The Problem With Ranking Music

In this episode, we will be talking about the problem with ranking music. Ranking music is not a new practice. As soon as recorded music was able to be purchased on a physical medium, music was quantified on a number scale. Billboard charts started in 1940, and a variety of song charts followed, which were eventually consolidated into the Hot 100 by mid-1958. Nowadays, we have an overwhelming amount of lists. Our world is obsessed with data and listing things to organize how we feel. There's Pitchfork that scores its music on a scale of 10, MusicCritic which bases itself on a scale of 100, Anthony Fantano, a weird hipster man that operates on a scale of 10 and has “light” or “strong” on certain numbers, and finally, Rolling Stone, who really popularized the way we rank music. Join Content Editor Arundhati Ghosh, Managing Editor Felix Kalvesmaki, and Audio Director Trevor Stovall as they discuss what is going on with music journalism and whether or not should music be ranked at all?