Kieran.Stories

I’m saying… I’m saying… I’m a man who streams music who dreamt he was burning CDs, but now the dream is over and the man who streams music is awake.

20. Revelator by Gillian Welch

I listened to this one Gillian Welch track repeatedly on the walk to work in autumn 2025. My day to day was dissolving, and it became clear to me that January would be filled with uncertainty. ‘Revelator’ reflected – something. “Time’s a revelator.” I was stunned by the lyrics and the guitar playing.

19. Gretel by Alex G

One of two appearances by Alex G on this list. Every part of ‘Gretel’ is gripping to me. I would press play as the bus climbed over the bridge on Squires Gate. When the sunset revealed itself over the sea, this song was the perfect soundtrack. The album House of Sugar is Alex G at his emotional, eerie best. The video for ‘Gretel’ is a peach, too.

18. Desperado by The Eagles

It’s incredible to me that no one has attempted an Eagles jukebox musical. I would definitely watch the slime tutorial on YouTube.

17. Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen

Ollie Watkins receives the ball from Cole Palmer – hits it into the bottom left corner of the net. It’s suddenly clear: there is no time for the Dutch to respond in kind. Time has in fact stopped. But then full time arrives. I tell Alice that I will be sleeping in the spare room tonight. I am too awake. I play ‘Thunder Road’ full pelt through my earphones.

16. Tom and Mary by Ben Folds Five

In sixth form, a girl asked what sort of music I was into. The album AM by Arctic Monkeys was very big at the time. I said I was into ‘piano rock’, and asked if she’d heard of Ben Folds Five. They represent to me a sort of queasy nostalgia (tautology alert?), but in my opinion, they still rule.

15. Expert in a Dying Field by The Beths

This is one of the catchiest tracks by one of my favourite contemporary bands. If you haven’t heard The Beths I strongly suggest you check ’em out.

14. Brighton Rock by Queen

One Christmas not long ago, Alice bought me Sheer Heart Attack and A Night at the Opera on vinyl. Queen are a Christmas band to me. I have a very strong visual memory of waiting at a set of temporary traffic lights opposite a Greene King pub, on my way to the bus, and listening to the start of this album. You walk with a bit of swagger when you play ‘Brighton Rock’. I also listened to this album a lot on the exercise bike, and so when I hear this I feel well exercised and worn out – much like the cover.

13. Ain’t No Crime by Billy Joel

In my early twenties I worked as a receptionist for a physiotherapist and this was my alarm in the morning. It’s quite a mad song to set as your alarm, music -wise, but then the lyrics are sort of route one: “You’ve got to open your eyes in the morning, nine o’clock coming without any warning, and you gotta get ready to go.” If I hear it now, I feel a bit sick. ‘Ain’t No Crime’ only makes it onto this list because it was the first thing I heard every morning for about a year.

12. Rockin’ All Over the World by Status Quo

The still point in my turning world.

11. Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright by Joan Baez

As time goes by, I like this cover less, but I listened to it a lot at one point. I do wonder how much water damage my iPhone has sustained over the years, as I sing along to Bob Dylan songs in the shower. My suspicion is that I listened to this song when writing a particularly moody story, probably about a break-up, but I can’t remember anything specific.

10. Jesus Was a Cross Maker by Judee Sill

I distinctly remember hearing this song for the first time on the sixty eight bus into Blackpool one morning, on my way to work at the Pleasure Beach. It is crazy to me that all that was only a year ago. It was a rare instance of listening to the song immediately again, and then again. I just think it’s beautiful – absolutely.

9. The One by The Lemon Twigs

I am not sure if I like The Lemon Twigs, although I feel I probably should. Their songs meant a lot to me during that period after university, when I was living with my parents again. I haven’t listened to their latest: maybe it’s time, as a former Twiglet, to give the band another go.

8. Runner by Alex G

Alex G’s second appearance on this list. “I like people who I can open up to, who don’t judge for what I say but judge me for what I do… My runner, my runner, my man.” In my head this is a song about masculinity, or that feeling of wanting to achieve something ineffable. There’s an ache to it. It’s a perfect song to me.

7. The Boy with the Arab Strap by Belle and Sebastian

I listened to this song on repeat when I was writing my sequel to Malory Towers (we follow Darrell and Sally to St Andrews), which I then sent to a Malory Tower blogger, who was very kind about it. If anyone wants to read it, give me a shout, it’s definitely something.

6. Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters by Elton John

A couple of years ago I spent many evenings with an elderly downstairs neighbour, and I spent a good amount of time in my flat fixing or setting up his electrical appliances. He went through several CD players. He died last year. When I started to visit him downstairs (as he said – just to check that he was still breathing) I became fixated on this song, for some reason, and listened to it again and again.

5. Seven Seas of Rhye by Queen

Queen again. I like it when Freddie goes slightly northern singing “…and come out alive…” But maybe that’s just me.

4. Belinda Says by Alvvays

A beautiful song by Alvvays. “Moving to the country, gonna have that baby.” I could listen to this all day – and did at one point.

3. Love Takes Miles by Alex Cameron

“Love will make you fit it all in the car.” I’m getting married next year. My partner is part of a local women’s choir and she has asked if they would perform at the wedding. We’ve asked for ‘Love Takes Miles’ – reader, if that happens, I will cry for about a thousand years.

2. I Can Tell a Lie by Peter Allen

This song takes me back to the trampoline at the back of my parents’ garden (long gone to the tip). In the summer before university, I would lie on the mat alone, listening to music I had downloaded onto my iPod nano. I was obsessed by finding an album that could be mine, that no one else would know. Tenterfield Sadler became that album for me, and this song was my favourite.

1. Bug by Fontaines D.C

If I was writing a list of favourite songs, I don’t think this (or any Fontaines song) would make it on, but here we are. Like ‘Revelator’ by Gillian Welch, I would listen to this track on the way into work, last year. It is a perfect energiser. If I listened to ‘Bug’ three times down the street, I felt I could face anything.

So, here endeth my list of ‘most streamed’ songs. I didn’t choose it, but of course in a way I did. This isn’t a post about the ethics of the streaming giants – it is just a fun list – but for the record, I Bandcamp, I buy CDs. But my generation’s MO is streaming: we have been weened on the subscription service, and it has served us good and bad.