Which Artists Have the Most Diverse Concert Setlists? A Statistical Analysis (2024)

Which Artists Have the Most Diverse Concert Setlists? A Statistical Analysis (1)

There aren’t many writers exploring pop culture through the lens of data. A few months ago, I discovered

’s newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher and I was immediately impressed. He’s written some awesome data essays about the music industry, including:

For my post this week, I am featuring one of Chris’ pieces on the uniqueness of musician concert setlists. I really enjoyed this essay, and I hope you do too. If you like what you read, check out his newsletter.

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A few months ago, Fast Company published an article whose title left me scratching my head: “Why Taylor Swift is the new Grateful Dead—and what it means for the future of live entertainment.” The article made a few interesting points—like how both acts have a cult-like following—but there was one comparison that I found outlandish:

Deadheads see multiple shows because the band plays different songs each night, and Swifties always look forward to the surprise song she’ll play at every concert.

Some context is necessary here. The Grateful Dead is known for playing a distinct setlist with winding improvisations each night. Swift, on the other hand, has been playing two unique, surprise songs each night on her recent Era’s Tour. The other songs, for the record, are the same. The Fast Company piece claims that these phenomena are similar. Rather than complaining about this comparison, I decided to see if it had any merit.

With over 7 million fan-generated concert setlists to date, Setlist.fm is the most popular setlist site on the web. Lucky for me, they allow you to download that setlist information. To conduct this Dead-Swift analysis, I grabbed a list of artists that fit either of the following criteria:

If the artist fit either of these criteria and had setlist data available for nearly every show on their tour(s) in that period, then I grabbed every song played on that tour. This resulted in data on 113,565 song performances across 5,029 individual concerts of 110 tours by 98 artists. If you want to see the data, click here.

If we measure setlist uniqueness as the ratio of unique songs performed across a tour to total songs performed across a tour, then as of this writing, Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour has the 32nd highest unique song rate in my dataset at 7.45%. The Dead’s current summer tour comes in at number four with a unique song rate of 41.47%. Here’s the top 10 for the curious.

Which Artists Have the Most Diverse Concert Setlists? A Statistical Analysis (2)

I was showing this to my girlfriend who is a big Taylor Swift fan, and she didn’t think this metric was fair. As of writing, Swift has performed 1,464 total songs during her current tour. The Dead, on the other hand, have performed only 258. In short, Swift’s nightly surprise duo of songs are going to be drowned out by the fact that she’s on a really long tour and playing a lot of songs each night.

I thought she made a valid point, so we decided to try a different methodology. Let’s only count songs that artists have played at less than 20% of shows on their tour. By this methodology, Swift bests the Dead’s ongoing tour but falls short of their 2022 tour. In either case, the comparison is looking a bit more legitimate.

Which Artists Have the Most Diverse Concert Setlists? A Statistical Analysis (3)

That said, I liked this methodology less. It gave a huge advantage to artists who were on long tours with long sets. If Taylor Swift or Coldplay sneak one or two unique songs into an otherwise static set each night, then they are going to win out. I thought this bias was worse than the last methodology. My girlfriend agreed. So, we tried one more thing.

We decided to call those songs played at less than 20% of nights of a tour “special songs.” Using that definition, we wanted to know among tours with at least 10 dates how many special songs concert attendees were getting per night (on average). At the current Dead tour, you’re getting 4-5. At Swift’s tour, you are getting 2. For completeness, here is the top 10 once again.

Which Artists Have the Most Diverse Concert Setlists? A Statistical Analysis (4)

So, what’s the conclusion here? First, there aren’t many tours where the setlist on any given night is completely unexpected. Most people are sticking to a script. Even though Swift’s show is highly choreographed, injecting just two songs makes her pretty unique.

Second, setlists are not the only barometer of what makes a night of live music unique. The Grateful Dead have played “Scarlet Begonias” scores of times, but the uniqueness is that the arrangement and solos shift each night.

Finally, I’ve seen my fair share of pop concerts and jam bands, and I can attest that though both experiences are different, they can be equally thrilling. In fact, the more time I’ve spent studying music, the more I realize that most musical experiences aren’t better or worse than one another. They are just different.

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Which Artists Have the Most Diverse Concert Setlists? A Statistical Analysis (2024)

FAQs

Do artists play the same setlist on tour? ›

Many artists use the same list for every performance on a concert tour. Others prefer to vary their lists during a tour, either for the benefit of fans who attend multiple performances or to avoid a sense of monotony among the musicians. The Grateful Dead was known for never playing the same setlist twice.

Have the Grateful Dead ever played the same setlist? ›

Let's tackle that Grateful Dead myth first then. Using data pulled from setlist.fm, we've found no fewer than five instances where the band played the same setlist.

What artist has performed the most concerts? ›

25 musicians with the most shows
  • #7. Ed Sheeran. ...
  • #7. Buddy Guy. ...
  • #6. We Came As Romans. ...
  • #5. Tech N9ne. ...
  • #4. Buckcherry. Events in the past five years: 616. ...
  • #3. Steel Panther. Events in the past five years: 618. ...
  • #2. Willie Nelson. Events in the past five years: 643. ...
  • #1. Steve Aoki. Events in the past five years: 747.
Jun 9, 2016

What song has been played live the most? ›

All Along The Watchtower” has been performed a grand total of 2210 times. It beats “Like A Rolling Stone” (1916), “Highway 61” (1767) and “Tangled Up In Blue” (1562).

How many songs are in a concert setlist? ›

About 20–25 songs and lasts for about 2 and a half to 3 hours. When they have a concert they put out the set lists so you can see before you buy. They don't have opening acts so you get them and no one else, not like most American artist that have lesser known artist open for them.

What is a PLAYlist concert? ›

PLAYlist is a free concert series presented by Durham Central Park and WNCU 90.7FM.

Does Taylor Swift have the same setlist? ›

Aside from a few song changes, the Eras Tour setlist remained the same throughout the 2023 shows and every show up until the release of 'The Tortured Poets Department'. During the first Paris show in May 2024, Taylor changed the order of the setlist, removed six songs and added seven new ones from 'TTPD'.

How do artists choose setlist? ›

Bands often research the demographics of the expected audience – their age group, musical preferences, cultural background, etc. This helps in tailoring a setlist that resonates with them. Balancing Energy Levels: A well-crafted setlist is like a roller-coaster ride – it has its highs and lows.

Why is the Grateful Dead called the Grateful Dead? ›

Discovering a single by another band called the Warlocks--most likely a Massachusetts garage rock quintet--the now-former California Warlocks resorted to stoned bibliomancy for their new name, picking “Grateful Dead” at random out of a dictionary.

What is the longest Grateful Dead song ever played? ›

The album contains only one song, "Playing in the Band". At 46 minutes in length, it is the longest continuous Grateful Dead song ever recorded.

What is the most performed Grateful Dead song? ›

You'll never hear two versions of either 'Drums' or 'Space' that sound remotely the same, but because all performances were given these specific titles, it's estimated that 'Drums' is the most-frequently performed “song” in the Dead's history, with nearly 1,500 traceable performances.

Who sold out MSG the most? ›

Billy Joel: The "Piano Man" has sold out Madison Square Garden over 110 times, more than any other artist in history. His residency at the arena has become a staple of New York City culture. Elton John: The legendary musician has sold out Madison Square Garden 64 times, second only to Billy Joel.

Who has the most sold out concerts of all time? ›

Currently, Ed Sheeran's ÷ Tour is the most-attended tour of all time, with a total of 8.9 million tickets sold in 260 shows across three different years (2017–2019).

Who played the largest concert ever? ›

George Strait is no stranger to big crowds, but the 72-year-old country legend had never played an event like Saturday's — no one has. The country music icon set the record for largest ticketed concert in U.S. history when he packed Kyle Field at Texas A&M University, drawing 110,905 fans to College Station, Texas.

What is the most listened to song ever? ›

"Blinding Lights" by the Weeknd is the most-streamed song on Spotify, with over 4 billion streams. As of June 2024, "Blinding Lights" (2019) by Canadian singer the Weeknd is the most-streamed song to date.

What is the number one most recorded song of all time? ›

Although the good people at Guinness World Records recognize “Summertime” as the most recorded song in history, they also note that “Amazing Grace” has been recorded thousands of times, appearing on at least 11,000 albums.

How many songs do most artists sing at a concert? ›

20. Based on a sample of 25 performers; Overall, the average number of songs played at a typical concert is 20.

What is the largest attendance at a music concert? ›

The crowd topped at 110,905 people, which broke an all-time attendance record set by the Grateful Dead in 1977.

How long should a concert setlist be? ›

Average song length is 4 minutes. You have 7 songs. If you get booked for a 28 minute set, you'll be fine. However, it's more likely that you'll either get booked for a 45 min - 1 hr set (for original bands) or a 3 - 4 hr set (for cover bands).

How are concert setlists determined? ›

The setlist is usually created by the artist or the band. In some cases, a musical director or a manager could take on the task, particularly in larger productions or tours. Collaboration and open discussion among the team often leads to the final selection and order of songs.

How many songs are in a typical setlist? ›

How many songs does a band usually play in a set? 50–60 minutes worth. For a jazz group that would be around 6 or 7 tunes typically; for a rock or pop band maybe 11 to 14 songs. For a funk/jam band, maybe 5.

Are setlists worth anything? ›

A setlist doesn't have to be a collectible item or concert souvenir for it to have worth, however. In fact, songwriters can earn performance royalties whenever their songs are performed live in public, and submitting a setlist is key to collecting them.

Is there a way to know what songs will be played at a concert? ›

Yes, you can browse popular artists on the Setlist Predictor platform. How does Setlist Predictor help me prepare for attending a concert? Setlist Predictor helps concert-goers prepare for a concert by providing a predicted setlist so they know which songs to expect.

How do music artists decide where to tour? ›

How to book a tour for your band
  • Find out what are your most active local markets. ...
  • Decide on the target region. ...
  • Set up a date range. ...
  • Set up your priorities and then fill up the details. ...
  • Book venues. ...
  • Once booked, set up your route. ...
  • Start promoting. ...
  • (Optional) Find local openers.
Dec 31, 2023

Do musicians get bored of touring? ›

It seems like an odd subject to write about in the context of musicians and mental health, but the constant travel from touring can often create a cycle of stress from the free-floating anxiety of boredom, through to the hyper excitement of exploring cultures far and wide.

How do setlists work? ›

A set list is essentially a list of songs which you are going to play and the order they are performed. While that is put in simple terms, creating a top set list that really works can be a bit of an art form in itself. A set list can be made of nearly any material that can be written or printed on.

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