Other: Top Five Lists

Music is not something I like judging comparatively. As I've said before, I prefer to enjoy artists on their own merit rather than thinking about how they stack up against others. I thought it'd be interesting, then, to force myself to write some top five lists about my favorites when it comes to music. Ranking things is hard for me, but each list will pretty well include my top five in some order; these may be "collections" of top fives rather than "countdowns." That itself may be hard, though, because I will admit that my taste in music can vary greatly from day to day.

Top Five Favorite Albums
Albums 5-3 are associated with a specific memory or time in my life and will always carry a huge amount of emotional weight. Albums 1 and 2, however, are associated with many, many memories and times in my life. The fact that they are so timeless and so enduring locked down the top spots in my book.
5. Mmhmm, Relient K (2004)
4. Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert, Les Misérables 10th Anniversary Cast (1995)
3. Paramore, Paramore (2013)
2. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles (1967)
1. Abbey Road, The Beatles (1969)
Honorable Mentions: No Strings Attached (*NSYNC), A Night at the Opera (Queen), Let it Bleed (Rolling Stones), A Hard Day's Night (The Beatles), Collide (Skillet)

Top Five Oddball Artists
These artists are ranked using a loose sort of equation:
Oddness of artist * How frequently I listen to them
In practice, this means that, though I listen to *NSYNC far more often than Joe Dassin, they at least have something to do with a lot of the music I listen to. The opposite is also true; Red Army Choir is by far the strangest artist I've listened to extensively, but I rarely listen to their music anymore.
5. High School Musical Cast
4. Red Army Choir
3. Clay Aiken
2. *NSYNC
1. Joe Dassin
Honorable Mention: Barry Manilow

Top Played Songs on Spotify, 2015
This is an extremely specific category but gives some insight into last year in music for me. As a reminder, The Beatles were not available on Spotify until extremely late last year.
5. "Can't Smile Without You," Barry Manilow
4. "Bent to Fly," Slash
3. "Do You Feel Like We Do (Live)," Peter Frampton
2. "Señorita," Justin Timberlake
1. "Cry Me a River," Michael Bublé

Top Five Favorite Guitarists
Until junior year, when I started chorus and learned more about musical theatre, my taste in music was almost entirely dictated by the question, "What songs are fun to play on guitar?" These are the guitarists I most admire.
5. Peter Frampton
4. George Harrison/ John Lennon (The Beatles)
3. Gary Moore
2. Slash (Guns N' Roses)
1. Brian May (Queen)
Honorable Mentions: Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Gary Clark Jr., Taylor York/ Josh Farro (Paramore)

Top Five Musicals
Musicals are a relatively new phenomenon to me. This list will change greatly the older I get I'm sure, but I know for sure that Les Misérables will always be my favorite musical.
5. The Lion King
4. Annie Get Your Gun
3. Jekyll and Hyde
2. Once
1. Les Misérables
Honorable Mention: Aladdin, The Secret Garden

Top Three Favorite Artists
I know for a fact that these are my three favorite artists. However, I couldn't make any decisions about the last two.
3. Queen
2. Paramore
1. The Beatles
Honorable Mentions: *NSYNC/ Justin Timberlake, Alfie Boe/ Les Misérables Cast, Oasis, Rod Stewart, Aerosmith