recorded a quarter of it.  She says she “kept hitting a stopping point”, and that it may be the only one of her first six albums that can’t be improved upon.  So what about the other album that hasn’t been released in Taylor’s Version?

Better news on this one.  Taylor says the new recording of her debut album is complete, and “I love how it sounds now.”  Unfortunately, no release date was announced.

Taylor Swift’s fight to own her recordings, and the unusual step she made of re-recording her first six albums was a big deal in the music industry.  The “Taylor’s Version” albums were massively successful, and some other artists have made similar moves.  All the attention the Swift saga received has made a difference for artists entering the music industry.  Swift said… “Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I’m reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen.”

Although it was sad to hear of the passing of Rick Derringer, the music he left us is anything but sad.   There’s the fond memory of listening to the 45 of “Hang On Sloopy” in my room in 1965.

This was the first record I bought that had a lead singer who was a teenager like me.  Rick Derringer was only 16 when he sang the lead vocal, and 17 when the record came out in July of 1965.  By October, “Hang On Sloopy” was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.  The song became a garage band classic, and I sang it with my band at dances in the late 60’s.

Later in 1965, The McCoys’ Rock cover of the Jazz classic “Fever” hit #7.  I bought that one too, and even their under-the-Top-40 single, “You Make Me Feel So Good” (#53) in 1966.

Rick Derringer went on to perform solo, and with his own group, Derringer, in the 1970s.  His biggest solo hit was in 1973 with a song he wrote, “Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo” (#23).

(Rick performing with his band Derringer in 1977)

Rick Derringer was a Grammy-winning producer, and an excellent guitarist who performed on many hits with famous musicians.  His stint with Ringo Starr And His All Starr Band brought Rick to Eugene, Oregon in 2010.  Here’s what he looked like back then.

We heard him perform “Hang On Sloopy” and “Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo”, and of course he played with the band all night.  Somewhere during the 45-year gap between when I first heard The McCoys and when Rick performed here, the full version of “Hang On Sloopy” was released (of course I bought it), and that’s the one he sang.  If you hear the verse about a “red dress”, that’s the long version from before it was edited down to the hit single.

Rick Derringer…singer-songwriter-guitarist-producer…was 77.

Neil Young, a Canadian who moved to the United States in 1966 to help Stephen Stills form the innovative band Buffalo Springfield, has always been outspoken.  It was the shooting of four Kent State University students by National Guardsmen in 1970 that caused him to quickly write and record the protest song,“Ohio” with Crosby Stills Nash & Young.

The song includes the lyrics “Tin Soldiers and Nixon coming”.  The President at the time, Richard Nixon, was a verbal target of a lot of young people as he expanded the unpopular Vietnam War.  He also was later forced out of office for his part in the Watergate scandal.  He saw his top aides convicted and imprisoned for the coverup of the Watergate break-in, but Nixon was given a pardon by his replacement, President Gerald Ford.

Now, 55-years after “Ohio”, there’s another President who has ticked off dual Canadian & American citizen Neil Young.

Naturally, Neil was not happy with the recent talk of making Canada a state, and with the tariffs that make the normally easy movement of goods and services between the U.S. and our closest ally so difficult and expensive for all North Americans.  Young even said his outspokenness might cause him to not be allowed back in the country after his European tour.

Then another famous Rock Star (who was born in the U.S.A.), Bruce Springsteen, spoke out too.

Springsteen was performing in England when he said… “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, and that has been a beacon of hope and freedom for 250 years, is currently in the control of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration.

The sitting president then posted that Springsteen is “Highly Overated”, and threatened that “We’ll see how it goes for him” when he gets back to the country.  He also used the office of the President to call Springsteen “a dried out prune”.  Here’s a recent photo of Bruce, you can decide.

For his part, Bruce Springsteen again spoke out saying… “In my home they’re persecuting people for their right to free speech and for voicing their descent.  In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death (by ending USAID).  In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers (over 260,000 government workers have lost their jobs).”

Of course Neil Young supported his fellow singer-songwriter.  He said… “Bruce and thousands of musicians think you are ruining America.  Stop thinking about what rockers are saying.  Start thinking about saving America from the mess you made.”

The President suggested musicians and entertainers who supported his opponent in the last election should be investigated.  He singled out one pop star for a personal insult by saying “Taylor Swift is no longer hot.”

It was not clear whether he was saying Swift was no longer successful, or no longer looked good.  Just two days ago, it was announced that Taylor Swift became the first woman to have three albums be streamed more than 10-billion times each (Folklore, Lover, & Midnights).  She’s tied with The Weeknd for that distinction.

So, Swift is still hot professionally.  You can bet all your money that her next album will be her 15th straight #1.

He must have meant her looks.  Here she is during a recent appearance at the 2025 Grammys.  You can decide.

Like in the 60s and 70s, artists and all people in America, even presidents, are free to express their opinions, and we can all agree they should be able to do it without threats of persecution.

The Who’s lead guitarist & singer-songwriter, Pete Townshend, is 80.  Lead singer Roger Daltrey is 81.  And 82 is the year of their first Farewell Tour.

It was a big deal those 43 years ago.  The Who had their greatest success in the 60s & 70s, and their original drummer, Keith Moon had died of an overdose in 1978.  Back then, it didn’t seem out of place that a band would retire from touring after nearly two decades of success.  Rolling Stone magazine even put the band (with drummer Kenny Jones and bassist John Entwistle) on the cover and declared it The End.

Now, The Who are doing the 2025 version of their Farewell Tour, which is officially called The Song Is Over.  The tour name is the title of one of The Who’s best songs from their classic 1971 album, Who’s Next.  This tour will probably be the real final tour, at least for fans in the U.S. and Canada, where all the concerts are scheduled.  By the way, between the two farewell tours, the group had a Long Goodbye Tour in 2014.

Back in the heyday of Classic Rock, no one expected the artists to keep performing into their 80s.  After all it was The Who singing “Hope I die before I get old” in their hit “My Generation” in 1965.  Obviously the artists get as much emotional satisfaction out of their performances as their fans.

Here’s wishing the two remaining original members of the band, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, the best of health for their tour.  Some of our other Classic Rock artists have had health issues while performing recently, including Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, Tommy James, Paul Simon, and Carlos Santana.  Tour dates for The Who are August 16th through September 28th, 2025.

If you’re old enough, you can remember when music was only available on vinyl records.

As the years passed, it became hard to find anything but new releases and the most popular music on records and cassettes.  Even some well known artists were just available on their Greatest Hits albums.  Record companies were only willing to keep their best selling albums available.  Less popular artists and albums were “out of print”, because of the costs of producing the physical product.

The first major step to digital came with the introduction of Compact Discs in late 1982 and their widespread availability by 1986.  Music collectors loved these handy little shiny discs, and record companies loved that consumers were willing to re-buy albums by their favorite artists in this new format.  However, it was still only the most popular albums and hits packages that dominated, because CDs were another physical medium.

Then came the innovation that brought back millions of recordings that had been unattainable for decades.  Songs and albums became available through digital sales.  Songs on iTunes were only 99-cents.  That had also been a common price for 45-RPM singles in the 1960s.  The main difference was that record companies didn’t have the expense of producing a physical product.  Almost all of our favorite oldies and obscure albums reappeared.

And now we’re in the age of streaming music.  Subscription services like Spotify & Amazon Music have in excess of 70-million recordings available.  They don’t quite have everything, but they’re close.  Streaming is the way the vast majority of music fans listen to music.  Some people still like owning music, whether on vinyl, CDs, or digital tracks, but that’s more of a hobby than a main source for most music fans.

Sometimes audiophiles complain about digital not sounding as good as the analog of vinyl, but the reality is that the best CDs and highest quality streaming might even fool audiophiles when played through their high end equipment.  It was recently discovered that some of the half-speed-mastered vinyl albums prized by collectors were actually run through a digital step in the mastering process.

Today it’s taken for granted that almost all recordings are readily available, and we can thank the digital format for that.