An interesting '06 study. Participants were divided into groups and given access to obscure online songs. Some groups could see number of prior downloads. Song

An interesting '06 study. Participants were divided into groups and given access to obscure online songs. Some groups could see number of prior downloads. Song popularity in different groups was very weakly correlated. Some of the same songs would sometimes be hits and sometimes busts for no apparent reason. In other words, even song popularity (in an i.i.d. trial) doesn't predict song popularity. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/health/in-music-others-tastes-may-help-shape-your-own.html https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/health/in-music-others-ta...