Kindie-Chartin': Kids Place Live's Top Songs of 2011

Last year I reviewed the most popular songs of the year on Sirius-XM's Kids Place Live radio show.  It was an imprecise attempt to gauge the popularity of artists and songs on a national level.  Given that the show has nearly 17,000 fans on its Facebook page, its listenership is not small.

Almost every weekend, the channel broadcasts its "13 Under 13" show, a Casey Kasem for the kiddos which counts down the week's top songs.  As noted last year, the list is not totally objective -- there is a subjective nature to the list which takes into the station's directors' sense of buzz, for example, associated with each song.  There's a practical limit to the number of times the station can play a song in a week without annoying its audience through oversaturation, a limit which may not totally reflect the demand for it via listener requests.

Having said that, there does appear to be a rational relationship between the rankings and actual airplay.  For example, the most recent "13 Under 13" had the Board of Education's "Why Is Dad So Mad?" at #1, Keller Williams' "Mama Tooted" at #7, and Caspar Babypants' "Sugar Ant" at #14.  The total number of airplays (excluding double-counts) for the week that roughly corresponds to KPL's week, according to Dogstar Radio, was 25, 16, and 13,  respectively.

Once again, I used the Kids Place Live Fans page as the source of my data, making assumptions regarding chart placement when Gwyneth wasn't able to record the list for the week.  I counted all songs which first charted in 2011.  (Note: some are still charting in 2012.)

Now, all the standards and caveats from last year's effort still applies -- there are data gaps, it's not perfect, and may or may not be the best songs of the year.  But these are the songs to which, once they started getting some airplay, kids really responded to.

I'm presenting here the Top 13 songs of 2011, a year-long "13 Under 13," as it were.  That's mostly because the data lent itself to a nice division.  (It also makes for a nice comparison to KPL's own summary from New Year's weekend.)  And due to the data gaps, I'm presenting them in three relatively distinct groups points-wise, ordered alphabetically within each group.  So here goes:

Top 6

• Baron von Rumblebuss - "Did You See (What the Cat Dragged In)?"
• Caspar Babypants - "Butterfly Driving a Truck"
• Todd McHatton - "I Think I'm a Bunny"
• Mike Phirman - "Chicken Monkey Duck"
• Barbra Streisand (Llamanator Mix) - "Duck Sauce"
• Keller Williams - "Mama Tooted"

Notes: the McHatton and Williams songs are still charting, more than half a year after they first made the chart.

Next 5

• Blue October - "Jump Rope"
• Seth Decker and the Missing Piece - "Cucumber Canoe"
• The Fray - "Mahna Mahna"
• Joe McDermott - "Kitty Fight"
• Recess Monkey - "Flapjacks"

Final 2

• Cars 2 - "Collision of the Worlds"
• Recess Monkey - "Grandmom's House"

Note that Jonathan Coulton's "The Princess Who Saved Herself," which made the Top 5 list last year, would have made this list had it been expanded to Top 15.  It is without much doubt (according these lists, anyway), the most popular song of the past couple years.

Finally, there are always some artists who don't score massive hits, but get multiple hits.  So, the top 10 artists if you look at songs which first charted in 2011, listed alphabetically, are:

• Baron von Rumblebuss
• Caspar Babypants
• Joe McDermott
• Todd McHatton
• Mike Phirman
• Recess Monkey
• ScribbleMonster
• Secret Agent 23 Skidoo
• Barbra Streisand (Llamanator Mix)
• Keller Williams

Thank you for letting me indulge my inner numbers nerd just a little bit.

Christmas Songs 2011, Part I

There is no shortage of songs from kids' musicians celebrating the Christmas season this year. I expect a few Hanukkah songs, maybe even a Kwanzaa song or two, before December is through. (Still waiting on Festivus kids music, though.) I'm titling this "Part I" fully expecting there will be at least another part or two this year. So let's get to it.

I doubt you're gonna find another Christmas kids music video this year as hyper -- and, frankly, as awesome -- as this new video from Mista Cookie Jar. It's for a new track called "Robot for Xmas," which you can download for free here. But, really, it's the video that makes it.

Mista Cookie Jar and the Chocolate Chips - Robot for Xmas [YouTube]

You think I'm stopping here? Oh, no, there's plenty more...
OK, after that video, you might need something a little more soothing for you and your kids. And there aren't very many kids' artists who are more soothing than the California duo Renee & Jeremy. They released a holiday single last year, and this year they've got an original tune, "Sunny Christmas" for your holiday pleasure. You can download it at iTunes or listen to it at their website.

Laurie Berkner is also getting into the holiday video game this year, creating a new video for her seasonally-appropriate song "Candy Cane Jane," off her Rocketship Run album. She's selling the video as a download on iTunes and elsewhere, but you can watch the whole thing on iTunes. (Odd warning before you watch it with your kids, though -- it's on Berkner's VEVO channel, which runs an ad before the video. Which I don't mind at all, it's just that VEVO doesn't seem to have given any thought to the ads that run before the video -- the most recent time I watched it, it featured an anti-meth ad that seemed pitched at perhaps a slightly older crowd than would typically be watching a Laurie Berkner video.)

The Laurie Berkner Band - "Candy Cane Jane" [YouTube]

Joe McDermott has a new song and video which is totally ecumenical and secular -- it's all about "Holiday Break" and explains why this can be the (second-favorite) time of the year for your kids' teachers. The Official Wife of Zooglobble is in the educational system herself -- she can totally relate.

Joe McDermott - "Holiday Break" [YouTube]

For those of you looking to actually celebrate a little Christmas with your kindie friends, Roy Handy and the Moonshot offers up a version of "The Friendly Beasts" (available on iTunes here). It's a melodic line I wasn't familiar with, but which says comes from a Burl Ives disk (or actual vinyl record) that's nearly 50 years old at this point.

Roy Handy and the Moonshot - "The Friendly Beasts" [YouTube]

Finally, a couple kindie artists have created "holiday cards" for your video perusal. DidiPop and Joanie Leeds have each created an animated card, but beyond that, they're very... different. You will have to decide for yourself which you prefer (and which music is original).