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| David Pataconi (with the red hair) and friends at Kingdom Come Festival, June 21, 2025. The singer at the moment is Monica Soe, who is Pataconi's co-laborer in TheoTerran. |
Yes, I had recently posted my favorite songs, fiction, and non-fiction for 2025. It is interesting to compare my list with what Spotify calls my top songs of the year. I'll share why later, but let me start with some thoughts.
I'll go ahead and mention - there were songs I was excited to hear last year, like "Atonement" by I Am The Pendragon, "Enough" by TheoTerran, "Resistance" by Divine Martyr. None of those made the Spotify list, but the reason was simple - they came out at the end of the year and competed with songs out for at least six months. A related issue - I usually have a book I didn't read till the end of the year, and I don't get to reviewing it until after I list it as a favorite!
So I'll start by telling you what I'm going to do: I'll make December 1st the cut-off, and put December's in with the new year. I did think of that this year, but Divine Martyr didn't release "Resistance" until December 19th, and I wanted to allow them to get a song on the list before the year ended. It was a little crazy.
But now, what about my Spotify list? Well, it depends on if you're talking about the Spotify list on my computer, which is my long-time and typical usage, or if it is the one I have on my cell phone, a recent development, which is predominately used for listening to worship songs on the list, though I do listen to contemporary songs I'm trying to decide if they make my year's end favorites list.
I chuckle when I see my Spotify's "Top songs" list, because there are many I don't remember or thought I listened to that much. (I'm speaking of the computer list, not the worship driven phone list.) For example, I look at the artists that had the most on the list (three had 4, one had 5). I could correctly guess on the four songs of one artist, but the others I could only guess two each.
Let me start with the worship list. By the way, 91 of the songs on that list were hymns, choruses, and other worship tunes. 46 of the 58 artists on the list had one song on that list. Another 9 had a pair. Matt Redman had 3, Keith and Kristin Getty and Chris Tomlin had 4 each, and Twila Paris and 2nd Chapter of Acts both had 5. Sovereign Grace had 7, and there were 10 Maranatha music Praise choruses. Top 10 on that list?
- "All I Have is Christ" - Sovereign Grace Music.
- "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" - Trace Balin
- "Truth I'm Standing On" - Worshipwired. (I recently learned Leanne Crawford also does that song.)
- "You Never Let Go" - Matt Redman
- "Great is the Lord Almighty" by Dennis Jernigan
- "Behold Our God" by Sovereign Grace Music
- "Holy" by David Pataconi
- "Glorify Thy Name" by Maranatha Music
- "Morning Comes When You Call" by 2nd Chapter of Acts
- "All Creatures of our God and King" by Sovereign Grace Music.
Now, to the laptop. This list had 67 artists, 50 of which only had one song. With two songs each were Southbound, Sovereign Grace Music, End of I, Cosmic Cathedral, Autumn Eve, and Trace Balin. The seven artists with three each were XIII Minutes, Tierra Vacia, Divided Me, Devin Williams, Amy Shreve, Hello Luna, and Counter.
The Band JAREN, Filthy Rags, and Rosalie Hovencraft had four each. The ones by JAREN weren't a surprise, but I could only name two songs I expected for Filthy Rags, Rosalie, or the artist that led the pack with five entries; David Pataconi.
For this list, I'll make it a countdown. Ready?
10. "Holy" by David Pataconi (#8 on my favorites)
9. "Hope Found Hope" by Mad At The World (#15 on my favorites)
8. "Dear Martyr" by Behold the Beloved (#2 on my favorites)
7. "All Aboard" by Rusty Shipp (not on top 20)
6. "More" by Autumn's Descent with Meredith Dunkel of Undefeated (not on top 100)
5. "Hold Your Light Up" by Jenny Colquitt (not on top 20)
4. "Stay" by XIII Minutes (#1 on my favorites).
3. "Cult Leader" by XIII Minutes (not on top 20).
2. "It Wasn't For Nothing" by The Band JAREN (#10 on my favorites list).
And the song that Spotify identified as #1? "Laodicea (Unplugged)" by Tierra Vacia (11 on my favorites).
Yes, there were surprises, but out of the top 10 on Spotify, 9 were NOT a surprise. (I'm not mentioning which one that is - this is my secret. Hint, though - it's not one that made it to the top 20.
Hope that was interesting. I will say, though - I plan on the phone list to not be as much worship songs as last year, though I'll still be listening to worship in the morning.
Hope that was interesting. I will say, though - I plan on the phone list to not be as much worship songs as last year, though I'll still be listening to worship in the morning.
