How long have they been at it?

The typical artist on one of KEXP's Annual Listeners' Favorite lists was about six years into their career in 2001 through 2010. In 2016 through 2025, it was about ten. Are listeners drifting toward seasoned artists, or is something else going on? That question is what this post digs into.

The last post looked at who is on the list: bands or solo acts and, for the solo artists, women or men. This one asks how long they've been at it. For every artist I worked out a start year, either the year a band formed or the year a solo artist put out their first record, and counted from there. Below you'll find how deep into their catalogs artists are when they first make a list, how old the solo artists are, and who keeps coming back. Click and hover around.

So the lists have gotten more seasoned. The typical artist is now about ten years into their career, up from about six, debuts have thinned out, and the share of solo artists aged 40 or older has roughly doubled. Solo women are still the younger group, but they are getting older too. Does that square with the last time around, when I called the lists a constantly refreshing roster? It does, as long as you remember what is being counted. More than half of all artists made exactly one list, and about one spot in three still goes to someone making a list for the first time. But a small group of regulars holds a big share of the spots: the 10% of artists with five or more albums on the lists hold about 30% of them. It's a revolving door with a regular cast, and the door is turning a little more slowly than it used to. Next up: where in the world these artists come from.