top500albums/CLAUDE.md

CLAUDE.md

This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.

Project Overview

This repository contains Rolling Stone's Top 500 Albums of 2020 list in CSV format. It is a data-only repository with no executable code.

Data Structure

File: rolling_stone_top_500_albums_2020.csv

The CSV file contains the following columns:

• Rank: Album ranking (1-500, stored in reverse order with 500 first)
• Artist: Artist or band name
• Album: Album title
• Info: Label and release year (e.g., "Blue Note, 1959")
• Description: Detailed description of the album's significance and impact

Common Tasks

Reading the Data

When working with this data, use standard CSV parsing tools appropriate for the language:

• Python: pandas.read_csv() or csv module
• JavaScript/Node.js: CSV parsing libraries like csv-parse or papaparse
• Command line: Tools like csvkit, awk, or cut

Data Characteristics

• The file is encoded in UTF-8
• Contains 500 rows (plus header)
• Rankings are stored in reverse order (500 to 1)
• Descriptions contain rich text about each album's cultural and musical significance
• Some entries may contain special characters in artist/album names

Potential Use Cases

This data can be used for:

1. Building music recommendation systems
2. Creating data visualizations of music history
3. Analyzing music trends by decade/genre
4. Building APIs or web applications to browse the album list
5. Educational projects about music history
6. Statistical analysis of the most influential albums

Notes

• This is not a git repository, so version control commands are not applicable
• No build, test, or lint commands exist as this is purely a data repository
• When processing the data, be aware that the ranking order is reversed in the file