Some Big News

And a thank you

I know I’ve been talking endlessly about my forthcoming book Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us about the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves, but I am just so excited to share this thing with you. The book is a data-driven history of popular music that I wrote as I spent years listening to every number one hit in history.

Of course, it took me a long time to listen to every number one hit. But it took me even longer to find someone to publish it—7 years, in fact. When something takes that long, you usually want to tell other people about it. That’s why I can’t shut up about this thing.

Anyway, the book comes out in one month! Because of that my publisher has agreed to let me do a little promotion. If you purchase the book in the next 30 days—and send me a picture of your receipt with the date visible—I will grant you a free paid subscription to this newsletter for the next 6 months. As a reminder, paid subscribers, get access to a whole fleet of benefits, including biweekly interviews with musical luminaries, access to our entire archive of posts, and monthly round-ups of the most important stories in music.

If you’ve already purchased the book, thank you so much. Writing this has been a dream come true. And if you have some extra money laying around, I would be eternally grateful if you bought a copy. (The November release also makes it a great holiday gift.) Talk soon!