The Top 20 SOTD Theme Weeks of 2015

It's a theme park! Get it?
2015 was the second calendar year in which Song Of The Day was largely oriented around theme weeks. In addition to the painstaking accountancy I did to rank the Top SOTD's of the year, I also kept another tab on ratings for the theme weeks, all up.

I have some observations.
  • The Hidden '60s was a good idea. It was a good idea back in 2007 when I came up with a series of playlists for Zune. But it got more attention here. All three weeks finished in the Top 15, with the first week being the biggest week of the year. (If I haven't mentioned it yet, The Hidden '70s is slated to start on May 15, 2016.)

  • As evidenced by the big success of Week Of Lies and A Dream Date With Satan, you guys all seem to like it when I dispense of the research process and just make shit up.

  • Eurovision was good, but not the blockbuster it was in 2014. That may be because most of the 2015 entrants were kind of downers.

  • You like audience participation more than I thought. The two You Pick The Artists weeks were both big hits. Right when I was planning to not do it again. Now I have to rethink that idea. Bastards.

  • Most shockingly successful theme week: Allegations of Weirdness. I think that speaks to your incredible tolerance for which you should be lauded.

  • Most shockingly unsuccessful theme week: Alt-Motown. Finished 37th out of 46 themes. So much for brand name recognition.

  • Theme weeks that went about as well as I thought they would: Yacht Rock Underground (well), the two Overpop weeks (not so well).

  • Lowest ranked full theme week of the year: 5 Van Morrison Songs I Just Met. 

  • Colin Donald's our ace in the hole. 17th, dude. 

Here are, as they say, the happy totals:

1. The Hidden '60s Pt. 1: 1960-63 9/6-9/13
2. Week of Lies 8/2-8/8
3. Quarterly Covers Report (Summer) 8/9-8/15
4. The Hidden ‘60s Pt. 3: 1967-69 11/15-11/23
5. Allegations of Weirdness 11/1-11/7
6. You Pick The Artist IV 10/11-10/17
7. Speaking in Tongues 4/19-4/25
8. You Pick the Artist III 4/12-4/18
9. A Dream Date With Satan 10/18-10/24
10. Ultimate Breaks & Beats 8/16-8/22
11. Quarterly Covers Report (Autumn) 11/8-11/14
12. Halloween Week 10/25-10/31
13. Yacht Rock Underground 7/19-7/24
14. I'm Ovision – Eurovision! 5/17-5/24
15. The Hidden ‘60s Pt. 2: 1964-66 10/3-10/10
16. Northern Soul Week 1/18-1/24
17. Australian Pop with Colin Donald 7/5-7/11
18. M*A*S*H*U*P Week ‘15 8/31-9/5
19. Pride Week 6/21-6/27
20. Nuggets Week 5/31-6/6