As 2013 draws to a close, it’s brought with it a ream of end-of-year celebrations and retrospectives (many of which you can vote on in our Readers Poll).

There’s been looks at the year’s best albums, courtesy of Queens Of The Stone Age and a characteristically sweary overview from Noel Gallagher (a rant-rospective perhaps?), while a strong contingent of Aussie bands invaded NME’s 2013 Best-of lists.

The latest in the end-of-year lists takes a very different tact however, instead looking at ‘The Hardest Working Bands Of 2013’.

So how exactly does one measure the dedication and elbow grease of a musical outfit? By looking at the long hours and days spent travelling in tour vans and the number of live gigs they managed to cram into their calendars across the last 365 days.

Who better to compile the ‘Hardest Working’ list than live music website Songkick (you’ve probably come across them if you’ve ever Googled: ‘[insert band name] tour dates’), who’ve done some hard work themselves, crunching the numbers of their database to come up with a list of artists that, in their own words, “traded their Brooklyn lofts for a life of soundcheck, bad beer and the open road.”

The list’s criteria calculates the exact number of shows a band has played with the distance between each venue on their tour schedule, with the final results demonstrating a 15% increase in the distance that most bands traveled, noting that as “artist incomes rely more and more on the live music industry… it’s clear that bands are increasingly willing to tour further and tap into new and emerging markets.” “It’s clear that bands are increasingly willing to tour further and tap into new and emerging markets.”

Surprisingly sitting at the top as the Hardest Working Band of 2013 is LA five-piece Local Natives, who started the year by releasing their sophomore album, Hummingbird, in January, checking into Australia in May for a national tour (and a chat) – one of 26 countries the band visited – before finishing the year with a tally of 188 shows (that’s a gig every 2nd day) – and cranking out 192,486 kilometres on their tour pedometer.

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An impressive distance, but actually less than zeitgeist indie quartet Alt-J (∆) who covered a total distance 251,443 km in 2013, helped in no small part by their three tours to Australia in less than a year.

The Mercury Prize-winning band jetted over to play this year’s Laneway Festival and Mushroom’s relaunch party in February, before heading back again in July for another headline tour and at Splendour In The Grass as the (not so) ‘Mystery Band’.

But Alt-J actually come in third place as the ‘Hardest Working’ of 2013 once their immense distance is cross-checked with their 164 live shows.

Coming in second place is hip hop’s young buck millionaire Kendrick Lamar, with 171 shows and a distance of 229,583 km, which will get a serious jump when the 26-year-old rapper heads out to Australia early next year as part of the Eminem-headlined Rapture festival.

Also in the well-travelled list is Foals, whose 2013 itinerary passed through more countries than most, playing concerts on every continent except Antarctica (wipe that smug look off your face Metallica) and were another Australian regular – playing Big Day Out in January before returning for a headline tour in September.

Elsewhere, young pop acts like One Direction and Justin Bieber proved they can chalk up the frequent flyers as much as grizzled tour veteran and country legend Willie Nelson (whose played 442 shows in the last three years!).

Meanwhile Pink cracked a placement; no surprise given she pretty much took up residence in Australia for her three-month, 46-date ‘The Truth About Love’ Tour to over 600,000 fans (including that teen that got arrested for his misinterpreted ‘Timebomb’ tweet).

Ponder over the full Top 19 results below, and head to Songkick for a full, interactive breakdown of the statistics (including the equivalent trips to the moon and back!). But we’ve only got question: where are all the Aussie bands!?

The Hardest Working Bands of 2013

According to Songkick

  1. Local Natives – 188 shows played & 192,486km traveled
  2. Kendrick Lamar – 171 shows played & 229,583km traveled
  3. Alt-J – 164 shows played & 251,443km traveled
  4. Imagine Dragons – 157 shows played & 206,031km traveled
  5. Foals – 155 shows played & 217,349km traveled
  6. Papa Roach – 147 shows played & 105,261km traveled
  7. One Direction – 145 shows played & 103,760km traveled
  8. Willie Nelson – 143 shows played & 73,938km traveled
  9. Two Door Cinema Club – 142 shows played & 206,997km traveled
  10. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – 138 shows played & 199,281km traveled
  11. Justin Bieber – 135 shows played & 145,527km traveled
  12. Bonobo – 135 shows played & 150,485km traveled
  13. Miguel – 135 shows played & 119,206km traveled
  14. Tegan And Sara – 131 shows played & 156,442km traveled
  15. The Lumineers – 131 shows played & 130,926km traveled
  16. The Band Perry – 126 shows played & 144,903km traveled
  17. Ellie Goulding – 124 shows played & 194,169km traveled
  18. Pink – 123 shows played & 79,776km traveled
  19. Asking Alexandria – 122 shows played & 117,534km traveled

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