As a community the Phish crowd loves discussion and analysis of everything from shows to jams to lot scenes and on and on. One of those debates is that about comparing eras and the popularity of each era. Here at Phish Just Jams we see that every day in the tracks that get played on the site. The site's shuffle function determines the majority of the plays on the site, along with the Play Next feature making an impact as well, but the pool of tracks available to shuffle through is the biggest factor. That pool is determined by the Playlists chosen or the filters adjusted so the plays by Year info can give us a good window into how the audience listens, at least in this weird little subsection of the Phish listening audience.

The following charts lay out the play counts of Phish Just Jams tracks by year for each year that we have been in existence. Dates range from July 2015 to June 1, 2021.

2015
The site went live on 7/15/15, a week before the start of a great Summer Tour. And so 2015 tracks dominated the number of plays on the site during all of the year., particularly compared to other 3.0 years. 1997 showed from the beginning that its reputation is well-earned, at least in terms of numbers of plays.

2016
2016 was our first full year and the 2015 and 2016 tracks remained by far the most played in 3.0. 1997 really began to extend its lead in play count over other years with a full year of listening.


2017
The Bakers Dozen understandably dominated 2017 and it is reflected in the play count over other years, with 2016 a close second in 3.0. This was also the first year where 1997 basically doubled any of the next highest years in 1.0.

2018
2018 continues the trend of the previous year and the current year being the most played of 3.0.



2019
The popularity of the most recent years continues as the band continued to deliver from the Bakers Dozen on. 1997 continues to lead all years, but the gap is closing ever so slightly.


2020
The friggin' pandemic year. Just a handful of new shows in Mexico to give us some new jams, but they delivered some quality jams worth checking out. Apparently 1997 Phish Just Jams tracks was the soundtrack of the pandemic on the site. Almost 10,000 more plays than the next closest year.



2021
These numbers are current up to June 1 of this year as 1997 continues its domination.


All Time
Since we first went live the most played years of 3.0 are pretty evenly spread between 2015-18. Those 4 years however all have less plays than all but 3 years of 1.0 in comparison. The gap between those is relatively small though