Does anyone even listen to the radio anymore? My kids and I invented a game that we play during school trips and road trips and anywhere in between (and even listening to the radio at home).
The game originated primarily because our local radio stations kept playing Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso" two years ago. There were a few other newer hits that received roughly the same amount of play, so each person could select one new song. If your song was played on the radio, you would receive $1.
We didn't want to limit this to only new songs, so you were also allowed to pick an old song. We noticed that frequently the same old songs would be played on the radio, despite the fact that there were thousands of songs from the '80s until now that could be played. Why did they play the same songs over and over? If your old song was played, you received $5.
After a couple of months of these rules, we also added an option for a "kind of new" song, which was any song that was popular more than a year ago. If this song was played, you would receive $2.
Players are allowed to change their songs only on the weekends. You can change your song to a song being played on the radio, but it counts only after the song has been played.
We haven't kept stats all of the time, but we are confident that song by artists that will be in upcoming concerts are played much more frequently than others. There were also a few potential awards - if all three of your songs are played on the same day, you hit Triple Crown. If your songs are played back-to-back, that's the Daily Double. And if your song plays and someone else's song plays right after that, it's Double Trouble.
During the past two years we have played this, I would say that the obvious artists who have been played the most have been Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift, Olivia Dean and Bruno Mars. We also pick new songs during Christmastime. The new/top songs have been pretty consistent, but I want to list the many songs we have chosen as old songs. I think it would be surprising to some how often these songs have been played!
- Broken Wings - Mr. Mister
- The Promise - When in Rome
- Toxic - Britney Spears
- Iris - Goo Goo Dolls
- Don't Speak - No Doubt
- Yeah - Usher
- DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love - Usher
- Dynamite - Taio Cruz
- Everybody - Backstreet Boys
- Girls Just Want to Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
- Stressed Out - 21 Pilots
- Umbrella - Rihanna
- Angel - Shaggy
- It Wasn't Me - Shaggy
- Complicated - Avril Lavigne
- Locked out of Heaven - Bruno Mars
- Strange Magic - ELO
- Free Fallin' - Tom Petty
- Uptown Funk - Bruno Mars
- E.T. - Katy Perry
- Girls Like You - Maroon Five
- Down - Lil' Wayne and Jay Sean
- What's Love - Fat Joe
- What's Love - Tina Turner
- Died in Your Arms Tonight - Cutting Crew
- No Scrubs - TLC
- In the End - Linkin' Park
- Oops, I Did It again - Britney Spears
- Kiss From a Rose - Seal
- Crazy - Britney Spears
As you can see, this list spans several years, instead of majority of the songs being newer (5 or so years ago). This is a fun game to play on family trips - if you play, let us know what songs keep coming up for you!
Comments