Year In Review 2017

One hundred and sixty-four tracks of the canonical 2017 year-in-review — the long-form catalog of the year’s peak rotation, compiled in early 2018 as the definitive working snapshot. The longest of the year-end review tapes, because 2017 was a year with more rotation peaks than most years and the catalog-version honors the year’s actual diversity rather than trying to canon-build it down. The diversity-honoring year-end framing is the rotation’s methodological commitment — the playlist’s working-utility is bounded by the year’s actual rotation-diversity rather than the retrospective canon-building that a shorter year-end review would impose.

Calvin Harris anchors the dance-pop-radio crossover spine. The Harris catalog is the rotation’s structural backbone for the dance-pop-radio crossover register — the artist’s catalog provides the rotation’s working-utility for the year’s dance-pop-radio crossover commitments, and the placement honors the catalog’s role across the rotation.

RAIZA BIZA brings the underground-rap COLORS-show pull that the year’s rotation absolutely committed to. The RAIZA BIZA catalog is the rotation’s structural backbone for the cross-Atlantic underground-rap COLORS-show register — the artist’s catalog provides the rotation’s working-utility for the year’s cross-Atlantic underground-rap COLORS-show commitments, and the placement honors the catalog’s role across the rotation.

Foo Fighters “Run” opens because that was the structural anchor of the year’s rock-radio rotation. The placement at first-track is the rotation’s structural commitment to honoring the year’s rock-radio rotation foundational moment — the Foo Fighters cut was, in 2017, the structural anchor of the year’s rock-radio working-rotation, and the placement is doing the work of immediately establishing that the rotation respects the year’s rock-radio working-rotation.

NoMBe “Freak Like Me” sits in the front quarter as the alt-pop-rotation anchor. The placement is the rotation’s structural commitment to the year’s alt-pop-rotation register — the NoMBe catalog was, in 2017, the structural anchor of the year’s alt-pop-rotation working-rotation, and the placement is doing the work of providing the rotation’s universal-recognition alt-pop-rotation anchor.

Erick Morillo with Eddie Thoneick and Angel Taylor “Lost In You” carries the pop-house-radio-crossover bridge that the year’s dance rotation built toward. The placement is the rotation’s structural commitment to the pop-house-radio-crossover register — the Morillo collaboration was, in 2017, the structural anchor of the year’s pop-house-radio crossover working-rotation, and the placement honors the song’s role across the year’s working-rotation.

Denitia and Sene “casanova.” is the deliberate sequencing into the alt-R&B rotation that the year’s listening pulled toward. The placement is the rotation’s structural commitment to the alt-R&B register — the Denitia and Sene catalog was, in 2017, the structural anchor of the year’s alt-R&B working-rotation, and the placement is doing the work of providing the rotation’s alt-R&B anchor that the year’s working-rotation absolutely required.

The Killers “The Man” is the rock-radio-revival anchor. The placement is the rotation’s structural commitment to the rock-radio-revival register — the Killers catalog was, in 2017, the structural anchor of the year’s rock-radio-revival working-rotation, and the placement is doing the work of providing the rotation’s universal-recognition rock-radio-revival anchor.

DJ Khaled with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller “Wild Thoughts” is the structural peak of the year’s rap-and-pop-crossover rotation. The placement is the rotation’s structural commitment to the year’s rap-and-pop-crossover peak — the Khaled collaboration was, in 2017, the structural anchor of the year’s rap-and-pop-crossover peak working-rotation, and the placement honors the song’s role across the year’s working-rotation.

RAIZA BIZA “Wassup” carries the year’s underground-rap COLORS-show pull. The placement is the rotation’s structural commitment to the cross-Atlantic underground-rap COLORS-show register — the RAIZA BIZA catalog was, in 2017, the structural anchor of the year’s cross-Atlantic underground-rap COLORS-show working-rotation, and the placement is doing the work of providing the rotation’s universal-recognition cross-Atlantic underground-rap COLORS-show anchor.

Anti Lilly & Phoniks “Blue In Green” is the jazz-sampling underground-rap anchor that the year’s deep-cuts rotation absolutely committed to. The placement is the rotation’s structural commitment to the jazz-sampling underground-rap register — the Anti Lilly & Phoniks catalog was, in 2017, the structural anchor of the year’s jazz-sampling underground-rap working-rotation, and the placement honors the producer-and-rapper collaboration’s role across the rotation.

One hundred and sixty-four tracks lands at about ten hours — the right length for the year-end catalog-tape that honors the year’s actual rotation diversity. The runtime is calibrated for the natural span of the year-end catalog-tape’s working-utility context — approximately ten hours of sustained year-end-rotation across the full working-rotation arc, with the playlist’s catalog-version framing providing the rotation’s specific diversity-honoring commitment.

Built for the friend group’s audience that had lived through the year’s standing-Friday rotations with me. The annual ritual that closed the year and that opened the conversation about what the next year’s rotation might be. The catalog-version that complements the tighter year-end review editions — same songs, fewer curation decisions, more honest sequencing of what the year actually sounded like in heavy rotation. Held up because the year held up. The same-songs-fewer-curation-decisions framing is the rotation’s methodological commitment to the catalog-tape’s diversity-honoring methodology — the playlist’s working-utility is bounded by the year’s actual rotation-diversity rather than the curated highlight-reel that a shorter year-end review working-rotation would impose.