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Data Information
The dataset covers a large number of artists with substantial touring histories, drawing on setlist data collected across many tours and shows. To ensure the analysis is based on representative and statistically meaningful data, artists and tours were included only if they met a set of minimum thresholds. These criteria filter out short runs, festival-only appearances, and artists without enough of a touring history to draw reliable conclusions about setlist variety.
The artist and tour inclusion criteria applied are as follows:
| Criterion | Threshold | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Min shows in a tour | 20 | Smaller runs lack enough setlist variation to produce meaningful tail/shelf statistics |
| Min unique songs in a tour | 10 | A minimum song pool is required for tail and shelf percentages to be statistically meaningful |
| Min average show length (tour) | 10 songs | Short sets are typically festival slots or support appearances, not representative headline tours |
| Min tours per artist | 5 | Multiple tours are needed to observe how setlist variety changes across an artist's career |
| Min total shows per artist | 200 | Ensures the artist has a substantial enough touring history to be considered an established touring act |
| Min average show length across tours (artist) | 10 songs | Filters out artists whose touring catalogue is predominantly short festival-style sets |
| Min average show length overall (artist) | 10 songs | Consistent with the tour-level filter; ensures the overall career average also reflects full headline shows |
Tail ≤ 10%
deep cuts — rarely played songs
Shelf ≥ 90%
greatest hits — frequently played songs
Select an artist above to see their All Tours analysis.
Select an artist above before browsing individual tours.
Running…
Analysis Results
Overall Trend — All Artists
- Above 0 — average Tail% exceeds average Shelf% that year: setlists contained a higher proportion of rarely-played songs than setlist staples
- Below 0 — average Shelf% exceeds average Tail% that year: setlists contained a higher proportion of setlist staples than rarely-played songs