Iron Maiden Spotify Statistics

ATSS was played a whole lot in the 90s and was popular enough that they made a video for the live version with Blaze. It's not that surprising that its popularity has held since, especially since it's on Fear of the Dark (which btw almost certainly benefits from its title track giving it a boost to overall counts).
 
mckindog said:
Starblind’s brilliance is a creation of this forum, as is Thousand Suns. Different World is not the weak sister of its album. Fear of the Dark is a strong album, Can I Play With Madness is a beloved song.
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Starblind and Thousand Suns' brilliance isn't a creation of this forum, it's a creation of Iron Maiden. Their popularity, on the other hand, is a different matter.
 
Yeah, those are without a doubt fantastic songs. It's unfortunate that (just like the rest of the songs on AMOLAD and TFF) they'll never receive the mainstream recognition that they deserve.
 
mckindog said:
Yes.
I‘ve never invested any time listening to any of the live albums other than LAD.
however, I will watch some live material.
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I'm talking specifically about FOTD though, it was the live single version which made the songs reputation and it's a live version that gets included on Maiden compilation albums.
 
I will say that this data set reinforces the notion that the songs Maiden frequently played live are the songs most people want to hear. But the high ratings of songs that were recently reintroduced in the setlist like Afraid To Shoot Strangers and Flight of Icarus also makes you wonder if it's a chicken and the egg situation where songs are more popular because Maiden plays them live. Blood Brothers and The Wicker Man as the most popular BNW tracks is another example.

My issues with the data lie more in the stuff after the top 20. Book of Souls gets a huge boost for being the only album released during the Spotify era. The Final Frontier and A Matter of Life and Death, by contrast, are among the least popular albums and were released when music consumption was quite low and Spotify didn't even exist in most territories. The most popular track on both albums is, unsurprisingly, the only one that has been played live during the Spotify era: For the Greater Good of God.

Fear of the Dark is an interesting one. It has two very popular songs, including at least one that appears on a popular playlist. It's also worth noting that FOTD wasn't exactly an unpopular album at the time. It hit #1 in the UK, coinciding with the band's second headlining appearance at Donington, and it was also the first time they toured in South America (where their popularity was really starting to explode). Regional data would be useful here because I would guess Fear of the Dark is more popular in places like South America compared to North America where Maiden had already been on the decline for a few years.

I would like to see averages with outliers removed. I imagine it would make a significant difference, with normally less popular albums like Fear of the Dark not having such a high average. Also, I fixed my original post with commas in the right spot.
 
Mosh said:
I will say that this data set reinforces the notion that the songs Maiden frequently played live are the songs most people want to hear. But the high ratings of songs that were recently reintroduced in the setlist like Afraid To Shoot Strangers and Flight of Icarus also makes you wonder if it's a chicken and the egg situation where songs are more popular because Maiden plays them live. Blood Brothers and The Wicker Man as the most popular BNW tracks is another example.
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I feel like that speculation is unfounded, even with limited data like this. ATSS and Flight of Icarus were popular songs when they were current and continued to be so after. FoI actually got some US radio play, even, which no doubt boosts how well people remember that song. Blood Brothers and The Wicker Man are somewhat similar since they're from BNW, which is by far Maiden's most popular reunion era album and also saw some airplay. Those two songs are probably the closest you can get to modern classics, it's not a huge surprise they're sorta popular even among the casual listeners.

The data set is just too limited to start drawing conclusions from songs featuring on recent setlists, and there are too many data points that argue in opposition to such a theory that it's hard to really believe off-hand. The top 20 mostly just confirms what we suspected anyway, so it's not exactly hard to believe certain slightly more unexpected songs also made the list.
 
srfc said:
I'm talking specifically about FOTD though, it was the live single version which made the songs reputation and it's a live version that gets included on Maiden compilation albums.
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Im sure that matches your experience and that of others.
In my sphere, it is the studio version. I’d go as far as to say I have never heard the version you are referring to broadcast, played or discussed in any social or public setting.
 
Mosh said:
makes you wonder if it's a chicken and the egg situation where songs are more popular because Maiden plays them live. Blood Brothers and The Wicker Man as the most popular BNW tracks is another example.
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A lot of the singles are popular too, look at NPFTD, a weak album, but the singles, Holy Smoke and BYD... ...TTS, and the ones featured on other live releases, Tailgunner, have decent numbers.

However, interestingly the title track and Run Silent, Run Deep also have decent numbers and don't fit that criteria. However, they are good songs. Maybe, we're reading too much into things, and most people just play stuff they think sounds good.
 
Average of each album trimming the 2 most and 2 least popular songs from each (with the exception of FotD, trimmed 6 total because it has 12 songs):
Iron Maiden - 8,074,997.50
Killers - 3,213,108.50
Number of the Beast - 26,146,097.00
Piece of Mind - 6,906,743.20
Powerslave - 8,621,988.00
Somewhere in Time - 5,897,272.50
7th Son of a 7th Son - 6,334,656.25
No Prayer for the Dying - 1,825,133.17
Fear of the Dark - 4,460,266.67
The X Factor - 881,947.43
Virtual XI - 1,005,605.00
Brave New World - 6,022,685.17
Dance of Death - 3,034,582.71
AMOLAD - 3,363,912.83
The Final Frontier - 2,846,645.17
The Book of Souls - 6,793,350.14
 
mckindog said:
Im sure that matches your experience and that of others.
In my sphere, it is the studio version. I’d go as far as to say I have never heard the version you are referring to broadcast, played or discussed in any social or public setting.
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The video (footage from Donington) used to be played a lot on MTV back in the day.
 
Donington version of Fear of the Dark was my first ever Iron Maiden download. That was the one that was super popular on LimeWire, I didn't consciously seek it out.

It wasn't my first ever Iron Maiden experience however, that was the Rock in Rio version of Fear of the Dark on YouTube.
 
srfc said:
AlbumSongNumber of plays
The Book of SoulsThe Man of Sorrows
3,977,121​
The Number of the BeastGangland
3,956,281​
PowerslaveBack in the Village
3,283,860​
Somewhere in TimeDeja Vu
3,045,575​
Iron MaidenCharlotte the Harlot
2,941,853​
Seventh Son of a Seventh SonThe Prophecy
2,765,521​
Piece of MindSun and Steel
2,634,045​
Brave New WorldThe Nomad
2,602,768​
The Final FrontierStarblind
1,877,368​
Fear of the DarkThe Apparition
1,733,733​
KillersDrifter
1,644,387​
A Matter of Life and DeathLord of Light
1,488,926​
Dance of DeathAge of Innocence
1,241,352​
No Prayer for the DyingFates Warning
845,795​
Virtual XIWhen Two Worlds Collide
829,251​
The X FactorThe Unbeliever
522,404​

This is the albums ranked by the amount of plays from their least played track
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I'm surprised by the least listened songs for SIT, BNW, VXI, TFF, AMOLAD and maybe NPFTD.
 
It sees as The Clairvoyant isn't as popular as its inclusion in multiple tours would suggest. It's the 5th most played on 7th Son and near the bottom of the two live albums it appears on.
 
Whooten said:
It sees as The Clairvoyant isn't as popular as its inclusion in multiple tours would suggest. It's the 5th most played on 7th Son and near the bottom of the two live albums it appears on.
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You missed ARLO version, it's got decent plays on that

I think it's a bit like Heaven Can Wait in that it was a staunch never dropped track in the 90's that's pretty much disappeared in the Reunion era apart from one or two tours. Which might explain it's lack of play on spotify.
 
The Clairvoyant has been played on three tours since the reunion. Probably not on as many as it should've been, but I wouldn't exactly call it disappeared.
 
Three tours is not many, especially considering the song was a staple in the 90s. Maybe the most played Seventh Son song at the time along with The Evil That Men Do.
 
KidInTheDark666 said:
The Clairvoyant has been played on three tours since the reunion. Probably not on as many as it should've been, but I wouldn't exactly call it disappeared.
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It was on every tour from 88 to 98 though, which is what I meant, in comparison to that period it has disappeared. Also there hasn't been an official live release of it recorded after 92.
 
Whooten said:
It sees as The Clairvoyant isn't as popular as its inclusion in multiple tours would suggest. It's the 5th most played on 7th Son and near the bottom of the two live albums it appears on.
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5th most played track from 6 tracks played from the tour. ::) (BTW, it's not true, it's number 4). That reminds me of the guy who told me BYDTTS is overplayed because it was Maiden's 65th most played live song or something. Don't remember the exact number, but it was kind of absurd.
 
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