Opus in Numbers (2022 Edition)

I try not to pay too much attention to my site’s analytics, and indeed, have often thought about removing them altogether for performance and privacy reasons. But the fact is, I do like to occasionally look at numbers, if only to get some indication of how Opus is performing. (And yes, to get some validation that other people are actually reading what I write.)

Analytics can also provide some good technical guidance as I think about how to further evolve and improve the site’s design and even content management workflow.

So with all that in mind, here’s how Opus fared in 2022, numbers-wise. Note: I switched analytics packages partway through 2022, and I’ve tried to account for their differences in reporting various stats. Therefore, some of these numbers are approximate.

• I published 395 posts in 2022, or roughly one every day. That seems really impressive, but many of those posts had been previously published on other sites, like Christ and Pop Culture and ScreenAnarchy, and I was republishing them on Opus in order to consolidate all of my writing. I published 166 new posts in 2022, or one every 2.2 days. This was a slight reduction from 2021, which saw 168 posts published on the site.
• November was 2022’s busiest month, with 12,066 pageviews. The second busiest month was July, with 12,015 pageviews. By comparison, the site’s busiest month in 2021 was February, with 13,985 pageviews.
• 2022’s slowest month was May, with a measly 1,237 pageviews. However, that was also right around the time when I switched analytics packages, which probably had an effect as the new package took some time to begin pulling in data.
• Because of the multiple analytics packages involved, it’s difficult to get a true comparison between 2021 and 2022. But best I can tell, pageviews increased slightly, by about 2%, over 2021.
  
• Chrome and Safari were the top browsers used to view Opus, accounting for 49.6% and 36.3% of the site’s traffic, respectively. These numbers were a slight increase over 2021.
• Internet Explorer traffic dropped down to around 5%, with a dramatic decrease in 2022’s second half. Based on this trend, I wouldn’t be surprised if IE traffic was only one or two percent by the end of 2023. (Not that I take IE into account anymore when building websites, but I bear so much animosity towards the browser that I enjoy watching its slow death.)
• As far as obscure browsers go, exactly one person viewed Opus with iCab, a minimal Mac browser that made some waves back in the early ’00s for its small footprint. I didn’t even realize it was still in development, but the most recent version was released this past December. Also, one person used their Blackberry device to view Opus in 2021.
• There was a slight increase in the usage of mobile devices to view Opus, to around 60%, compared to 2021 (57.6%).
• Similarly, iPhones continued to be the most popular devices, period, to view Opus. The next most popular mobile device was the Google Pixel, which accounted for approximately 0.6% of Opus’ traffic.
• Like 2021, more than half of Opus’ traffic came from the United States (56%). The UK was a distant second (8.1%) followed by Canada (5%), Australia (2.75%), and Germany (1.9%).
• Unfortunately, the site’s new analytics setup doesn’t offer the same social network breakdowns that I was able to get in the past, so it’s not really possible to see how much traffic came from Facebook, Twitter, et al.

These were Opus’ five most popular posts from 2022, traffic-wise:

1. It Only Took 30 Years, but Chagall Guevara Have Returned
2. Diane Duane’s The Wounded Sky is Star Trek at Its Most Bizarre and Breathtaking (Review)
3. Remembering Mimi Parker’s Beautiful, Blessed Voice
4. Everything Everywhere All at Once by Daniels (Review)
5. 2025: The World Enslaved by a Virus by Joshua Wesely, Simon Wesely (Reviews)

Looking to Facebook, these posts received the most activity (e.g., views, reactions, comments) in 2022:

1. The Churchhill Garden’s Exquisite Dreampop
2. Cave Sessions by The Lassie Foundation (Review)
3. Parallel Love: The Story of a Band Called Luxury by Matt Hinton (Review)
4. Faded Figures by Silent Travelers, Unknown Observer (Review)
5. “In Even Strokes” by Golf Slang

Finally, these were some of the most popular posts on Twitter in 2022:

1. Diane Duane’s The Wounded Sky is Star Trek at Its Most Bizarre and Breathtaking (Review)
2. Remembering Mimi Parker’s Beautiful, Blessed Voice
3. New Subscriber Playlist: “Close and Sacred”
4. Psalms by lovesliescrushing (Review)
5. New Subscriber Playlist: “Songs From the Electric Joy Toy Company”

As usual, I find it a little hard to determine trends of what’s popular. People enjoyed reading news about obscure Christian bands resurfacing and reviews of bizarre Star Trek novels. But they also enjoyed reading about a COVID conspiracy movie from Germany. And not surprisingly, many people were hit hard by Mimi Parker’s death. At the risk of sounding pretentious, I hope my writing here on Opus helped them to continue sharing and remembering her amazing voice and music.

I just like to think that means people appreciate Opus’ eclecticism, that they appreciate the efforts made to highlight stuff that might not be highlighted elsewhere. As I tweeted back in September, “I’m not sure who I’m writing for when I write about anime magazines from the ’00s, ’80s Christian goth/industrial bands, or obscure samurai films from the ’60s. Maybe it’s just me. But those things are cool and shouldn’t vanish into obscurity w/o somebody marking their existence.”

In the end, that’s what Opus is about: serving as a testament to albums, movies, books, etc., that might not otherwise be recognized or remembered. Of course, what I ultimately cover is defined, to a certain extent, by my own curiosity, wonder, and personal tastes. Still, it’s gratifying to see that so many others are intrigued by such things, as well. I intend to maintain this testament for as long as I’m able, so here’s to a 2023 filled with even more blog posts about strange, bizarre, and wonderful things.