Spotify Wrapped
Here's the December 1 edition of the Certified Forgotten newsletter.
Spooky friends,
Spotify Wrapped is neat.
Spotify Wrapped for Podcasts is neat-er.
This time of year, everyone is telling on themselves in glorious fashion, sharing the unexpected songs and artists that made their way into their Top 5 (my own list is dominated by Greek drone band MMMD, my preferred music to write to). But when you host a podcast, it’s just as much fun to wade through the numbers for your show on Spotify.
Here are the episodes that made the biggest impact this year:
Most Played Episode: Urban Legends: Bloody Mary with Kim Morrison
Most New Listeners: The Final Terror with C. Robert Cargill
Most Shared Episode: Horsemen with Ari Drew
According to Spotify, we also grew our audience by 60% in 2023, which is a very nice number to see. If we were listed as a top podcast on your 2023 Spotify Wrapped, please let us know so we can do something special for you!
Of course, Spotify is just one of several platforms where Certified Forgotten exists, and most of our downloads still happens on platforms like Apple Podcast. But these numbers are a nice little reminder that you can run a marathon instead of sprint when it comes to podcasts. This slow-but-steady growth also means you’ve got at least one more year before we break through and start hocking sex toys and meal prep boxes throughout each episode.
We love each and every one of you who joined us on our journey in 2023.
Published This Week
Intimate Fears of the Service Industry in The Stylist by DeVaughn Taylor
Since we’re a horror site with an emphasis on film essays, we tend to get a lot of pitches from people who straddle the worlds of academia and film criticism — writers who want to dig into films from a historical or cultural perspective. And don’t get me wrong, that kind of writing is exactly my shit. But I do love it when people like DeVaughn also pitch us films that speak to them on a more personal level. This is a great essay that unpacks the parasocial relationships in the service industry. If you haven’t yet, also go check out DeVaughn’s episode of the Certified Forgotten podcast. We talk about The Monster Project, a really fun spin on the found footage format.
Now Available on Patreon
If you’ve never visited the Certified Forgotten Patreon, then here’s something fun: everyone who contributes at least $3 a month will receive a monthly video recommendation of our favorite new (to us) horror movies, video games, and books. For November, we talk about our enthusiasm — and the surprisingly muted public responses — to festival darlings like Dark Harvest and It Lives Inside. I also hype up the best horror book I’ve ever read in my entire goddamn life.