Today is the day that I reset the play counts on all of the Smith Family iPods after a year of data gathering and consolidation. I used to wait right until December 31st, but I’ve found that Marcia and I almost always want something fresh through various holiday trips and hectic work season, so early December has become iPod playlist reprogramming time.

The most interesting playlist to clear is the collection of “most played songs” for the year. Since we synch all of our gadgets to one computer and one iTunes account, this “most played songs” list in our household represent the aggregated play counts from my car (or train, since I’ve moved to Chicago), my gym, Marcia’s car, Marcia’s gym, and the collaborative family iPod that stays in the house’s stereo dock and is played by Marcia, Katelin and I.

So the “most played songs” of the year are often interesting and unexpected, since they tend to represent heart of a musical Venn Diagram where our family’s musical tastes most closely overlap, even though each of us individually may like very different things. We spun about 3,600 songs in 2015 — out of about 10,000 saved on my computer. Here are the 40 that earned the most frequent listening love in aggregate, with links to some of the more esoteric ones for your listening enlightenment:

1. “I Love You All“ by Soronprfbs

2. “Port of Rico“ by Illinois Jacquet

3. “Brass Cupcake” by Melvins

4. “Dadje Von O Von Non“ by Gnonnas Pedro et ses Dadjes

5. “Rock Or Bust” by AC/DC

6. “Old Marcus Garvey“ by Burning Spear

7. “How The Years Condemn” by Napalm Death

8. “Tweet Tweet Tweet” by Sleaford Mods

9. “House Of The King“ by Jan Akkerman

10. “Glass Half Full” by Love Songs For Lonely Monsters

11. “Recessive Jean“ by Shriekback

12. “Black Starliner Must Come” by Culture

13. “The Half“ by Dennis Brown

14. “Party Time” by The Heptones

15. “Ghetto Organ“ by Jackie Mittoo

16. “Acres Wild” by Jethro Tull

17. “Hey Lawdy Mama” by Steppenwolf

18. “Riranzo“ by Nacio Makanda

19. “Inkulu Into Ezakwenzeka“ by Nontwintwi

20. “She Sells Sanctuary” by The Cult

21. “Sweet Water Pools” by Screaming Blue Messiahs

22. “Restless Day“ by COIL

23. “Apex Predator — Easy Meat“ by Napalm Death

24. “Ruby Tuesday” by The Rolling Stones

25. “The King In The Tree” by Shriekback

26. “No More Heroes” by The Stranglers

27. “Hayilolosa Amale Ye Ma Tshangane“ by Mahikwani Makhuvele

28. “Don’t Bring Harry” by The Stranglers

29. “Slavery Days” by Burning Spear

30. “Life Goes On” by The Damned

31. “Sylvia” by Focus

32. “Eighties” by Killing Joke

33. “Civilized Worm“ by Melvins

34. “Hocus Pocus (Live Reprise)” by Focus

35. “Tom Sawyer” by Rush

36. “Bernadette” by Shriekback

37. “Liveable Shit“ by Sleaford Mods

38. “Who Needs Ya” by Steppenwolf

39. “Got Some Rock and Roll Thunder” by AC/DC

40. “Blackheart Man” by Bunny Wailer