Top 9 pre-game

I’m working on a longer piece about song selection, and what choices are smart (statistically speaking) and which are not. For now, I’ve listed below all performances of Beatles songs, along with the breakdown of how well the performance was received and what the voting result was (the final column indicates if that contestant had already been in the Bottom 3). These are listed in order of approval rating. Anything below 50 is considered to have been scored below average (and, indeed, most of the not-safe people are in that half of the table).

There haven’t been too many repeats of any of these. Across the Universe (twice), Let It Be (twice) and Come Together (three times) have worked out well for those who sang them. Oh Darling and The Long and Winding Road have been a mixed bag—they worked for one person, not for another. That’s one reason I don’t put too much stock in analyses that focus solely on song choice.