We’re approaching the stage in the Bangers bracket where the playlist becomes transcendent.
Voting is open for the Bangers IV Round of 16. The full second round results are below. As we’ve been saying, our one rule here is to be cool when it comes to voting, which basically means: Don’t spam the votes. If you’re wondering if you’re breaking the rule, you’re probably breaking it, and we’ll probably end up outvoting your votes and mailing your boss something vile with your return address on the envelope.
Some data on the sixteen remaining bangers below, but before those:
Here’s the link to our Instagram, where voting is live in our stories.
Voting will be open on Instagram until the stories expire, and votes on the Google Form will be accepted if they’re submitted prior to Thursday, April 20th at 2:30 PM EDT.
Full Round of 16 results will accompany Quarterfinal voting, currently scheduled for Friday.
Here’s the link to the playlist, which has been updated to put the 16 remaining bangers at the front, in bracket order. The original 64 bangers lasted four hours, so we’re looking at about an hour of music in this round.
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One of our big curiosities coming into this bracket was whether one decade would blow out the others. So far, that hasn’t been the case. We have five bangers from the 90s, eight from the 2000s, and three from 2010 through 2014. It’s a lot from the 2000s, but considering that the 2010–2014 window had half the years to work with, it all pretty well tracks. And yet…
Of those thirteen from 2009 and prior, twelve do come from the same ten-year span. Semi-Charmed Life was released in 1997. Sugar We’re Goin Down and Everytime We Touch were each released in 2005. No songs remaining are older than 26, but few are younger than 18.
Does this mean the 1996–2005 decade was the best in music history? Probably. It could also mean that our voters mostly span from about 20 years old to about 35, but that would only really explain the front end. And while some of this may be that these aren’t exactly the top 16 bangers from the original bracket, we still have around a 75% chance of finding our eventual champion from that 1996–2005 window. Remarkable.
| Banger | Year |
| Semi-Charmed Life | 1997 |
| Blue | 1998 |
| All The Small Things | 1999 |
| What’s My Age Again? | 1999 |
| All Star | 1999 |
| Bye Bye Bye | 2000 |
| The Middle | 2001 |
| Lose Yourself | 2002 |
| Mr. Brightside | 2003 |
| Since U Been Gone | 2004 |
| Sugar We’re Goin Down | 2005 |
| Everytime We Touch | 2005 |
| Party In The U.S.A. | 2009 |
| Call Me Maybe | 2011 |
| Timber | 2013 |
| Wake Me Up | 2013 |
**
Second round results:
“All The Small Things” 44, “Paper Planes” 6
Instagram: 30–5
Google Form: 14–1
“Sugar, We’re Goin Down” 34, “Jumper” 14
Instagram: 24–9
Google Form: 10–5
“Everytime We Touch” 33, “Tubthumping” 16
Instagram: 27–7
Google Form: 6–9
“Timber” 26, “Mambo No. 5” 23
Instagram: 19–15
Google Form: 7–8
“Blue” 29, “Wrecking Ball” 20
Instagram: 18–16
Google Form: 11–4
“What’s My Age Again?” 19, “Levels” 15
Instagram: 19–15
Google Form: 8–6
“The Middle” 27, “Gangsta’s Paradise” 22
Instagram: 20–14
Google Form: 7–8
“All Star” 32, “Get Low” 17
Instagram: 20–14
Google Form: 12–3
“Mr. Brightside” 37, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” 13
Instagram: 27–8
Google Form: 10–5
“Since U Been Gone” 29, “Closing Time” 22
Instagram: 20–16
Google Form: 9–6
“Bye Bye Bye” 30, “I Love It” 19
Instagram: 22–12
Google Form: 8–7
“Semi-Charmed Life” 28, “Shut Up and Dance” 20
Instagram: 20–13
Google Form: 8–7
“Call Me Maybe” 25, “Stacy’s Mom” 24
Instagram: 16–18
Google Form: 9–6
“Lose Yourself” 30, “…Baby One More Time” 19
Instagram: 22–12
Google Form: 8–7
“Party In The U.S.A.” 27, “I Want It That Way” 21
Instagram: 17–16
Google Form: 10–5
“Wake Me Up” 26, “Hey Ya!” 23
Instagram: 20–14
Google Form: 6–9
