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MAY 2026

11,568 tracks

10,317 Apple Music plays. 1,251 SoundCloud likes. 789 Spotify streams across fourteen years. 21 concert tickets. Apple has play counts, SoundCloud doesn’t, Spotify has both, and Gmail has the rooms I’ve been in. Local cluster passes ran May 5 and May 9, 2026.

John Nguyen16 min read

Carti, 4,183 plays

Playboi Carti is number one by play count, 4,183 plays. Ken Carson is next at 3,779. That gap is wide enough that Carti is the rotational center of everything after.

The Carti Devotion 2020 cluster is 20 tracks, 1,536 plays. Top tracks: Let It Go (164), Rockstar Made (154), Right Now (100). The cluster formed in spring 2020. I started producing my own beats in 2017, johnnyboygeek trap beat 2, 80 BPM.

Evidence

  • The Carti Devotion 2020 cluster — 20 tracks, 1,536 plays. Top tracks: Let It Go (164), Rockstar Made (154), Right Now (100).
  • Playboi Carti is #1 by play weight at 4,183 plays. Next artist is Ken Carson at 3,779.
  • 2017 is also when John starts producing his own beats — johnnyboygeek trap beat 2, 80 BPM, per the Music DNA timeline.
  • Leak-collector pattern, file-level proof. iTunes Media manual-add core, top albums: Unreleased (64), Carti CDQ (40), o (37), Lost Files 2/4, UZI LEAKS, WRLD LEAKS, 2093. The dig was here from the beginning.

Lucki and the plugg signature

LUCKI is number four by play count, 1,785. The Lucki & Underground Cult cluster is 18 tracks, 1,143 plays. F1lthy productions inside the cluster: USED 2 BE, U.G.K, NEEDED, CRYOUT.

The adjacent ranking goes OsamaSon (5), Bktherula (6), Pi'erre Bourne (7), Yeat (8), Destroy Lonely (9). It's the Atlanta orbit, the second largest center of attention behind Carti. Most of these tracks are 2019 to 2022.

Evidence

  • The Lucki & Underground Cult cluster — 18 tracks, 1,143 plays.
  • LUCKI #4 (1,785). Frequent collab tracks with F1lthy: USED 2 BE, U.G.K, NEEDED, CRYOUT.
  • Adjacent: OsamaSon #5, Bktherula #6, Pi'erre Bourne #7, Yeat #8, Destroy Lonely #9.

Summer 2022 and 2023, 6,688 plays

The Summer 2022 & 2023 Rush cluster is 107 tracks, 6,688 plays. It's the largest cluster in the Apple Music pass by every metric.

The Ken Carson Anthems cluster is 28 tracks, 2,650 plays. Rock N Roll has 274 plays. Turn Up has 177. Top tracks across the corpus: Rock N Roll (263), Turn Up (176), Let It Go (163), Uh Huh (158), Rockstar Made (154), AQUAFINA (135), X FOR BREAKFAST (132).

Evidence

  • The Summer 2022 & 2023 Rush — 107 tracks, 6,688 plays.
  • The Ken Carson Anthems — 28 tracks, 2,650 plays. Rock N Roll alone has 274 plays.
  • Top tracks in the corpus: Rock N Roll (263), Turn Up (176), Let It Go (163), Uh Huh (158), Rockstar Made (154), AQUAFINA (135), X FOR BREAKFAST (132).

Pi'erre, the cross-thread

Pi'erre Bourne is number seven by play count, 1,855. He shows up as artist and as producer on early Carti, on Bktherula, in the wider plugg signature. F1lthy runs through the LUCKI cluster on USED 2 BE, U.G.K, NEEDED, CRYOUT. Lil88, Outtatown, and F1lthy run through Ken Carson.

On SoundCloud, producer names live in the track titles. (Prod. Patrick), (p. Mayday). Sometimes the producer's name is bigger than the artist's. Own production timeline: 2017 early beats, 2024 Forestwasx music videos, 2025 NASAFM beat releases.

Evidence

  • Pi'erre Bourne #7 (1,855), produces large parts of early Carti.
  • F1lthy as plugg signature on LUCKI; Lil88, Outtatown, F1lthy on Ken Carson.
  • Producer credits dominate SoundCloud track titles. Producers function as primary identifiers, not just credits.

NASAFM, the self-loop

On Spotify, in the twelve months ending May 2026, NASAFM is the third most-streamed artist. Thirteen plays. 10415 five times, Electric four times. Spotify saw 320 distinct artists in that window. NASAFM outranks 317 of them.

NASAFM is my own beat-release alias. The streams aren't vanity — Spotify surfaces them without that context. The producer's ear from Phase 4 turned inward and the work re-entered the rotation as listening, not labor. 2017 trap beats → 2024 Forestwasx music videos → 2025 NASAFM on streaming → 2026 returning to those releases at canon-rotation weight.

Evidence

  • NASAFM #3 most-streamed Spotify artist (12mo window 2025-05-08 → 2026-05-01). 13 plays in 789 total stream events.
  • Top NASAFM tracks: 10415 (5 plays), Electric (4 plays).
  • The smallest phase by track count, the highest signal-to-noise ratio — only visible because the Spotify Account Data export landed 2026-05-09.

PinkPantheress, late nights

PinkPantheress is number eleven by play count, 865. The Weeknd is fourteen at 769. Brent Faiyaz, Babyxsosa, Snow Strippers, and Don Toliver appear inside the Summer 2022 & 2023 Rush cluster as the soft tracks: Picture in my mind, Pain, Bury me, Gravity, Wasting Time, Drama Baby, Aching Like It's.

The Late Night Pluggnb Floor was a candidate cluster but the smallest-cluster-wins dedup rule gave its tracks to more specific clusters. The grouping is real but it's not its own row in the data.

Evidence

  • PinkPantheress #11 (865). Brent Faiyaz, The Weeknd #14 (769), Babyxsosa, Snow Strippers, Don Toliver across Summer 2022/23 Rush.
  • Late Night Pluggnb Floor cluster — collapsed by smallest-cluster-wins, but mood is durable.
  • Music DNA mapping: dark R&B undertones → purple-blue palette.

Pre-2010, family

Pre-2010 is 9% of the corpus. 2000s 5%, 1990s 2%, 1980s 2%, pre-1980 1%. Total 10,317 tracks.

Ozuna's Se Preparó has 102 plays. Dile Que Tú Me Quieres has 51. Bad Bunny's TE MUDASTE has 52. Anuel AA, Rauw Alejandro, Feid show up inside the LATINO GANG playlist. Older tracks in heavy rotation: Jamiroquai's Cosmic Girl, Modjo's Lady (65), Black Eyed Peas' Meet Me Halfway (63), George Benson's Give Me the Night (51), Pharrell and Pusha's Stay With Me (51), Kid Cudi's Hyyerr (51), Justin Timberlake's Rock Your Body (70). Tyler the Creator is ten by play count at 916. Kanye is twelve at 830.

Evidence

  • Era distribution: 2000s 5%, 1990s 2%, 1980s 2%, pre-1980 1%. Total 9% of 10,317 tracks.
  • Latin family layer: Ozuna, Bad Bunny, Anuel AA, Rauw Alejandro, Feid. The ✨LATINO GANG✨ playlist.
  • Tyler the Creator #10 (916) and Kanye West #12 (830) function as legacy anchors.

SoundCloud, the dig

1,251 SoundCloud likes across 74 clusters across 7 batches. No play counts. The clustering is scene-shaped.

Batch one is dominated by the Nine Vicious Sovereign State cluster, 54 tracks of unreleased freestyles and leaks. The producer Patrick is named in dozens of titles. Uploaders include lifemocksart1, imsofornothing, ninesomnia, ninevicious-projects. Adjacent in batch one: Osamason's Underground Orbit, 26 tracks, fentanvl-leak-source dominant. The SoundCloud layer is not a repeat-play canon. It's an upload feed.

Evidence

  • 1,251 SC likes, 74 clusters across 7 batches.
  • Nine Vicious Sovereign State — 54 tracks, the core cluster.
  • Osamason's Underground Orbit — 26 tracks, parallel fentanvl-orbit.

Twenty-one tickets, seven years

Twenty-one Gmail-confirmed concert events, nine-plus unique headliners, across seven years. The streaming corpus says nothing about which artists I've been in a room with. The inbox does.

Carti is the live spine — King Vamp Tour 2021 twice, Weeknd-with-Carti 2025. Ken Carson chased across four 2024-2025 tour legs: Chaos in April, July, October, then Lord of Chaos. Summer Smash three years running, 2023, 2024, 2025. The seed predates all of it: Travis Scott Astroworld 2018, CenturyLink Omaha. The pilgrimage is older than the foundation.

Apple Photos cross-validates. 1,835 music-signal photos from 67,879 assets, scored by Apple ML scene labels. Top venues by photo count: Pinnacle Bank Arena Lincoln (198), CHI Health Center Omaha (75), Dodger Stadium LA (70), Armory Minneapolis (67), Cable Dahmer (35). Face recognition flags Tyler Okonma in 47 photos. Tyler outranks family members in my own camera roll.

Evidence

  • 21 Gmail-confirmed concert events (Ticketmaster + AXS + DICE + See Tickets + SeatGeek), 9+ unique headliners, 2018 → 2025.
  • Carti spine: 2021 King Vamp Tour ×2, 2025 Weeknd-with-Carti.
  • Ken Carson chase: 4 tour legs across 2024-2025 (Chaos April / July / October / Lord of Chaos).
  • Apple Photos venue counts: Pinnacle Bank Arena Lincoln (198), CHI Health Center Omaha (75), Dodger Stadium LA (70), Armory Minneapolis (67).
  • Apple ML face-recognition: Tyler Okonma (47), A$AP Rocky (31), Kanye West (15) — Tyler outranks family in the camera roll.

8 Apple clusters, 74 SoundCloud clusters

P1P2P3P4P5P6P789 NODES · 93 LINKS3D CONSTELLATION LOADING…

Apple cluster pass: top 200 tracks by play count, play-weighted. SoundCloud cluster pass: scene-shaped, no play counts available. Both ran locally on Qwen3.5-35B-A3B, May 5, 2026.

Spotify Account Data (12 months) landed May 9 — that’s what surfaced Phase 4b. Gmail concert scrape and Apple Photos ML scene labels added Phase 8. Spotify lifetime extended history and Apple Privacy Media Services export are still pending. When they land, every grouping above gets re-clustered against the additional sources.