Posted by Katherine St Asaph on 12/08/2011 at 5:31 PM News

The Popdust Files: facebook, lists, rihanna

It’s best not to think about how Facebook crunched the data about its most-commented-upon, most-shared, etc. topics of 2011 measured in its new Memology feature. (It involves knowing everything about you, up to and including where you live, what you think and your deepest, darkest desires. Happy December!)

But this isn’t a tech blog; it’s a music site. Why are we posting about this? Because one of the things it measures is listening habits–you know, how you can be semi-creepy, look over to the side and know in real time when your Facebook friends are listening to James Blake and Gregorian chant. (From my feed.) The top ten most-heard songs on Spotify, Rdio and the lot, at least as of Facebook’s music platform introduction this fall, are:

1. Rihanna/Calvin Harris, “We Found Love”
2. Katy Perry, “Last Friday Night”
3. LMFAO, “Sexy And I Know It”
4. David Guetta and Sia, “Titanium”
5. Skrillex, “First Of The Year”
6. Skrillex, “Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites”
7. David Guetta and Usher, “Without You”
8. Gym Class Heroes feat. Adam Levine, “Stereo Hearts”
9. Foster The People, “Pumped Up Kicks”
10. Adele, “Someone Like You”

Takeaways: The Grammys and BBC voter-types are merely playing to the people in honoring Skrillex; people really like that Sia track out of all Guetta’s myriad guest vocalists; and Rihanna had a fairly huge song.

Facebook also measured artists’ most-liked pages. That list’s more expected. Rihanna’s likely No. 1 because of her Facebook gaming/ification, and almost everyone else had decent 2011s: Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, etc. Two people seem to stand out, but their explanations are simple. Bob Marley is the No. 2 most-liked page because there will always be more school-age stoners, and Green Day is No. 9 because there will always be more school-age kids getting into punk. Thanks, Facebook! We weren’t aware.

[Sound of the City]