Quartz yesterday published an article which analyzed data from Apple Music's Beats 1 radio station, in an attempt to get a feel for the station's most played songs and artists throughout the month of July. The company took data collected from 12,445 songs specifically from "early July to early August," and discovered that artists The Weeknd, Drake, and Disclosure were the top three most-played musicians for the month.

beats 1 data
The Weeknd was also on top of the most played song chart, with the song "Can't Feel My Face" -- which he performed live at WWDC in June -- played a total of 107 times in July. Artists including Rachel Platten, Beck, and Selena Gomez, amongst others, round out the rest of the list thanks to the popularity of their current chart-topping songs "Fight Song," "Dreams," and "Good for You," respectively.

Beats 1 has something that is rare in the world of digital music: scarcity. Listeners can’t choose a song and play it over and over. (They can do that elsewhere on Apple Music.) But curation doesn’t mean songs aren’t repeated. We counted 12,445 tracks but only 3,371 unique songs, meaning each track was played an average of 3.7 times. Eighteen of the 20 songs in the table above were played over 50 times.

Quartz also found the top genre on Beats 1 to be hip-hop (1,726 plays), with alternative (1,506 plays) and electronic (802 plays) rounding out the top three spots. Still, "a quarter of the songs in the dataset" that Quartz measured were only played one time, so Beats 1 is still managing to present a few diverse tracks into the mix every once in a while.

Quartz Beats 1 Genres
The response to Apple Music has been mixed, with the service's detractors pointing to the initial speed bumps syncing with iTunes and an over-reliance on specific musical genres in Beats 1, the latter of which Quartz has now detailed. The rest of Quartz's report on Beats 1 is definitely worth checking out, with charts analyzing the volume of songs played on weekdays versus the weekend and even one highlighting songs played most frequently in pairs.

Top Rated Comments

brendu Avatar
133 months ago
I stopped listening to Beats 1 because I'm not into hip hop and that's all they ever play when I've tuned in. I prefer 'for you' because I'm always finding new things I really like.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
133 months ago
"We want to make a radio station just for music, not one specific genre like other stations"

Bunch of deluded airheads.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheAppleFairy Avatar
133 months ago
There is classical music in AM, it is just not played on Beats 1. AM is more than just Beats 1.
I am more into Rock, Country, 80's, 90's, 90's grunge, Southern Rock, Metal, alternative, indie rock, indie pop, even rap pre-90's.

Pretty much anything that isn't the current urban music.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
5105973 Avatar
133 months ago
Who are all those people?
Scary, isn't it. On that list I know only the names of Drake, Selena Gomez and Florence and The Machine, and of those three, the only one whose music I've actually heard is Florence + The Machine. I might have heard Drake but not realized it.

Among the kids I know, they don't seem to actually enjoy hip-hop and rap but they will brag about listening to it because they think it makes them cool. I've heard a handful of rap singles I liked because there was a solid story in them. But everything else I've heard in passing is :confused:. And some of it is so misogynistic that I fear my mother's generation burned their bras in vain. So much nylon and cotton and polyester died for nothing. :(

However, the genres of music I'm interested in are just as easily made fun of and dismissed. Thank you, Blake Shelton, for the immortal refrain "chew tobacco, chew tobacco, spit!" :rolleyes: I'm sure he pulled that one from the depths of his soul. :p
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheAppleFairy Avatar
133 months ago
On the entire list the only two "artist" I have ever heard of are Beck and Selena Gomez. Out of those two the only song I know is "Where it's at".
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DarkWinter Avatar
133 months ago
Surprised that Pharrell isn't on that list! :p

I have to admit that I was very impressed for the first couple of days when Beats 1 launched, but soon found that more or less the same songs and artists were repeated over and over after that.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps. More features and changes will follow in future ...
ios 26 1 liquid glass opaque

iOS 26.1 Beta 4 Lets Users Control Liquid Glass Transparency with New Toggle

Monday October 20, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass. The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
iPhone Siri Glow

Some Apple Employees Have 'Concerns' About iOS 26.4's Revamped Siri

Sunday October 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings. iOS 26.4 will...
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.2 Update for iPhones Coming Soon

Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet. The update will likely be released by the end of next week. Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

New iPad Pro Has Six Key Upgrades Beyond M5 Chip

Saturday October 18, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more. With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
maxresdefault

Here's How the iOS 26.1 Transparency Toggle Changes Liquid Glass

Monday October 20, 2025 1:55 pm PDT by
With the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple added a toggle that makes Liquid Glass more opaque and reduces transparency. We tested the beta to see where the toggle works and what it looks like. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. If you have the latest iOS 26.1 beta, you can go to Settings > Display and Brightness to get to the new option. Tap on Liquid Glass, then...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
iOS 26

What's New in iOS 26.1 Beta 4

Monday October 20, 2025 1:02 pm PDT by
Even though we're at the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple is continuing to add new features. In fact, the fourth beta has some of the biggest changes that we'll get when iOS 26.1 releases to the public later this month. We've rounded up what's new below. Liquid Glass Transparency Toggle Apple added a toggle for customizing the look of Liquid Glass. In Settings > Display and Brightness,...
kohler toilet sensor

Kohler Launches $600 iPhone-Connected Toilet Camera That Monitors Your Health Through Waste Analysis

Monday October 20, 2025 1:42 pm PDT by
Kohler is expanding its line of bathroom products with Dekoda, an iPhone-connected device that's designed to be attached to a toilet rim (via The Verge). The device's included "sensors" point into the toilet bowl, allowing it to analyze what goes on in the bathroom. According to Kohler, Dekoda is a health tracker that can monitor gut health and hydration, as well as detect the presence of...