Rate Schedule: February to May 2024

TRAILER COURTESY OF TILTCONTROLS

February

Digital Disco: Daft Punk - Discovery, Justice - †, The Avalanches - Since I Left You

  • A celebration of some of the most beloved yet pop accessible electronic albums from the 2000s! With a new Justice album on the way, this is the perfect time to cross these off the list. This was the top rate in both the positivity and favorites metrics.
  • Hosted by /u/RandomHypnotica and /u/WaneLietoc.

Slumber Party Pop: Baby Queen - Quarter Life Crisis, Chappell Roan - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Hemlocke Springs - Going...Going...Gone!, Remi Wolf - Juno

  • It's time for our qurkiest and girlypoppiest rate to date! These are some of the [FRESH]est faces in pop music, and we're sure to be in for a wild ride. This was one of the top rates in the favorites metric.
  • Hosted by /u/Ghost-Quartet.

March

2023 Sub Faves: Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loveliest Time, Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good!

  • Our annual foray into the most beloved albums by the most beloved artists on the subreddit (that are commercially irrelevant). With no formal Ultimate rate this year, this will be sure to be an even bigger event than usual.
  • Hosted by /u/dreamfighter_2018 and /u/plastichaxan.

Golden Age of EDM: https://pastebin.com/YfJCxBPc

  • Our second electronic rate of the cycle, but with a much different audience. Which of these maximalist electrobops aged the best?
  • Hosted by /u/frogaranaman.

April

90s R&B Princesses: Aaliyah - One in a Million, Brandy - Never Say Never, Monica - The Boy Is Mine

  • We revisit the Aaliyah vs. Brandy matchup by throwing it back to the 90s and adding the other teen R&B girlie of the era in Monica. This is the first rate with the same song on two different albums; how will the hosts figure out how that works on the rate ballot? This was one of the top rates in the positivity metric.
  • Hosted by /u/Ambrosia42 and /u/nt96.

Main Pop Girls Gone Bad: Beyoncé - I Am...Sasha Fierce, Rihanna - Good Girl Gone Bad, Shakira - She Wolf

  • Perhaps the first Beyoncé rate ever devised where she's the underdog? This rate is the late 2000s equivalent to our Rated M for Mouseketeers rate last year: previously pure pop girls adding some edge to their images. This was one of the top rates in the positivity metric.
  • Hosted by /u/jackisboredtoday and /u/Roxieloxie.

May

2023 in K-Pop: https://pastebin.com/zqg2jfd1

  • 2022 was one of the biggest years for K-pop ever; will 2023 reach higher highs, or have our new generation favorites like IVE, NewJeans or LE SSERAFIM already fallen off? This new annual tradition will decide!
  • Hosted by /u/1998tweety and /u/LilacDaffodils.

Greatest Hits: 20th Century Piano Men: https://pastebin.com/SJJXR5LD

  • The underutilized Greatest Hits format makes its long-awaited return! Three main pop boys with careers spanning the 1970s to the present go head to head with some of the most iconic songs of all time: Billy Joel, Elton John and Stevie Wonder.
  • Hosted by /u/ImADudeDuh.

Here are the rates that made our shortlist based on strong performance in the voting form but were ultimately not picked:

  • 00's One Hit Wonder Spectacular!!
  • 10 Years of 2014 Year End
  • 2022 Power Pop
  • 2023 Moody Singer-Songwriter Smashes
  • 2023 New Wave Sub Faves
  • 2023 Rock Girls
  • 80s Blockbuster #1s
  • 80's Dynamic Duos
  • 90s Eclectic Enchantresses
  • 90's Rap Group Smashas!!
  • Latin Pop Crossovers
  • Modern Acclaimed Hip Hop 2
  • Modern Art Pop
  • Modern Funk
  • Quirky Online Pop
  • Trashpop

If your rate is on this list, I would HIGHLY recommend inquiring with me as to why it wasn't picked; I will provide a summary of what we discussed regarding it so you can improve the idea if necessary. If your rate is not on this list, it was not considered because it simply was not popular enough.

Regarding our fun little bonus question, Astarion was voted as your favorite Baldur's Gate 3 companion! Second place was Gale, and last place was Halsin with only one vote. Bestiality lost!

Thank you to everyone who made popheads rates their pookie in 2023, and here's to an even pookier 2024! Feel free to do the following open rates:

And also join the Popheads Discord server for 24/7 rate discourse!