4PLY Mag Presents – 2020 #QSTOP10 Analysis

Words by Pete Glover C/O 4Ply Magazine

Somewhere in the pocket-protected part of the intersection of skate nerd and regular nerd resides ragtag assembly of international spreadsheet jockeys that comprise the team of skate-data enthusiasts known as 4PLY Magazine. Between slappy sessions and carpal tunnel flare-ups, we spend our free time generating datasets from skate media, writing code to process that data, and then straining to convince ourselves this is all somehow important. The urge to take an already quantified ranking system like the weekly Quartersnacks Top Ten countdown and crunch the numbers into submission was just too compelling. And thus the complete study of the #QSTop10 materialized.

Having carefully inputted all 490 tricks that comprised every countdown slot into the trusty 4PLY supercomputer, we can now dig deep into 2020 and answer the really important questions: What tricks are trending? What skaters are happening? What percentage of clips come from Instagram? What was the longest line? How many skaters are named Alex?

Utilizing the power of percentages, we analyzed the countdown code on 4PLYmag.com.

In the meanwhile, tease your brain with a few choice countdown factoids:

– A skater who tied for most appearances in the countdown (with 6) wasn’t even on the Thrasher long list of 36 S.O.T.Y. contenders.
– 14 different skaters appeared in the 2020 countdown at least 4 times.
– Switch and nollie tricks only comprised 16.3% of clips.
– 59 tricks were done on rails. 29 of those were on handrails.
– 31 tricks were gapped down stairs. 11 tricks were up stairs.
– 4 gap-to-curb tricks made it into the countdown.
– 7 tricks were over trash cans.
– 28% of clips were lines.
– The most tricks in a line (not including ollies up curbs and powerslides) was 8, by Tom Knox.
– Lines consisting exclusively of kickflips made it in to the countdown twice in 2020.
– 106 clips came from Instagram.
– Exactly a third of all clips contained some element of slow-motion.
– Approximately 11% of tricks were done in New York.
– 1 trick was filmed at the Berrics. 1 was filmed during a Tampa Pro run.
– 4 separate tricks were done on art sculptures.
– Amazingly, only 1 self-filmed clip made it into the countdown.
– There were 6 skaters named Alex in the #QSTop10 in 2020. And that doesn’t include Alexey, Axel, or the 3 skaters named Alexis.
– Mason Silva was, quantifiably, the best skater of 2020.

This barely even scratches the surface so be sure to check 4PLY for all the numbers.

[Ed. Note: The countdown will return this Friday, January 8, after a much-needed two-week holiday hiatus.]

11 Comments

  1. Thats rad. the praise ” marathon” lines came from love park. A short line is about 5 tricks for a skater with no stamina. 8 to 10 is not bad. The bar was set pretty high along time ago. By a farm boy from florida on flat ground I’m the 1970’s ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  2. No difference In skateboarding then and now. Tricks list has grown more than 400+ blahs as skateboarders evolved the ollie like the primative ape man learned to walk. The shuvit is old old school trick. and yet Andrew reynolds does them fs 5-0 shuvit in the middle of a line. Rodney mullen used to spin around 360 and shuvit out. Invented all the tricks we love to do now. If u can spot Koston marathon line he 5 tricks on a quarter ramp in tampa pro in the middle of a run. They all influence each other. Marathon lines aren’t for fat people or retired pros that stick to slappy’s cuz it’s safe. Z-boys skated everything outside the apt door down the hill to the beach. Mark gonzalez skated like that on video how many 360s can u do? @ Les park.

  3. You can flip a “kickflip” other ways. When u hear do a kickflip but u never see skaters do a ‘kickflip”.. all u see is post ollie era kickflip. Change it up. People forget where skateboarding came from. We used to skate barefooted.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  4. Was having a convo the other night about how at least 10% of my contacts is named alex or other variants. where did all the alex’s come from

  5. I once met this dude olsen once. hippie with mad hops from Brooklyn. He rips. Killed it at high bridge awhile back.

  6. This is dumb posing as smart. Approximately 11% of tricks were filmed in New York – whoa!!! What’re we to do with this precious info? Take this shit back to reddit, nerd.

  7. …?

    What are you supposed to do with “Lebron James averages 28.3 points, 7.5 assists and 6.9 rebounds in games at Madison Square Garden” too for that matter?

    It might be tough for some people who got D’s in math to understand, but some like having fun with numbers and the gents at 4 Ply are clearly having fun with what they do.

  8. epic content i love these 4ply folk… great knowledge translation here. also i love QS <3 muah


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