As described in a previous post, I have this passion project that I've been working on for years called the "24-Hour Hits Festival." Over two nights of twelve hours each, the 150 biggest artists since the 1940s perform medleys of their hits.
Out of the eight acts (each three hours long), I'm currently wrapping up the rough arrangement of my final medley in Act 5 for Janet Jackson! Below is a little bit of detail on how I choose each artist:
First, I made a very long Google spreadsheet (that I still update regularly) with every song that has ever entered the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 -- including titles, all artist names, year, and highest placement on the chart. From there, I reversed the placements into points, meaning I gave each song that got to #10 at its peak a total of one point, while songs that peaked at #1 got ten points...and everywhere in between. Then, each artist received a total point value by adding up all of their songs' point earnings.
This allowed me to order them by points, leaving me with an exact one-hundred-and-fifty artists that reached the top. Although this is a seemingly arbitrary number, it was purposeful: I wanted to split them into five groups (the top 10, the following twenty in the top 30, the following thirty in the top 60, the following forty in the top 100, and the following fifty in the top 150).
I knew that I wanted the higher groups to have longer medleys, or time for their set list, than the lesser-earned artists. So, by using an algebraic equation, I figured out that the following would add up rather close to 24 hours: 30-minute sets for group 1, 20-minute sets for group 2, 10-minute sets for group 3, 5-minute sets for group 4, and 2-minute sets for group 5. Any additional time would be used for (perhaps) a finale performance and video interludes.
Here's the top 10 on my list, in case you are curious! More to come :)
Drake
The Beatles
Elvis Presley
Madonna
Mariah Carey
Taylor Swift
Rihanna
Janet Jackson
Michael Jackson
Elton John
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