At the beginning of every year, I make a new playlist on whatever streaming service I’m using. (Used to be my beloved Rdio, now it’s Spotify.) Every time I hear a song I dig, I add it to the playlist. (I may have stolen this idea from Frank Chimero, but I don’t remember for sure.) I occasionally delete tracks, but for the ones I keep, I let them sit there in the order I heard them. I keep this playlist synced to my phone, and I often just hit shuffle when I’m on a plane or I need to zone out and work.
These playlists become musical diaries. Little time machines.
Here are Spotify links, if you want to listen: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Update: and here’s 2019 (in progress)