The Daily Gamecock newsroom listened to a combined 10,000 hours of music in 2021.
Keep in mind, there are 8,760 hours in a calendar year. That's like listening to Red (Taylor's Version) about 5,000 times. It's possible some people on our staff did just that.
Among the variety and diversity of our newsroom, the one thing we all have in common is that we listened to a lot of music.
Here's a breakdown of the music each section listened to in 2021. Please don't judge it too hard.
Management
Top Artists: Pitbull, Travis Scott, Two Door Cinema.
The management team was all over the place in preferences.
Kailey Cota, the editor-in-chief, showed up to 2022 with songs from her study playlist among her most-listened-to songs. Study hard, Kailey.
Managing editor Michael Sauls had some strong consistency in pop-rap, featuring Travis Scott, Future and Lil Baby.
Managing editor Tyler Fedor brought some serious variety to the team. Stadium country, Latin pop and classic hits were all in the same mix. Jimmy Buffet, Zac Brown Band and Carlos Vives were featured prominently on Fedor's wrapped this past year.
Sabrina Hampton, creative director, was pure indie poptimism through Two Door Cinema, Glass Animals and Big Wild.
Nick Sullivan was, for sure, the wildcard here. Our outreach director was a big Pitbull fan, and he spent around 27 hours this past year listening to him.
News
Top Artists: Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, Oliver Tree, Kanye West.
Caleb Bozard, the news editor, is The Daily Gamecock's resident Britney fan. Yes, he does have a life-size cutout of Spears that accompanies virtual meetings at times. Yes, he is a proud owner of a "Free Britney" t-shirt. And, yes, Spears is his top artist of 2021.
Max White, an assistant news editor, listened to an impressive 621 hours of music. He's pure alternative hip-hop and proud of it. His top artist was Oliver Tree, a rapper well-deserving of White's time.
Sydney Dunlap, an assistant news editor, joined The Daily Gamecock Swifties in 2021 composed of assistant arts and culture editor Amelia Farrell, arts and culture beat writer Richie Holmberg and assistant copy desk chief Jade Crooks.
Arts and Culture
Top Artists: Taylor Swift, Bo Burnham, Phoebe Bridgers.
Holmberg takes the cake here with 578 hours listened. He's also a Taylor Swift aficionado and wrote Swift-lists for the section and debated Swift's best songs in section meetings regularly.
His life was undoubtedly a different place after Taylor's Version.
Farrell came in a close second as The Daily Gamecock's biggest Swift fan but stayed true to her love of theater. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hamilton comprised 3 of her top 5 artists.
Stephen Pastis, arts and culture editor, listened to the acoustic sounds of Phoebe Bridgers for far too long this past year.
Sports
Top Artists: Lil Uzi Vert, Hozier, Drake, Kendrick Lamar.
Sports kept it consistent this year. Lawson Murrell, the sports editor, listened strictly to rap. He was joined by sports beat writer Griffin Goodwyn in staying loyal to modern classics such as Juice WRLD, Drake and Lil Wayne, but also listened to new hits.
Taylor Beltz, the assistant sports editor, had a massive amount of listening hours and a very different taste for dance-pop, comparatively. It takes taste to like Hozier but it takes taste and class to have Hozier, Doja Cat and Ariana Grande in your top five artists.
Opinion
Top Artists: R.E.M., Sylvan Esso, Skating Polly, Mitski, Kacey Musgraves, Olivia Rodrigo.
Coming in third for total hours listened to is Ian Grenier, the assistant opinion editor. Not only did he listen to 1,260 hours of indie rock, but he represented over 10% of all music listened to for the paper this past year. Grenier is an unapologetic R.E.M. and U2 fan and blamed it on their excessive discography.
Audrey Elsberry, the opinion editor, came in with a relatively meager number of hours listened to but had a strong appreciation for Kacey Musgraves, Shania Twain and Olivia Rodrigo.
Julia Goulet, the opinion beat writer, shared a similar appreciation of Olivia Rodrigo, the undeniable pop explosion for 2021.
Design
Top Artists: The Strokes, Catfish and the Bottleman, Dominic Fike, Tash Sultana.
Most in the newsroom are probably jealous of the talent and taste of our designers. Their 2021 musical preferences are no different.
Assistant design director Sydney Lako and design director Sydnie Tramontina came in with some great indie rock artists like The Strokes, Catfish and The Bottleman and Rainbow Kitten Surprise. They loved their indie and alternative rock but also had some variety from the indie acoustics of Matt Maeson and Mt. Joy.
Photo
Top Artists: EDEN, Drake, Greta Van Fleet.
We got some polar opposites here. Not only are the hours listened to the most varied but the musical tastes themselves are distanced.
On one hand, is Jalen Miller, the senior photographer, who was a fan of Drake, J.Cole and Bruno Mars. On the other, Ellis Page, the photography editor, is a modern rock fan with Greta Van Fleet.
Most importantly, we have the standout listener for the whole newsroom. Jerry Bowen, the assistant photography editor, listened to 3,961 hours of music this year. An enormous EDEN fan, Bowen had music playing for essentially half of every day in 2021.
Copy Desk
Top Artists: TWICE, Taylor Swift, The Head and the Heart, The Airborne Toxic Event.
The Daily Gamecock's copy desk is the beating heart of our content cycle and an undeniable force of music. Copy desk chief Anne Heiler and assistant copy desk chiefs Kate Robins and Crooks had long hours on their 2021 rewind, which included genres such as k-pop, indie pop and modern pop, respectively.
Robins deserves a notable mention with around 1,450 hours of music listened to in 2021. That placed her in second place for most music listened to in the newsroom and behind Bowen in first place.
Engagement
Top Artists: Kanye West, Talking Heads, Goth Babe.
Much like the design team, there is a deep pocket of taste here. Co-engagement director Noah Trainor brought some classic '80s icons to a group of modern talent that included Kanye, Weezer and The Strokes.
Co-engagement director Liv Leon and assistant engagement director Joe Macheca brought in some smoother tones with Rex Orange County and Mac Miller. I wanna hang out with these three more after seeing their Wrapped.
Correction (Feb. 11, 2022, at 8:35 p.m.): A previous version of this article incorrectly said Sabrina Hampton was the design director of The Daily Gamecock. Hampton is the creative director.